Product Description

A revolutionary program that blends the health benefits of walking with the core principles of T'ai Chi to deliver maximum physical, mental, and spiritual fitness

The low-impact health benefits of walking have made it one of the most popular forms of daily exercise. Yet few people experience all the benefits that walking can offer.

In ChiWalking, Danny and Katherine Dreyer, well-known walking and running coaches, teach the walking technique they created that transforms walking from a mundane means of locomotion into an intensely rewarding practice that enhances mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Similar to Pilates, yoga, and T'ai Chi, ChiWalking emphasizes body alignment and mindfulness while strengthening the core muscles of the body.

The five mindful steps of the ChiWalking program will get anyone, regardless of age or athletic ability, into great shape from head to toe, inside and out.

1. Get aligned. Develop great posture and better balance.

2. Engage your core. Make back and knee pain disappear.

3. Create balance. Walk faster, farther, and with less effort.

4. Make a choice. Choose from a menu of twelve great walks such as the Cardio Walk, the Energizing Walk, or the Walking Meditation, to keep your exercise program fresh.

5. Move forward. Make walking any distance a mindful, enjoyable experience, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned walker.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7139 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743267205
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"This program will totally revolutionize the way you run."

-- Baron Baptiste, author of Journey into Power

"ChiRunning gave me a precious gift. After being unable to run for ten years because of injury, at age 52 I'm again enjoying pleasurable, injury-free trail runs in the Shawangunk Mountains.I can now move on land with the same economy, flow, and mindfulness that make swimming such bliss for me. I tell people that ChiRunning is an owner's manual for anyone who has legs and the desire to use them for health and happiness."

-- Terry Laughlin, author of Total Immersion

"The most exciting and revolutionary book to hit the running community this decade."

-- Toby Tanser, author of Train Hard, Win Easy

About the Author
Danny Dreyer, an esteemed walking and running coach, is a nationally ranked ultramarathon runner. He conducts workshops nationwide and lectures frequently at races and events. He is the coauthor, with Katherine Dreyer, of ChiRunning.

Katherine Dreyer brings to this book more than twenty years of experience in the health, personal growth, and fitness fields. She now works with Danny to create ChiRunning, ChiWalking, and ChiLiving programs.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I'll never forget being in Ireland thirty some years ago, stretching my legs on a nice walk in the glorious, early-spring countryside. After spending fourteen and a half hours cooped up in a transatlantic flight the day before, I was primed for a vigorous outing. I was living in Boulder at the time and was trying to wean myself off of unnecessary driving. As a result, I had taken up walking as a way to learn to slow myself down and add some spaciousness to my life. I was "between jobs" so I took the opportunity to explore the country where, I had been told, my ancestors on my mother's side of the family once lived.

As I began my walk, I noticed an older gentleman about 200 yards ahead of me, apparently also out for a walk. Young and out to prove myself, I challenged myself to catch up with him and seize the opportunity to meet one of the "locals." I knew I'd have to walk a bit faster, but I was confident that within a short time I'd be on his heels.

Forget it.

Try as I might, I soon realized that he was pulling away from me, and even though he was at least twenty years my senior, he seemed to be disappearing into the distance. After about ten minutes of this nonsense, I gave up my quest, totally humbled.

So much for meeting a local and so much for thinking I was a fit walker.

In the following days, I noted that most people in Ireland walked as a matter of course. They were all fit beyond belief, and their faces sparkled with rosy cheeks and that zest for life for which the Irish are famous. Walking, I came to realize, was in their blood and played a large part in keeping them healthy and happy -- along with their music, storytelling, and ale, of course. That trip to Ireland was when I first allowed walking to have a sacred status in my life. I saw it for the vital, long-term value that it offers.

When I was in New York City recently, I felt a nice sense of camaraderie with the people on the street. They were all walking. I'm sure the reason was not so much for its health reasons, but because walking is often the most convenient way to get from one part of Manhattan to another. I observed what seemed like an unusually high percentage of physically fit people. But contrary to the Bay Area, where I teach walking classes, New Yorkers don't dwell on how much walking they do, they just accept walking as a part of life. They do it because they have to, and most of them inadvertently end up in better shape because of it. It's the nature of walking.

Marjorie, my 86-year-old neighbor, goes out for her ritual walk, rain or shine, twice every day for 30 to 45 minutes. She's in amazing shape for her age. She still lives alone in her home of fifty years and drives her friends to their doctor's appointments. She volunteers time at the public library, takes herself to church every Sunday, and cat-sits for us when we're out of town. She tells me that walking is her connection to living a healthy and vibrant life, and says that she's thankful for every day that she wakes up and goes out for her walk. Marjorie sees the incredible benefit that walking provides. It's as important to her as going to church -- and it should be. It inspires her mind, activates her body, and nourishes her soul.

In our first book, ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-free Running, we wanted to share with runners the potential for running without the pain and injury that everyone associates with running.

