It all started with my decision to practice mindful meditation on my morning walk. I noticed that my walking style didn’t feel natural. It included landing on my heels hard and pushing off from there. If I had been walking on the beach you probably would only have seen deep heel prints and thought it was some strange kind of animal. No wonder my ankles and knees complain at times.
So, I played with changing my walking style. I touched the heels lightly and rolled my foot forward, pushing off slightly with the toes and I used my hips so they could get some exercise too.
What a change! I moved faster with less effort. My body tipped forward a degree or two as it moved more naturally. And, the big surprise was that this moving forward with more ease brought forward a feeling of enthusiasm, a sense of being eager to step into my day.
I started thinking, where else am I digging in my heels? Are there other things in my life that I do as automatically as walking that could be improved? I think so. My yoga instructor says most people breathe shallowly, only using a small portion of their lungs and starving their bodies of oxygen. I think I’m going to play with breathing in more life next. I wonder how that will feel.
Your Turn: Where in your life are you digging in your heels and what would you like to play with doing differently?
