Most people never think about how much energy and power they can infuse into their walking just by drawing attention to how their feet contact the ground under them. Your pelvic mobility as well as your feet's connection with the earth or floor both profoundly influence how much your body is propelled forward with each next step.
You can explore this dynamic in a couple of ways. One quick way is to walk around imagining that with each step, as your foot contacts the ground, you are rolling from your heel all the way along the bottom of your foot forward towards your toes. The main feeling you're going for is that walking is not alternately lifting one foot and then the other, but it is rolling across the bottom of one foot and then the other.
You can also improve your ability to do this with Feldenkrais® exercises that will heighten the neural connections between how you use your feet and pelvis for walking. Here's a short sequence that can help:
Lie on your stomach with your legs a little spread and your arms resting on the floor near your face. Turn your face whichever way is the most comfortable for your neck. Position one of your feet so that the bottom of the toes are on the floor, the heel towards the ceiling. Start gently pushing with your toes so that you feel you can use your toes to roll the weight of your pelvis towards the opposite hip. Keep repeating this action many times, starting with very small gentle movements and growing them if they become easier, as they probably will. Make sure that you can easily breath throughout this exercise. You might start holding your breath as you concentrate. As soon as you notice that, return to breathing easily. It may mean slowing down or making smaller movements. That's fine.
Rest for a couple of minutes with the tops of both feet on the floor or on your back. Now repeat the actions on the other side. Be sure to start out with very small, gentle movements. As you feel more clearly what you are doing, it will become easier to make larger movements. You will notice that it feels a little different to do these movements on each side. Also, the direction your head is turned will affect what you're doing. You might want to experiment with turning your head one way and the other to notice the effect.
When you have experimented as much as you want to, take another short rest. Then practice alternating a gentle push from the right foot with a push from the left, back and forth until you feel you can easily feel how to do it.
Stand and walk. See if you feel more power and spring in your step. You may also feel a few inches taller!
If you want more guidance improving your movement the Feldenkrais® way, visit http://www.highfunctionfeldenkrais.com where you can find CD's of lessons you can do at home.
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