Walking Habit: Orientation of the Feet

How do you walk? 
When did you learn to walk?
Did you ever alter that way?
Do you limp? How?
 
I was a dancer and my feet were turned out all the time—like, even when I walked, I was doing ballet. And when I turned my feet in, I only turned my feet in—but whatever happens with the feet, affects the knees and hips—and, you guessed it, everything all the way up through my neck and head.

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When I've had hip, back, or even neck pain, there have been many reasons. And, I’ve learned also that pain in my back can be perpetuated by how I organize myself from the ground up.
 
The Feldenkrais Method®  isn’t about thinking yourself into the "right way" to move every part. Instead, it is a way of orienting attention, creating experiences and a quality of attention to those experiences, so that I can distinguish between what it feels like to walk well—powerful, soft, so easy that it is like someone else is walking me along--and what it feels like to walk my habitual pattern. I don’t always walk “perfectly”—Instead, I have many ways to walk to suit my shoes, the terrain, just like we all do.

The "magic" comes from the quality of my attention, the ability to sense, and the ability to play. Through these, I can find out what I am doing, and then I have the opportunity to accept myself as I am, while also expanding my possibilities.

Play along:

1. Walk, freeze everything except your legs and feet.
2. Walk, let everything move, except your arms.
3. Walk, turn in your feet slightly, and move anything you want. Go slowly, and make sure you can breathe. Take the time to sense what is moving in your hips, back, ribs, neck, head.
4. Walk, (if you are in a small space change directions) turn out your feet. See how much movement is required of you. Turn in your feet. Turn out your feet.
5. Walk, normally. How does it feel?