Chi Walking

[Perspective]

Not only am I relearning spiritually, but also physically… how to walk!
Most of us walk some each day, & habits can either help or hurt.
We can learn a lot from toddlers – they walk more correctly than many adults!
I wanted to share some notes from the book, “Chi Walking” by Danny & Katherine Dreyer.

Benefits of walking: improve balance, sex drive, cardiovascular health, helps prevent diabetes, colon cancer, dementia & helps relieve depression… naturally!

Chi is the life force that animates all things…system of meridians, like electric circuits that carry your chi energy throughout your body. Chi is the energy that you perceive & take in through your senses – energy that connects you with outer world.
The Chi in Nature is purest & best form. Hiking in nature develops your ability to surrender & adapt to something much larger than you, constant lesson in sensing… externally & internally.

Reduce your impact with the ground (esp. in hiking downhill)… shorten stride, level pelvis, watch the ground (to avoid falls).

I'm focusing on shortening my stride... When hiking down steep hills, I realized it was much less painful & more fun - to do the cha cha down lol (just less hip action) ...& small steps!

5 step process (to walking)
1. Get Aligned (straight posture – weight is mostly carried by structure rather than muscles)
2. Engage Your Core (lift up on your pubic bone with your lower abdominal muscles)
3. Create Balance (ongoing & consistent consciousness of where your center is)
4. Make a Choice
5. Move Forward

5 Chi Skills (both process & goal)
1. Focusing
2. Body Sensing
3. Flexibility
4. Breathing (1. through nose 2. belly breath – inhale/relax stomach… exhale/pull in stomach (after relaxing chest)
5. Consistency

Thich Nhat Hanh: “Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts… To master our breath is to be in control of our bodies & our minds.”

Chi Walking Menu: (walks)
Cardio, Aerobic, Hilly, Loosening, Upper-Body, Chi-gathering, Grounding, Energizing, Focusing, Calming, Walking Meditation & Racewalking
*Personally, I love the upper-body walk… for the added benefit of laughter!...
-Hold your arms straight out at your sides (like you’re an airplane) & walk for 5 minutes
-Raise & lower your arms at your sides (like you’re flapping your wings) “

Think of your mind & body as…life long partners working together for the higher good of the whole.

The book is more detailed, but I hope this helps.
If you have any experiences or insights from walking to share, please do!

Looks like a great read perspective.
Bringing awareness into everyday life is always of great benefit.
It brings one's spirituality into the percieved non spiritual realm of our physical lives.

I'm sure if I read the book I would realise more and also confirm many things I am already doing.
I especially like the airoplane stance and I find myself from time to time doing such things when I am walking alone.
Manifesting the wonder and joy of a child.
I have a story of the Gazelle that is on the list of backlogged things to share.
I'll post it in this thread whenever I write it.

Experiences with walking:

The profound effects walking alone in nature has in me is...well...there's nothing like it.
Not all at the same time but, I weep, I laugh, shivers wash all over me, I sense a lightness like I am lifting out of the physical plane...
going into a higher frequency maybe.
I don't percieve it with my 5 senses, it's an internal raising.

My fav is being enveloped in silence and I get glimpses of me and all around me are one.
There's no me and the forest. Just an awarenss of life that I have never seen before.
A profound perception that I only get with nature.

Regarding being aware of my body while walking:

I can see when my stride is out of sync, not flowing.
I've had days where I joyfully laugh at the awkwardness of how I'm walking. Like a clunky ol' rodobot.
"What the hell? I could do this yesterday. What's so difficult about walking?"

I percieve my stride is so uncoordinated that people must be looking and thinking I have some dibilitating motor function illness.
But, it's just a reflection of inner imbalance and disharmony.

Then I have beautiful days where my walking is so graceful, fluid and effortless that I imagine I'm on the verge of transcending gravity.
You know the sensations of walking slowly in a pool. You feel weightless, floaty, you walk in slow motion.
You leap and seconds later your feet land on the bottom again.
This is what's it's like in those moments.

Every moment of movement of my body I am deeply aware of, and it's all going in slow motion.
The swing of my arms, the landing and angling of my feet as they hit the ground.
The rise and fall of my head. The sway and twisting of my torso.
The thumping of my heart and the sound of air entering and leaving my lungs.
The pulse of blood throbbing in my neck and wrists.
The wind gently blowing on the hair of my arms and legs.
The heat building up in the various parts of my body from the exercise.

