How we walk can make a huge difference to how our brain works. As babies we crawled on all fours as preparation for balancing on our feet and walking. With every movement we programmed our brains, building networks to support walking to running to dancing to specialized sports movements. But these brain networks and how we walk prepared us for much than just walking.
I was reading about a kinesiologist who developed a tiny treadmill to help infants with Down Syndrome learn to balance themselves and walk earlier. “The idea is we want to support this underlying pattern of coordination in their legs, this alternating stepping,” Dr Ulrich said.
This article drew my attention to how readily we take for granted the ability to walk and balance on our feet as we need. We never think about how we walk.
Dr Ulrich said, “Once locomotion occurs, it really advances cognitive development, social skill development and language, so the sooner you get them (Down Syndome babies) walking, the sooner they can explore their environment.” Babies start their treadmill training as early as eight to ten months of age.
And this “cognitive development” in babies continues in us all as toddlers, children, teenagers, and adults. Walking does far more than just get you from A to B.
Walking Programs Your Brain For Learning
The rhythmic coordinated movement, alternating stepping out with one leg and the opposite arm and swapping smoothly and continuously, helps to integrate left and right brain as well as well as other specific brain areas. This brain coordination is essential for easy learning, not just for babies in their first year of life, but also for later in the classroom, in the home and in the office, right throughout life.
In Touch For Health Kinesiology workshops we activate the acupuncture points that help integrate the brain side to side, top to bottom and front to back. This is a 3D “switch on” of brain neurology in preparation for processing body/brain communication in the TFH muscle and energy balancing process.
In any new learning situation this 3D “switch on” of your brain is an excellent first step to arouse the brain and set in motion coordinated networks for whole brain learning. You program your brain for learning by walking as a littlie and continue to reinforce this learning set-up in the brain each time you walk with momentum, and especially if you do your 3D “switch on” first. (See article 3D Switch On for Your Brain)
How We Walk
When we walk we lift one foot at a time, which means we are momentarily balanced on the other leg. So a sense of three-dimensional balance is as important as the coordination.
As we walk one leg swings forward in front of the body from the hip, like a pendulum, till the heel makes contact with the ground. At the same time the back foot rolls from heel to toe with a push off action to propel the body forward till balanced over the front leg. Now the back leg can swing forward past its partner that is rolling from heel to toe and in turn pushing forward.
So one foot or the other is always in contact with the ground. This is a beautifully coordinated continuous double pendulum movement. When also coordinated with opposite arm swing moving forward can be almost effortless.
In fact, it takes far less effort to walk with continuous coordinated movement than to stop-start as in window shopping or browsing or doing the grocery shopping and stopping to pick up items and compare ingredients. Each time you stop it takes extra energy and effort on the part of your muscles to begin the movement forward again. It takes a lot more energy to walk like a tourist or a mum going the grocery shopping than to set up a steady pace and keep moving.
When I watch some of the elderly walking, I often notice they walk so slowly that each step forward is from a standing start, so every step is very energy demanding. There is no push off from the back leg to propel their body forward so instead their forward steps get smaller and smaller till they are shuffling.
Meridian Energy Stimulus
And of course, if you have done Touch For Health Workshops you will recognize that the elderly are missing out on the extra that happens as you walk with momentum too. Each muscle you use as you walk is also activating meridian energy flow to the internal organs and supporting their function for active health as well.
Chest muscles engage stomach and liver meridians, arm swing uses gall bladder and lung meridian energy, knee lift and swing forward uses small intestine energy, foot lift to place the heel uses bladder meridian, push off with the back foot activates adrenal energy and large intestine energy.
A slow walk will not stimulate the energy flow in the same way, so meridian energy can remain sluggish or stagnant as a result, and be a mirror of energy levels in the internal organ functions.
Touch For Health also provides a way to check the opposite arm/leg patterns needed and has a correction that ensures the upper and lower body muscles are coordinating effectively so your walking gait has maximum gain for least effort.
How we walk often changes when you attend Touch For Health workshops. You learn how to easily and readily improve your coordination, balance, and gait rhythm, so walking is easy, pleasurable, and uplifting. The natural side effects are better internal function and improved health too.
Cheers
Anna