It’s about so much more than A-B or even calorie burn

When I first talk about relearning your walk at systema classes I can see people looking at me dubiously. After all, they have been walking ok for thier whole lives. The difference is that I want them to walk in a way that promotes health, not just in terms of calorie burn, but in terms of resetting the system and removing stress.

Walking is the defining movement of a human being and the great thing about walking is that you can’t be sitting at the same time.

Few people in the western world walk enough these days and the benefits are well documented:

• Calorie burn
• Endorphin release (mood enhancers)
• Tones the muscles
• Strengthens the heart
• Reduces risk of diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

However, you can get more.

Walking is our natural reset button. We know this intuitively. When someone is stressed or angry we say to them, “come on lets go for a walk.”

Adding just a few elements to improve your walking can enhance the effects stated above. Daily life puts stress in our bodies. Physical stress from sitting too much, bad posture, high stress lifestyles etc. This is compounded by emotional stress which starts as a thought or worry and quickly becomes physical tension in the body.

Walking is our natural antidote to this. When walking correctly you literally breathe and walk the stress out of your body.

Here are a few steps to help this.

1. Focus on your breathing. Try to link it to your steps. Breathe in through your nose for say 4 steps and then out through your mouth for 4 steps. As you relax and improve you can stretch this to 6, 8, 10 or more. You then also get all the benefits of nasal breathing that I have outlined before.
2. Relax on the exhale. As you exhale, try to relax your muscles from the head down to the feet. Your body should feel light, In fact, your body should ‘disappear’. If you are relaxed and in good posture you should not feel your body. All you should feel is the contact of your feet on the floor.
3. Walk from the knees. This will relax your leg muscles, make you more energy efficient, lighten your step reducing impact and make you more balanced over uneven terrain. To do this, begin the step by relaxing and moving the knee forwards.
4. Maintain a good posture. Chin should be in and pulled back, chest should be out and not sunken, arms loose and relaxed at your sides. Key is not to pull your shoulders back, but to lift your chest gently out in a way that does not add tension to your muscles. This will ensure that you are not building tension and pain through bad posture.

It obviously helps to walk outside in fresh air, preferably in proximity to trees. When you walk with these four points in mind you will amplify the benefit of getting outside and dosing up on vitamin D.

Just like a computer that has to process too much and needs to be reset. Our natural reset is walking. In a very short space of time we can switch off and then on again using walking and keeping these points in mind.

Best wishes,

Matt.