Erwan Le Corre - The Practice of Natural Movement: Reclaim Power, Health, and Freedom

First Published in 2019 by Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

Copyright 2019 by Erwan Le Corre

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-628602-83-8

The information included in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult his or her healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for his or her own situation or if he or she has any questions regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Reading the information in this book does not constitute a patient-physician relationship.

The author/owner claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein.

Cover and Interior photography by Anton Brkic

Author Photo by Erik Tranberg

photo by Christopher Baker

Cover design by Erwan Le Corre and Dylan Chatain

Interior design by Charisse Reyes and Elita San Juan

Printed in Canada

TC 0118

See that bump on the trunk? Put your foot right there. My dad was talking to me as he helped me climb an apple tree. I was barely fourand a little afraidbut I was willing to follow and trust his guidance; I was willing to show ability and strength; I was willing to learn.

Did I have a choice? Could I step down and quit? It didnt seem like it. My father wasnt beneath me to catch me if something went wrong; instead, he was right above me. I was six feet off the ground, which seemed like a deadly height to me. This exercise was way beyond what I had ever attempted on my own. My older brother Yann was next to my father and already confident in his own ability, which just added to my desire not to disappoint my dad. I wanted to succeed. I wanted to be proud of myself, and I wanted my father and brother to be proud of me, too.

Its a natural instinct in young children to seek peer validation through their achievements. At the time, I was too young to think of the situation in those exact terms, but I had the intuition of the practical, real value the challenge held. I knew it in my gut.

I remember this first big tree-climbing experience very well, but thats not really when my Natural Movement training had started. My dad told me about another situation that I have no memory of, which proved to be a pivotal experience for me. He had climbed to the top of a steep muddy hill as I struggled along behind him. I was quite youngonly about two years old. My father said I called for help, but he wouldnt come back down to assist me. I tried to climb but kept sliding down and back. After a few attempts, I started weeping in frustration and again called for help. My dad kept asking me to try again; he was not going to come to my rescue, and I had to make it on my own.

Because I had no choice, I stopped fussing and fought to make it to the top, where he cheered me and explained what the lesson had been about: You are capable of more than you think. My dad recalled feeling a little bad about refusing to help me, but he also wanted to teach me at a young age about self-reliance, which is a timeless lesson about a necessity that must be trained.

By the age of six, I was hanging from a metal rail outside my bedroom windowmy whole body in the void 15 feet above ground. I wasnt showing off; there was no one around. I just wanted to see if I could do the maneuver with self-control. Instinctively, I was replicating what my dad had taught me four years before. Now I was training it on my own.

Apart from his long daily walks, my dad never had a healthy lifestyle, and consequently his health slowly but surely deteriorated over the years. On the other hand, I was growing up fast, but I wasnt particularly tall, strong, or athletic. In fact, I just looked like a regular teenager. I was looking for a direction in life, and I knew I didnt want to follow in my fathers footsteps from a lifestyle perspective. I had a vision of being strong, healthy, happy, and free, and he was none of those things.

By age 15, I had taken up karate and started to practice with great commitment. I loved the combination of physical and mental strength the practice required. The Japanese martial art taught me a lot about precise movement, efficiency, and methodical practice. I was an addict; I trained every daysometimes twice a dayand added daily supplemental training in the form of running, swimming, stretching, and even weightlifting. I started competingfirst at the local level and then at the national level. It felt as if karate was the be-all and end-all.

When I was 19, I began to study at the university, but after a few weeks I gave up out of utter boredom. However, I was a young adult now, and things were a bit more complicated than they had been when I was younger. What was I supposed to do with my life? How could I make myself strong, healthy, happy, and free in this world? I didnt expect anything conventional would make me feel that way, and I questioned every single aspect of whats called a normal life.

Then I met someone who understood me. Don was my dads age and a charismatic character who was known for being something of a nature stuntman and natural-lifestyle guru. He had once jumped off a helicopter into the freezing waters of Greenland. He was near an iceberg and equipped with only a pair of shorts from the company he was promoting. I was fascinated by everything I heard and saw about this man. In many ways, Don embodied what I was looking for.

I reached out to him and started training with him the day we met. I immediately became a follower of his philosophy and practice. While other young people were still studying or starting a career and family (living normal lives), I was running barefoot in the streets of Paris by night, climbing bridges, balancing at great heights, diving in dark and icy waters wearing only swim trunks, jumping from rooftop to rooftop without safety equipment, practicing Thai boxing moves in forbidden areas of the Paris underground, and doing breathing drills at the crack of dawn to draw energy from the elements. I was doing 15 hours of fasting (only drinking water) daily, and once each week Id fast for a stretch of 24 to 36 hours.

I had ditched conventional forms of entertainment to dedicate all my energies to this lifestyle and to getting as healthy, strong, and free as I could through my daily practice. The Internet was still new to most people, and smartphones didnt exist. I didnt own a TV and couldnt have cared less about not having one. I was running barefoot long before it became a thing. I was training wild or primal long before it was a thing. I was doing intermittent fasting and cold plunges before both were trendybefore digital cameras and social media. I was doing all of it almost 20 years ago, when I was only 19.