ChiWalking: Fitness Walking for Lifelong Health and Energy [Paperback]

When my grandfather had open heart surgery at age 85 some 20 years ago, he was one of the oldest people in the United States ever to have done so. The reason the doctors were willing to perform the risky surgery at all was because he was in otherwise outstanding health, primarily due to his daily two mile walks. He not only had a full recovery, but continued his routine until shortly before his death at age 98. That says a lot about the power of walking for fitness, especially for those who are unwilling or unable to run. Having said that, however, I couldn't imagine that you'd need to know much more about walking than whatever is required to motivate you do to it in the first place. Apparently I was wrong...

In this surprisingly engaging tome you will learn about intelligent walking, ways to move more efficiently and healthfully as you walk for pleasure or exercise. The authors describe a five step process: getting aligned, engaging your core, creating balance, making a choice (e.g., cardio walking, energy walking, and meditation walking), and moving forward. Contents include body alignment, balance, focus, body sensing, flexibility, breathing, and other important aspects of a healthy exercise routine. There is also some good information that compares and contrasts on- vs. off-road walking (or hiking) as well as treadmill routines. There are also short sections on nutrition, choosing proper footwear, and other peripherals too. It feels like the authors were stretching to find new things to say that were not repeats of their previous book Chi Running in many places, yet it was surprisingly good nevertheless.

Chi Running was a great book, one I've found personally quite useful, but I had very low expectations for this one. I was pleasantly surprised. It really is a pretty darn good tome, particularly if you have not read the first one.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Blinded by the Night, among other titles

****

"ChiWalking: The Five Mindful Steps for Lifelong Health and Energy" is a life-changing book for a walker. ChiWalking is essentially a way of using the body's energy system to maximize your walking experience. This encompasses a variety of things, from the form or posture you use when walking, to how you move, to what you think of or meditate on or focus on, and much more.

Before I started ChiWalking, I had a lot of pain in my left hip. Since learning the ChiWalking technique, I have no more hip pain.

However, I availed myself of much more than just the ChiWalking book. I started with the book, and thus understood what I needed to do and why. I am not very good at translating something from a book to action, so I wasn't able to duplicate the movements on my own from just the book alone. I would not blame this on the book, however, because the book is very clear, and would be really beneficial for those readers who can pick up mechanical movements from illustrations and exposition. I then purchased the ChiWalking DVD, which helped a lot. I saw people practicing what I had read about in the book. Still, I could not translate that into action, mainly because of my learning limitations. However, it excited me and motivated me to take a ChiWalking seminar in a nearby large city. In the seminar I received feedback as to what I was doing wrong. This was what was most helpful to me. Without the book, however, I would not have had the background to fully implement the instruction I received or to really incorporate it into my walking practice.

The ChiWalking book thoroughly explains theory and practice behind ChiWalking. It is where you should start to find out if ChiWalking can help you to be a better walker. It explains all steps, skills, technique, how to design a personal program, variations such as hiking, off-road walking, and treadmill walking, plus various specially designed walks to develop your "chi" or overall energy.

If you love to walk, you should own this book. If you want to walk, but have had problems doing so, you should own this book. Even if you just implement the proper form in your walking, you will benefit from reading "ChiWalking". If you are intrigued at all by the idea of your personal energy system and walking, I would highly recommend this book.

****

I persevered with "Chi Walking" techniques long after they caused back pain thinking the pain was caused for some other reason or I just needed to polish the techniques.

In retrospect, there much misinformation in this book, but I think there are four errors of advice that affected me negatively the most.

Firstly, Dryer suggests walking with a "pelvic tilt" (or retroverted pelvis) that leads to back tension. Secondly, Dryer suggests tilting forward to walk which stresses many muscles and encourages a hard landing on the foot. Thirdly, he suggests not pushing with the toes which fails to use the right muscles for walking. Fourthly, he allows the hands to come forward to the body's center-line which pushes the shoulders too far forward.

Gokhale's 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, and Foot (Remember When It Didn't Hurt) describes "Walking as a series of forward propulsions, not falls", which is basically the opposite of "Chi Walking". Practicing Gokhale's theory and techniques for several weeks has mostly undone the damage and eliminated the pain that "Chi Walking" caused me.

If you try "Chi Walking" and it hurts, don't persevere because you've probably already mastered the techniques all too well.