Great article on walking from Chiwalking.com
5 Key Elements of Good Walking Form
Regular exercise is good for us. Exercise keeps us healthy, helps us lose weight, it can even help us live longer. Of all the forms of exercise there are, none is more popular than walking. And with good reason: stride for stride, fitness experts agree that walking provides the most health and longevity benefits. There are many reasons for this. Walking is low-impact. If we walk with proper form, we can eventually walk for long periods, which is even better for our metabolism and our cardiovascular system. Walking can be done anywhere, even indoors in a shopping mall or airport. Walking can be a great social activity where friends can get fit together. Walking is cost-effective. You don't need a gym membership or fancy equipment, just a good pair of walking shoes. It is with good reason that nearly 80 million Americans consider themselves walkers, and this number is growing each year.
Despite this explosion, there is very little instruction available on how to walk properly. Take a few minutes to observe people walking down the street or on your neighborhood path. You'll probably see that many people walk with poor form, leading with their hips and using all leg strength or with slumped shoulders and looking at the ground, all of which can result in sore backs, hips, hamstrings, and knees. More and more people are signing up for walking events, like marathons or 3-day charity walks, but are daunted by the distance and the potential for pain and injury the training and event may hold. (There is even a TV commercial showing tired and worn out event walkers - on Day 2!)
Most of the time, we don't even realize we might need help walking - after all we've been doing it nearly all our lives! And to a point, we may be right, but only to a point. When a child first learns to walk, she has to be balanced just right, because her muscles are not very strong yet and can't support her weight. So she pulls herself up next to the sofa and teeters there, getting aligned and getting her balance, and then, while all the adults in the room hold their breath, tentatively takes a step, and then another. If she gets out of balance, she falls, so she learns to keep the top half of her body lined up over her legs. She never moves her foot first, instead she leans with her body and her foot follows.
At one time, we all knew how to walk with excellent form, but before very long we lose that form, and our bodies become misaligned and imbalanced, our joints stiff. But there is hope, because ChiWalking has created a 5 step process to learn to walk with excellent form that will not only give you the opportunity to get physically fit, but also teach you how this physical activity can have a profound and positive effect on your mental and emotional well-being. We call these the 5 Mindful Steps, because this is more than a walking technique but a complete approach to walking that involves both your mind and your body.
The 5 Mindful Steps
1.) Get Aligned: Your form is totally dependent upon your posture. The efficiency of your walking form is directly proportional to the quality of your posture. What is good posture?
According to ChiWalking, good posture that your body weight is supported by your bones ligaments and tendons, and that the imaginary dots at your ankle, hip and shoulder are all connected in a straight line. When those dots are out of alignment, even slightly, your muscles need to do the work of holding you upright.
A principle of T'ai Chi that we have brought into ChiWalking is called Needle and Cotton. The needle represents the thin straight line of strength running vertically up through the body along the spine. You gather your energy to your center while letting go of tension in your extremities, your arms and legs, so they can be can be soft and fluid, like cotton, as you initiate all movement from that center line of strength.
In ChiWalking we begin by aligning our posture, making sure our spine is long and tall and straight. Make a practice of maintaining the best posture possible in all your activities, not just walking, to give your muscles a break and your brain a breath of fresh air. And when you are walking, make sure that arms, legs, and feet are all lined up and headed in the same direction as you are, so that your forward movement is cohesive and purposeful.
Getting aligned also refers to reviewing and evaluating your goals, making sure that the choices you are about to make are in line with what you really want to accomplish, whether for the walk of the day or in other aspects of your life. Taking a moment to get aligned physically and with your goals is an important first step in a mindful walking practice.
2.) Engage your Core: The strongest part of your body is also the one that is most involved in walking, and that is your core. Core strengthening is a very big topic in fitness circles these days and for good reason. Your core muscles are the ones that are responsible for stabilizing your pelvis in any activity, including sitting down. They hold your spine erect and balanced, and help move your legs. When your core is weak, not only is it difficult to stand or sit comfortably for any length of time, it can also make your arms and legs work much harder to walk about or perform your other activities of daily living, and that is the opposite of what the principle of Needle in Cotton says.
