Circle Walking: Aligning & Gently Stretching the Body in Movement

Part 1

By Paul Cavel

Walking is something most of us do everyday. There is nothing unusual or particularly special about it at one level. However, with very little instruction and practice time you can adapt your normal walking into a powerful and effective healing tool. You can practice regularly at home in a relatively small space, while walking down the street or in nature — and gain real benefit.

Many health organizations endorse walking as the best form of daily exercise available on the planet. Major research backs this claim by finding that walking can help you: manage weight, control blood pressure, and decrease risk of a heart attack to name a few.

Why Refine Your Walk?

Why bother? That’s the attitude many have since they seem to walk just fine already. Although it’s true to some degree, walking is a form of exercise (even on the way to the snack cupboard). Exercising poorly can cause injuries whilst walking with proper body mechanics yields powerful benefits.

Two Ways to Improve Your Strut

Prevention is the best medicine. If you can avoid damaging your knees and other joints in the first place you’ll cut down on wear and tear, pain and discomfort—now and in the future. This can be applied not only in walking, but any activity for which you participate.

Body Alignments

Obtaining and maintaining accurate body alignments will help you transfer the weight of your body through the center of your joints and feet. This prevents uneven pressure on the joints and ligaments that causes wear and tear. One of the most common examples is a torn meniscus. Alignments will also dramatically increase your balance and reduce the risk of accidents.

Stretching Your Back and Legs

Stretching the long muscles, ligaments and tendons of the back and legs opens up the joints and allows the synovial fluid in the joints to cushion the load from your body. This further protects your joints and ligaments by giving tiny but very important extra space in the joints. It’ll put a spring in your step and not only prevent but help to heal diseases, such as osteoarthritis.

Implementing both alignments and stretching begins the process of reducing tension, and increasing blood flow and flexibility. These two principles are the bottom line for anyone who wishes to mitigate damage and get the most from any form of exercise that involves the legs.

SUMMARY

Walking, if done correctly, can be beneficial to one’s health and help prevent future injuries through use of accurate body alignments and stretching.

In our next post, Circle Walking: Part 2 we will learn more about the benefits of walking and how it can energizer your mind, body and spirit.