Everywhere, there is movement in this expanse of trees and grass and temples. All ages–from 9 to 99–are here, practicing Tai Chi and Sword Arts, swinging their arms, rubbing their kidneys, rotating their waists, and hanging from low-hanging tree branches (to stretch their spines).
Amid this all, is one area that produces me rub my sleepy eyes and appear again: groups of women are walking backwards in the lane. Exactly that: walking backwards, calmly and confidently.
This ancient exercise (yes! It becomes an exercise!) is one of the treasures of Chinese health practice, addressing issues of balance, leg strength, back strength, and posture. It may seem simple, though the main reasons why it is just a sound practice are profound. Here are just a few:
1. As we age, our concern with falling causes us to be react wrongly. When babies fall backwards, they merely plump down to a sitting position, but this tendency disappears as we mature. Many falls end up going backward because we arch our backs. Walking backwards rounds that portion of our back that we arch, and encourages ‘forward’ muscle use.
2. Everything that is wrong relating to your posture originated walking forward! Slumping, slouching, rounding, arching…all those bad habits. Walking backwards reverses these habits.
3. From an energetics standpoint, walking backwards actually re-frames consciousness in our bodies. The straightforward explanation is that our attention will favor the leading of our own bodies for the exclusion of what is behind us. Chinese health and martial exercises both encourage ‘whole body’ awareness for ‘whole body’ health. Walking backwards creates a ‘sensor’ to integrate this area.
4. Walking backwards actually engages totally different sets of muscles. This is very important especially as we get older, because we lose flexibility and our range of motion often diminishes. By making use of different muscles we exercise aspects of our own bodies that require attention.
Check out about Khasiat Jalan Kaki take a look at our new web portal.