To engage your core from a standing position, first set your feet hip width apart and parallel, and relax your feet and soften your knees so they are not tense and locked. Then make your spine as spacious and long as you can, not by throwing your shoulders back but simply elongating your spine as though a string were attached to the crown of your head and was being pulled gently up into the sky. To engage your core by leveling your pelvis, place a hand on your belly, with your thumb at your naval and your fingers just above your pubic bone, and gently activate the pelvic muscles under your fingers so that your pelvis tilts. Don't clench up your gluteal muscles for this; use the muscles at the front of your pelvis. Imagine that your pelvis is a bowl of water; lift enough to keep the water from spilling out either the front or the back. If you are not sure which muscles to use, you'll find them easily if you laugh or cough. If you're not used to the feeling of using these muscles, don't worry. Keep practicing and you'll soon be able to feel it.
Engaging your core also refers to your sense of self, the confidence with which you face the circumstances of your life. Having a strong, yet flexible physical core can contribute to that feeling of confidence and having the willpower to face the challenges of life, both big and small. Developing your physical core strength can also help you feel centered emotionally.
3.) Create Balance: Remember our toddler taking her first steps, and how if she got out of balance she would fall down? Physical balance is essential for developing a healthy, efficient walking form, and finding balance in our lives is an important aspect of healthy living. When you are physically balanced, it takes less work to support your body weight as well as create movement. When you are out of balance, your muscles have to do more work to compensate, and you become tired more quickly. In ChiWalking, your body weight is always centered over your leading foot, so that your movement initiates from your center, and the bulk of the work is done by the core muscles, rather than your feet and legs having to reach out and pull you along. When you are physically balanced, you are not only more efficient in your walking; you are safer too, with much less potential for falling down or getting injured.
It is also important to strive for balance in the other aspects of your life. Work, family, relationships, food, money, and exercise all need to have their place; one should not crowd all the others out. This is not easy to do, but when we pay attention to each of these aspects each day and ask ourselves if what we are doing, eating or spending time on is truly in line with our goals, we have a much better chance of spending more of our time in a state of equilibrium, connected to the present and to your center.
4.) Make a Choice: Life is full of choices. We make literally thousands of them every day, from what to wear, what to eat, which tasks to tackle first at work, how we will respond to our co-workers, kids, or spouse. Little choices can make a big difference because of their cumulative nature. Take food for example. How we look or whether we carry extra pounds is not determined by one thing we eat, but rather by the accumulation of the dozens of food choices we make each day, compounded by days and weeks and months and years of those choices.
We put this step after we have got aligned, engaged our core and created balance, and this is for a reason. Many of the choices we make each day are so quick and often done unconsciously, that if we are not in an aligned, balanced state, we can end up choosing poorly. In ChiWalking, we choose to move forward in a different way than before, and that means by leading with our upper body, in balance over our stepping foot, rather than leading with our legs. We choose which direction we are going before we start, so that all our parts are moving in the same direction. Making this choice is making a commitment, to your walking, to your physical and emotional well-being, to engage in this activity mindfully and in the moment.
5.) Move Forward: Now that you are aligned, centered in your engaged core, balanced over your feet and have your destination in mind, you are ready to move forward. This is where the shoe leather meets the road, where you make that commitment to taking a walk today, to lay out a plan for a weekly walking program toward good health and fitness. Te keep moving forward, keep your posture straight, your core engaged, your upper body balanced over your lower body and your destination in mind. Moving forward sounds simply and it is, if you have mindfully completed the 4 steps before it so that your forward movement has balance, purpose and direction.
Now that you are familiar with these steps, you are ready to learn more about the technique of ChiWalking, and ready to begin your walking program. Evaluate your current situation and how your time is being used, and decide how much walking to build into your routine. Maybe 3 days a week for 20 minutes is a good starting goal. Maybe you have a friend in the neighborhood you can meet up with and explore ChiWalking together. If you have a rough patch or forget a step, don't worry; just return to step one and get aligned again, then take it from there. With ChiWalking, you'll have all the information and tools you need to create a walking program that will challenge you, relax you and invigorate you. Remember to practice these 5 mindful steps in all other aspects of your life too, and see if you find yourself much more able to cope in this fast-paced world.
