The Ways of Walking
Strolling, Sauntering, Meandering, Hiking, Wandering

 

Eight Ways of Walking


Research by Michael P. Garofalo

May 1, 2008

 

Starting on August 1, 2009, this webpage is being developed and maintained at The Eighty Eight Ways of Walking webpage. 

 

© Green Way Research, Red Bluff, California, 2008
By Michael P. Garofalo, All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer

 

Eight Ways of Walking Program
 

These physical-mental-spiritual walking activities or walking exercises, are based on my walking practices and my research into the topic over the past 40 years.  I began my active and serious walking and hiking activities in 1961, studied philosophy as an undergraduate and graduate student, and began the study and practice of internal martial arts and qigong in 1986.  The Eight Ways of Walking program cannot lay claim to an ancient Eastern lineage, although you will find many references within this introduction to methods for improving one's health and advancing one's spiritual progress that are clearly grounded in ancient Western and Eastern psycho-spiritual and religious practices that use walking at their heart.  I also try my best to use scientifically sound fitness practices.    

The central practice of the Eight Ways of Walking is walking.  Lots of walking.  Hours of walking.  All kinds of walking.  Walking slowly, walking a moderate pace, walking at a staggered pace, and walking quickly.  Walking in a straight line, walking in circles, walking sideways, walking backwards, and more walking.  So, if you enjoy walking, and most do who give it an honest and serious try, you may find something of interest in the Eight Ways of Walking Program. 

Actually, this is a 64 Ways of Walking Program.  There are 8 Parts, with 8 exercises per Part.  All 64 exercises will eventually be published on this website and on my Cloud Hands Blog under the category of "Walking." 

 

 

Part 1.: Eight Ways of Walking Qigong
The Eight Million Footsteps Qigong

 

While enjoying my regular walks, I also delight in doing a number of supplementary movements to relax, loosen up, stretch and energize various muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints in my body.  All the movements are done in a relaxed, easy going, soft, and non-aggressive manner.  As with all qigong methods, the specific breathing patterns, specific instructions for the use of the eyes, and specific visualization and imaginative exercises are coordinated with the movements.  The intent of these 8 Ways to contribute to your good health, improve your chances for longevity, increase your vitality, engender a positive and creative mental attitude, help you attain inner calm and equanimity, and to point out a few spiritual and mystical pathways you might choose to follow. All of the exercises, drills, experiments, reflections, and techniques described below are collectively referred to as the Eight Ways of Walking Qigong program, Part 1.      

These walking "Treasures," or useful physical-mental-spiritual walking activities, or walking energy cultivation practices are based upon my walking practices and my research into the topic over the past 50 years.  I began my active and serious walking and hiking activities in 1961, studied philosophy as an undergraduate and graduate student, and began the study and practice of internal martial arts and qigong in 1986.  The Eight Ways of Walking Qigong program cannot lay claim to an ancient Eastern lineage, although you will find many references within this introduction to methods for improving one's health and advancing one's spiritual progress that are clearly grounded in ancient Western and Eastern psycho-spiritual and religious practices that use walking at their heart.  

The central practice in this qigong method is walking.  Lots of walking.  Hours of walking.  All kinds of walking.  Walking slowly, walking a moderate pace, and walking quickly.  Walking in a straight line, walking in circles, walking sideways, walking backwards, and more walking.  So, if you enjoy walking, and most do who give it an honest and serious try, you may find something of interest in the Eight Ways of Walking Qigong.  


This exercise set is designed for use by intermediate Qigong and T'ai Chi Ch'uan practitioners.  Before you 
begin doing the Eight Ways of Walking Qigong program you should be able do the following three activities.  First, you should be able to walk comfortably for up to 90 minutes with continuous effort at a moderate pace of 20 minutes per mile or less.  Second, you should have learned to do some type of
qigong form and have practiced the form for over 100 days.  Third, you should be able to do 20 movements of one Taijiquan form on your own. 


May everyone benefit from our playful walking adventures.  May everyone find their measure of good health, growing well-being, contentment, inner calmness, and insights while engaged in some aspect of the 
Eight Ways of Walking Qigong program.   Let us begin - and step out for a long walk.    

 

 

The Eight Ways Walking Qigong
Part 1 of the Eight Ways of Walking
The Eight Million Footsteps Qigong


1.  The Wise One Just Walks

2.  The Wise One Opens Her Eyes

 

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Return to the Main Index

 

 

1.  The Wise One Just Walks  


Just walk!!  

