Walking with Ease

These women are carrying water pots on their heads. They turn their heads and talk to one another while the pot stays perfectly still. Beneath it, everything moves: their pelvis springs with every step, their arms and legs swing in rhythm, their spine rotates with it. The men who briefly come into view walk in just the same way.

This really excites me. Watch it again and see how they do it: they move their whole axis. Upright, almost regal, and relaxed at the same time. Most of us put our legs out in front first while the rest of us lags behind, and that costs more energy. When you walk like these women, you move from your centre, light and balanced.

What would that be like for you?

Needing less energy to walk, so you can spend it on the things you enjoy. Going for a walk without it costing you the rest of the day. Climbing the stairs without sore knees. Gardening without your back protesting.

Troubled by any of these?

• balance problems
• a bunion
• heel spurs
• a sprained ankle
• a painful knee
• bursitis around the pelvis
• a nagging, stiff lower back
• shoulder complaints
• a stiff or painful neck
• stiffness after walking

These complaints have more to do with one another than you might think. A restriction in one place often goes unnoticed. The overload that follows somewhere else, you hear loud and clear. That's why this work begins with your feet, even if your feet don't hurt.

Wobbling better is the best fall prevention

Balance isn't 'standing still'. With every step you fall forward a little and catch yourself again. If your whole body moves with it, that happens by itself. If some parts stay stiff, others have to work harder: you swing your arms more, or hurry into your next step.

On a flat floor you hardly notice. On a woodland path or on cobblestones, you do. What you learn in class isn't to stand stiller but to wobble better, spreading the work across all the joints that can move.

Anyone who feels unsteady on their feet starts looking at the ground. It seems safe. But... your steps grow shorter, your balance gets worse, and you see obstacles later. If you can keep your eyes on the horizon, you take in your surroundings and your body falls into an easy rhythm of its own accord.

Flat feet and a dropped forefoot

When you're standing, most of your weight should fall through the rear bones of the foot, which are large and sturdy and made for carrying load. For most of us, too much weight lands on the ball of the foot. A foot that works well spreads that weight across all the joints of the midfoot. If your arch stays short and stiff, the midfoot doesn't open towards the ground and only the ball of the foot takes the weight. Your toes grip the floor to keep your balance, and that's how hammer toes develop.

The flat foot is the other side of the same coin. It does spread, but doesn't spring back enough before you push off. Of the two, it's usually the easier one to get working again.

Bunions

A crooked big toe usually develops because the midfoot is too stiff. With every step, the joints on the inside of the foot need to open towards the ground. If the midfoot doesn't do this enough, or not at the right moment, the big toe joint opens extra far to make up for it, and the toe starts to slant.

A stiff ankle can be a second cause. If your ankle doesn't bend enough, your feet turn outwards as you walk and you push off through the inside of the foot instead of straight ahead. All that pressure then ends up on the big toe joint.

Seen this way, the crooked toe isn't the problem. It's the solution your foot has found for something else that isn't springing along with it. Support from outside helps with the pain, but at the same time it takes away the stimulus to keep springing by yourself. In class we work on your toe, your midfoot and your ankle, so that together they can once again do what each step asks of them. If a joint has been fused or is permanently restricted, the movement it can no longer make has to be distributed well elsewhere.

What the class looks like

Your way of moving is stored in your nervous system like a fingerprint. Injuries, accidents and operations change those habits. Finding your way back doesn't happen by itself; it's a learning process. When you perceive, feel and move with care, your brain makes new connections with your muscles and fascia.

We work standing, sitting and lying down. You experience and explore what you do and what you no longer do, how to bring more movement into the parts that stay relatively still, and which timing and sequence you need to walk fluidly.

You also learn simple fascia techniques to do at home, on your own or with your partner on the sofa, massaging each other's feet while you tell them about your class.