Tai Chi Walking

Catherine Lawson

For those of us who like to get out in the fresh air and stretch our legs with a long walk, it’s hard to imagine there might be a better way to do it – walking’s just walking, right? Not so. There are, in fact, many ways to super-power your walk to experience additional benefits for physical and mental health.

Nordic walking, for example, involves striding out with special poles so that you engage your upper body and core muscles, burning more calories along the way. Japanese walking adopts a form of interval training – three minutes at a brisk pace followed by three minutes at a slower pace and so on – designed to support heart health and longevity. And parkour inspired urban walking (popular in France) involves ‘creative’ and spontaneous walking, jumping, and climbing in public spaces – not one for the faint hearted. Tai Chi walking, on the other hand, is a slower, more deliberate kind of walk rooted in the martial art from which it gets it’s name.

The primary aim of Tai Chi walking is not to increase our cardio, burn more calories or extend our range of motion (though it can help with all those things): the aim is to slow everything down a beat, taking more controlled steps which align breathing and posture in an almost meditative style. By taking more deliberate steps, focusing on the intentional shifting of balance between one foot and the other in smooth, continuous movements, we can experience both physical and mental benefits.

Physically, it’s a technique that strengthens leg muscles and joint mobility, in turn improving balance and stability – key benefits as we age. Mentally, it’s meditation in action – a means of nurturing a sense of calm through gentle, repetitive movements. Of all the walking techniques doing the rounds, this is one which helps nurture a better connection between body and mind – something from which we could all benefit in today’s fast-paced world.

So what exactly does it look like in practice? Smooth and steady is how it looks. It starts with you standing tall and straight backed – aware of posture – and then, as you shift the weight fully to one leg, you slowly lift the other foot, before placing the heel down slowly, and stepping in a rolling movement from heel to mid-foot to toes until all the weight is transferred to that foot. You then start to lift the other, and so on… It’s more fluid in practice than it sounds but when the pace picks up, it feels natural and intentional. Over time, the benefits speak for themselves.

It may be a walking practice that originated in China, but it can be seen right here on our Ayrshire streets and beaches now as walkers maximise their time spent outside –walking in fresh air and enjoying the benefits associated with the simplest of exercises. As with the ancient martial art from which it derives, however, there is power in that simplicity.