Relax and let the legs, hips, and arms begin their natural  work.  Don't rush at first.  Ease into your pace.  Breathe deeply and in a natural manner.  Open your heart to the world around you.  Raise your spirits up to the sky and seek some Divine inspiration.  Let your feet settle deeply into this Great Earth that is your home, your sustainer, your place and path.  Make up your mind to enjoy and benefit from your walk this day.  

Is walking really a qigong movement form?  A qigong movement form requires attention, alertness to the 
surrounding environment, balance, physical efforts, regular breathing patterns, the coordinated use of bodily parts, visual scanning efforts, relaxation, erect posture, the use of will and intention, and an inner smile.  So does walking!  So seek in walking those elements that have drawn you into taijiquan and qigong.  
 

Are you energized by your walking?  Are you revitalized by your walking?  Are your taijiquan and qigong improved by your walking?   Is your breathing improved by your walking?  Is your mood improved by your
walking?  Are your spirits lifted by your walking?  Do you find some peace of mind from your walking?  While walking, do you sense the Qi, Prana, Ki, vital energies, or life force awakening, flowing, and growing within your being?  Does walking integrate you with the world, expand your senses, make you whole? 

There is nothing special about walking, and at the same time everything special about this natural, healthful, pleasing, and essential activity.  Be thankful for this ability, and step out and on and on.  

Enjoy the sights and sounds of your outdoor walking environment.  Enjoy the views of the sky!   Look up at the heavens, the clouds, the sun, the moon, the mountains, the trees, the  birds.  Reflect on All that is Above. 

Enjoy the views of the earth!  Soak up the energy from the trees, shrubs, and grasses?  Relate to your human surroundings: houses, roads, animals, sidewalks, and other human beings.  Reflect on All that is Below.    

Throughout your walk you should try to feel shoong - relaxed, light, agile, supple, open, balanced, and energized.  Walk softly!  You should leave your troubled mind and turbulent emotions back at work or home, and walk with a calm, tranquil, and attentive consciousness.  Cultivate a delicacy of spirit.  Maintain some awareness of the sensations, feelings, and state of your body.  Enjoy the world with all your senses.  Seek to maintain a gracefulness in your movements, and seeking for grace from Above and Below to allow your spirits to soar.  

 

I recommend you walk outdoors rather than on an indoor track or on a treadmill walking machine.  Nevertheless, walking indoors has definite advantages during some weather conditions or environmental circumstances, and walking indoors is better than not walking.    

Pay attention while walking and be safe.  Be alert to any hazardous conditions in your walking environment.  Avoid dangerous situations while walking.  Avoid vehicular traffic if possible. Avoid tripping hazards.  Be Aware!

Little more needs to be said other than "begin" or "do it" or "make up your mind to take a walk, and walk."  

 

Scores of books and thousands of articles have been written about the art, science, benefits, playfulness, 
adventures, philosophy, and joy of walking.  I recommend that taijiquan or qigong practitioners read the following three books about walking:  


Tai Chi Walking: A Low-Impact Path to Better Health
.  By Robert Chuckrow, Phd.  Boston, Yang's Martial
Arts Association, 2002.  Index, 138 pages, 40 illustrations.  ISBN:  188696923x.   Mr.Chuckrow was a student 
of Professor
Chen Man-ching, and is a long-time Yang style taijiquan practitioner.  


Way of Walking: Eastern Strategies for Vitality, Longevity, and Peace of Mind
.  By Jacques Moramarco, 
O.M.D., L. Ac., with Rick Benzel.  Chicago, McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books, 2000.  Resources, 213 pages. 
ISBN: 0809225867.  Dr. Moramarco founded the Sun Tai Chi International Association. 


The Spirited Walker: Fitness Walking for Clarity, Balance and Spiritual Connection
.  By Carolyn S. Kortge.  
Harper San Francisco, 1998.  272 pages.  ISBN: 0060647361. 


Walking Meditation: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Resources  


Index to The Ways of Walking Website

 

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Return to the Main Index

 

 

 

 

2.  The Wise One Opens Her Eyes


As you maintain your normal walking pace and practice outlined in Treasure 1, begin to experiment with the use of your head, and eyes, and vision as you continue to walk.  

