It’s Spring – Get on Your Walking Shoes

For those of us in the Midwest, spring can’t come soon enough. We have more light in our days and the promise of warmer temperatures to melt the lingering snow that lingers on our streets. I like having seasons and the anticipation this time of year in palatable. And now we are here, the Spring Equinox, which has equal time of daylight and darkness. Balance exists between light and dark and then the light will predominate.

In this time of light and dark balance in our days, it is good for us to examine our own balance. Balance in our doing and being, in our waking and sleeping and increasing our resolve to keep our bodies and mind active and strong. It is the time for walking outside, enjoying the warmer heat from the sun, keeping our bodies healthy through our natural gift or walking. We can focus this time on walking to maintain and increase our balance, important at any age.

I’ve been thinking about walking a lot lately. One reason is social media has been filled with videos on walking, specifically on promoting Tai Chi Walking. Tai Chi Walking for Losing Belly Fat, or for building strong muscles or for weight loss in just 10 minutes a day. These are misleading and seem to be taking advantage of the “Tai Chi” name, known to have many benefits and is gentle, to draw people in, and in some cases take their money.

In February “The New York Times” published an article “The Very Real Benefits of Tai Chi Walking.” Why would a major newspaper see Tai Chi as newsworthy? It might be recognition of misinformation in the public arena about the quick and misleading claims about this practice. It is an accurate, well-researched article quoting professionals who gave accurate information about Tai Chi and the walking practice.

Several of my students asked me if I had seen the ads and videos. Yes, and I have looked at more. No disclaimers. No precautions for safety and wild claims that 5 or 10 minutes a day of their practice will change your life. We know better. For 27 years I have included Tai Chi walking as part of every class I have taught. It is personally important to me because I used Tai Chi walking to regain my strength and ability to walk when my legs were weak and not totally in my control from symptoms of MS. This was years before I started teaching. The key is to have proper body alignment, soft knees and focus on putting 100% of your weight on the standing leg before picking up the other one. This focused practice can increase leg strength, stability and balance, but it takes a long time, sometimes years.

Go get your walking shoes and get out the door, down the street, through a park, on the walkway by the lake. Pay attention to the sunshine warming temperatures and the celebrate your ability to walk.