Everywhere, there exists 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 all of this, is one thing that creates me rub my sleepy eyes and look again: sets of women are walking backwards inside 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 look simple, nevertheless the main reasons why it is a sound practice are profound. Read about several:

1. As we grow older, our concern with falling causes us to react wrongly. When babies fall backwards, they only plump right down to a sitting position, but this tendency disappears as we mature. Many falls turn out going backward because we arch our backs. Walking backwards rounds that part of our back that people arch, and encourages ‘forward’ muscle use.

2. Everything that is wrong relating to your posture originated walking forward! Slumping, slouching, rounding, arching…all of the improper habits. Walking backwards reverses these habits.

3. From an energetics standpoint, walking backwards actually re-frames consciousness within our bodies. The simple explanation is our attention is likely to favor top of our own bodies on the exclusion of what’s behind us. Chinese health insurance and martial exercises both encourage ‘whole body’ awareness for ‘whole body’ health. Walking backwards generates a ‘sensor’ to integrate the therapy lamp.

4. Walking backwards actually engages different groups of muscles. This is important especially as we get older, since we lose flexibility and our flexibility often diminishes. By utilizing different muscles we exercise elements of the body that require attention.

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