Experiment 1)   As you maintain your steady walking pace, and in a safe manner, begin by turning your head to the right as far as comfortable and look down and to the back.  Pick some point on the ground and stare at that point.  As you walk forward use you eyes to stare at the point you have chosen.  Your eyes will move to the far right as you move forward.  When the reference point moves out of the line of sight, turn your head and look forward.   Repeat the movement to the left side.  Inhale when the head looks forward, and exhale as your head turns to the side.  Don't strain the neck or eyes.  Repeat the movement of looking back and down 3 to 6 times on each side.  What feelings do you have while looking backward and walking forward at the same time?    

Experiment 2)  Tuck your chin down towards your neck.  Don't strain.  Look at the ground around your feet and a few steps ahead.  Then, lift your head up and look straight ahead.  Move your head down and then
up for 3 to 6 repetitions. Move slowly.  Move gently.  Exhale as you relax and lower your head, inhale as 
you relax and raise your head.  Don't bend your head backwards.  What happens when you look straight
head, and what happens when you look down?  

Experiment 3)  Allow your head to gently fall to the right side, and your right ear to move towards your right shoulder.  Lift your shoulder a bit to meet your head.  Be gentle, relax and move slowly.  Then, slowly move your head back up to the center, head up, looking straight forward.   Do the same movement to the left side - moving your left ear down and trying to touch your left ear to your right shoulder.  Be gentle, relax and move slowly.  Repeat 3 to 6 times.  Look straight ahead during all the movements.  Exhale as you allow your head to tilt to the side, and inhale as your head moves back up to the center and upright position.  What do you see?  What happens?  

Experiment 4)  Allow your head to turn slightly to the right, your neck to bend down, and your eyes to look towards your right armpit.  Then, slowly and gently move your head back up to center and look forward into the distance.  Repeat this movement to the left side, look down at your left armpit, and then return your head to center.  Exhale as you bend your neck and turn your head down, and inhale as you bring your head back up to center.  Repeat the movement 3 to 6 repetitions.  

Experiment 5)  Relax and walk "naturally."  Observe how you hold your head, what you look at, and how your eyes and head move as you walk naturally?  What do you look at as you walk?  How long can you close your eyes and walk, and how do you feel?  How does it feel to walk with your glasses on or with your glasses off?  

Experiment 6)  Observe how you react to other pedestrians or other animals walking about.  At what distance are you reacting to other walkers or animals?  How to you feel as they come closer?  

 

As you continue to walk forward at a steady and determined pace, reflect on the following:

Reflection 1:  Think of a qigong form you practice.  How do you use your head, eyes and vision in some of the movement forms or postures of that qigong set?   Do your eyes focus on a particular point during the particular movement or posture, take a wide angle vision, or just wander?  What are your eyes focused on in "Picking Up the Moon from the Bottom of the Sea" in the Yang Taijiquan form?  How do your eyes move while doing "Pressing Heaven with Two Hands" in the Eight Section Brocade qigong form?  

Reflection 2:  Is the world you gaze at "the world" or "your world"?   To what extent is anything you see independently real or inter-subjectively real?  How do you "see" things?  Can you change your "point of view."   Isamu Noguchi once suggested that "We are a landscape of all we have seen."  How do you "view" various matters?  What is your "perspective?"  Is seeing believing, and/or do you believe in states of being that you cannot see?  Think about the many ways in which vision is used as a metaphor, and its domination of our sensory and psychological consciousness.  The Catholic philosopher, Teilhard De Chardin, once said, "The whole of life lies in the verb seeing."

Reflection 3:  Do some reading about the vision systems of various animals.  How and what do they see?  Can they see in color, are they nearsighted or farsighted, what is their angle of vision?  What kind of visual consciousness does an owl possess?  How does moving and acting affect one's vision?  Heinz von Foerster, a system's theorist, once observed that "If you desire to see, learn how to act." 

 

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Michael P. Garofalo's E-Mail

A Brief Biography of Michael P. Garofalo

 

Red Bluff, Tehama County, North Sacramento Valley, California

Red Bluff, Tehama County, North Sacramento Valley, Northern Central California, U.S.A.
Cities in the area: Oroville, Paradise, Durham, Chico, Hamilton City, Orland, Willows, Corning,
Rancho Tehama, Los Molinos, Tehama, Proberta, Gerber, Manton, Cottonwood,
Anderson, Shasta Lake, Palo Cedro, and Redding, CA, California.

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© Green Way Research, Red Bluff, California, 2008

This webpage was first published on the Internet in 2000. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ways of Walking

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