The desire to leap over things or down escalators in slow motion is mildly intoxicating.
The line between reality and dream is thinnest during these experiences.
Dream being where one can leap great distances in slow motion. Well that's the kind of dreams I have.

Now in Tazzie.

The only place near home I can walk are on the main road, a dirt road that goes down to the creek and the abandoned railway track.
I prefer the railway track for the solitude and I am slowly getting in sync with how to walk on it.

I do fast walking for the cardiovascular exercise. Quite a change from the Zen monk slow walking I did for 2 years.
And I am slowly getting into a Zen state in this style of walking.

The tracks as you may imagine, are rough terrain compared to a walking track or a road.
You have the sleepers and either humps or shallows of loose jagged rocks inbetween them.
Not a smooth surface to walk quickly on.

I have learnt to go with the contours of the surface. The way of non resistance.
When my feet hit the ground, I allow for greater than usual flexibility for my feet to angle themselves to whatever the surface is.
And each step can be vastly different from the last.
Add to that, the loose rocks changes the surface as the weight of my body increases within the stride.
I can now jog on this type of surface, and look at the scenery at the same time.

The thing I am learning, or the thing that is being reflected in this type of walking is, fluidity, adaptability and flexibility.
The three things I am manifesting ever since arriving here.
If I stumble on a large rock, without reducing pace or losing composure, I effortlessly compensate.

My suspension and balance are working so well I tried jogging one morning and apart from simply not being fit enough to do so,
I wanted to jog all the way home but only managed a few hundred metres.
I want to build up to be able to jog all the way back. Walk up, jog back.

I used to be a mountain goat in my youth. Lost that. Been gingerly crossing creeks and climbing rocks far too long.
Getting the ol' mountain goat style back now, slowly, but it's coming back.

[Perspective]

Originally Posted by Alternate Carpark

I have learnt to go with the contours of the surface. The way of non resistance...

The thing I am learning, or the thing that is being reflected in this type of walking is, fluidity, adaptability and flexibility...

I used to be a mountain goat in my youth. Lost that. Been gingerly crossing creeks and climbing rocks far too long.
Getting the ol' mountain goat style back now, slowly, but it's coming back.

Thanks for sharing that, AC.
lol I've felt like a mountain goat before too - especially climbing or stepping over rocks of all sizes.
Climbing fast up places like that really keeps your instinct up, as well as fitness.
But at times, like you mentioned, I've felt out of sinc... or less energy.

As we discussed before, nature has so many lessons... as does our interaction with it...
Like learning to handle each step appropriately, considering the terrain & our own balance & endurance...
Similar to making decisions, considering the circumstances & what we're up for.

My favorite place to walk/hike is in the mountains... when the weather is bearably comfortable.
My favorite hike of all time is Zion's National Park's - Angel's Landing...
It's a tough hike - but getting to the top - well, the name speaks for itself...(this view is almost 360:)
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/4f/9c/94/top-of-angel-s-landing.jpg

[Mathew James]

Originally Posted by Perspective

2. Engage Your Core (lift up on your pubic bone with your lower abdominal muscles)

For some reason the second step is very difficult for me to remember.

[Perspective]

Originally Posted by Mathew James

For some reason the second step is very difficult for me to remember.

I know what you mean, Matthew.
Sometimes I just suck in my abs, but I know it's not quite right.
Who knew learning to walk again would be so tricky!

[Roselove]

thank you so much for posting! is there a specific chi technique for grounding? i really need to ground my energy thanks!

[Perspective]

Originally Posted by Rosewater

thank you so much for posting! is there a specific chi technique for grounding? i really need to ground my energy thanks!

Hi Rosewater!
U & me both, then.
I'm no expert but like to learn & read...

Walking in natural surroundings would help.
Also, eat healthy & balanced, drink plenty of water,
Sports, Yoga, Tai Chi (i want to learn!), gardening,
Animals, being purposeful, crystals(?), &
Visualize self as "rooted" like a tree.

[Perspective]

AC,
After rereading your post above,
I'm reminded what a good writer you are.