I've been a mover my whole life. As a toddler I was nicknamed "Di-Zilla" for crawling over my classmates- yikes! - so my parents enrolled me in gymnastics, where I developed balance, strength, flexibility, and grit that formed the foundation of my early life. I also grew up moving freely as a child living on an organic farm with plenty of land to roam barefoot and climb trees. As a teen I pursued highly competitive volleyball, where I embraced the teamwork and endured grueling gym workouts. As I prepared for college competition, the lack of real-world application and purpose exposed a hole in my passion and commitment. The discontent led me to seek fitness through less confined and more lighthearted means, and I explored other modalities in group fitness classes. As a yearning for more nature connection grew in my life, I eventually forewent the gym entirely to embraced hiking, trail running, and self-designed outdoor workouts.
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Along the way, I started having pain when I was running and after sitting in my college classes- especially in my lower back. When I started working on farms these aches and pains grew exponentially. I couldn't find comfortable positions to sit, stand, or work in! Mysterious pain and tension seemed to be popping up faster than I could keep up with. I felt clueless about my body's function and helpless without tools to fix it. My frustration came to a head when the pain moved into my personal life, keeping me from daily chores like gardening, moving furniture, or chopping firewood. I felt so limited in my capability and wasn't willing to get used to it. What was once a desire to understand my body grew beyond avoiding a back ache and into a quest for total movement restoration.
In my early twenties I had studied for Anthropology & Environmental Geography, as well as Sustainable Agriculture. My passions for organic farming and ancestral lifeways had led me to permaculture and a more "paleo" lifestyle. I had found the practice of rewilding through the Rewild Yourself Podcast and in the first few months of listening heard both my future mentors for Nutritious Movement and MovNat on the show. The term "natural movement" had just entered my life and I was fascinated. It combined both my evolutionary lens on life AND my love of fitness with my need for solutions to my pain and frustration! I knew immediately that I would do both programs and had to decide which to begin with.
Wanting to focus on a corrective approach, I started with Nutritious Movement where I found a wealth of information on biomechanics as well as practical strategies for incorporating more natural movement into daily life. I dove deep into new lifestyle practices to support better movement habits and became a certified Restorative Exercise Specialist. I learned powerful corrective exercises to aid in my own movement restoration and for teaching others how to also reclaims theirs. I became more capable and informed on how to prevent my old limitations from coming back to haunt me, and I finally understood ways to build and maintain a pain-free, movement-rich lifestyle.
As soon as I graduated with my R.E.S. CPT, I began MovNat. From the moment I attended my Level 1 & 2 combined certification, I knew my search for a holistic and practical fitness practice was complete and that I'd want to share it with others. I dove off the MovNat deep end and went all in, attending MovNat Level 1, 2, and 3 as well as Combatives all within the same year! The Level 3 certification was the turning point in my life, leading me towards the career, the purpose, the identity, and the level of capability that I have now. I'm able to maintain and grow my strength and conditioning by climbing steep hills, moving heavy rocks, crossing streams and logs, and jumping across boulders- and I get to stay fit with movement skills that translate to real world situations.
I've since joined the MovNat Team as a team instrustor, and look forward to leading certifications across the USA to help spread MovNat far and wide. I am also the 6th female in the world to achieve a MovNat Level 3 certification! You can read my article about my MovNat L3 experience at https://www.movnat.com/diana-movnat-story/
I've also become a personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports & Medicine (N.A.S.M) and work at a gym local to me where I can teach natural movement to others one-on-one in person, and host a MovNat class bi-weekly. You can find me at Club Northwest in Grants Pass, OR if you'd like to come work with me in person! Learn more at https://www.clubnw.com/training
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