In this book we are coming back to our first love, walking. And in chapter 8 of this book, we share perhaps our favorite activity, hiking. In writing this book, Katherine and I both realized what a powerful impact walking has had on our lives. Katherine has been a walker most of her life, spending countless hours as a teenager walking and exploring Connecticut with her dog. I have spent some of the most joyous times in my life hiking and discovering myself and the beauty of the Colorado Rockies, where I spent most of my life. When Katherine moved to Colorado, she too spent every weekend exploring the high country.

(Although Katherine and I have written this book together, whenever you see "I," it's me, Danny speaking. When Katherine's speaking, we'll indicate it, and when you see "we" it's from both of us.)

Walking is a wonderful thing and a natural part of many people's lives. In many European countries it is common to take an after-dinner walk. But whether you walk out of necessity, because you enjoy it, or because you're working toward improved health, it is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet -- period. It gets you into great shape quickly and can have a dramatic impact on your immediate and long-term health.

For those who are looking to get started on a fitness program, it not only allows you to get started easily, painlessly, and joyfully, it also offers enormous, long-range potential.

ChiWalking can be adapted to any walking program and offers limitless possibilities for gaining mastery over your health and overall well-being.

In this book you'll be introduced to the most revolutionary approach to walking since the invention of walking shoes. We will explain the connection between chi and walking and how you can use walking to access this very powerful source of energy that is always available to you.

ChiWalking draws on principles borrowed from T'ai Chi, an ancient martial art based on the energetic balance of the body. In T'ai Chi, creating balance is both the means and the goal. The same is true for ChiWalking. For instance, you can create energetic balance in your life (the goal) by creating balance in your body with an aligned spine, a balanced walking form, and a great program (the means).

I went to my first T'ai Chi class ten years ago, on the recommendation of a friend. T'ai Chi had always held a fascination for me because I had wanted to explore my Chinese heritage from my father's side. As I walked into class that evening and watched Master Xilin leading the class in a most powerful yet graceful way, a remarkable feeling of "being home" swept over me. I felt that joyful sense of familiarity that comes when I run into an old friend on the street. I immediately knew that this was where I wanted to be. Over the next two years, I learned an entirely new way of relating to my body and to movement in general -- a way that involved moving consciously from my center instead of haphazardly moving with no particular method in mind. When Katherine and I began applying these principles to our own walking and teaching others what we were discovering, we began to see truly remarkable results in a relatively short period. Aches and pains were disappearing. Our clients were noting that they could walk farther and faster with much greater ease and enjoyment. Our distance-walking clients were requiring no or greatly reduced recovery times. Since then I have seen thousands of people learn how to access and direct the flow of their energy (chi) by using the ChiWalking technique and reap the many benefits of creating balance and alignment in their lives. Here's a particularly exciting story from a retired colonel of the American armed forces, now working in Colombia against the proliferation of drugs:

Katherine,

I just returned from a week with the Colombian police locating and destroying cocaine labs. These labs are hidden deep in the jungle ravines.

The typical operation begins with a helicopter landing on a mountain ridgeline, followed by a steep descent to the lab. The lab is destroyed, and then the fun part begins with the ascent back up to the helicopter landing zone. Some of these ascents can take longer than an hour. The men carry 40 pounds of gear.

I applied your same principles to my "life" this week. I did not muscle my way up the hills; rather I "chi'd" my way up. I concentrated on the principles and focuses, not on the daunting task at hand. Result: the easiest week I have had since I started the job. Every morning I bounced out of bed ready to go, as if I had done nothing the day prior -- unlike the 65 other people I was with.

After the second day, I shared your discoveries with my partner, and as you might expect, he had the same results. I plan to pass these points on to the Colombian police.

You probably should write another book for Mount Everest expeditions.

-- Regards, Kevin

I continue to study T'ai Chi in San Francisco with Master George Xu and am constantly reminded of the power of chi and the remarkable difference it can make to learn to direct this invisible force. According to the Chinese, chi (pronounced chee) is the life force that animates all things. It flows through your body along a system of meridians. They're like electric circuits that carry your chi energy throughout your body, most importantly to your internal organs, your muscles, and your lymphatic system. The existence of chi in the body cannot be measured with scientific instruments, but what has been documented are countless cases of the effectiveness of Chinese acupuncture in healing everything from incontinence to cancer. For generations, the Chinese have learned to sense and direct this subtle energy through the practices of T'ai Chi and Chi Gung. But let's be clear: you don't need to know how to do T'ai Chi to sense and to direct your chi. Through the ChiWalking exercises in this book, you will learn how to set up the right conditions for chi to circulate freely throughout your body, and you'll learn how to tap into this limitless source of energy by practicing these Five Mindful Steps in your walking. You don't even need to understand what chi is to practice ChiWalking. Nonetheless, you will be able to feel more abundant energy -- and that's what matters most.

I begin every walking class just as any good T'ai Chi teacher would, by focusing on posture and alignment. T'ai Chi and ChiWalking both start by teaching you good posture, just like your mother always tried to do. Th...

Customer Reviews

Much better than expected
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 Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

If you love to walk, don't pass this book by!
****
"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.
****

Danger of knee injury
Chi Running is one of my favorite running books because it taught me to run in a way that is effortless and natural. In Chi Walking, running coach Danny Dreyer applies the same principles to walking, but in my experience this does not work. The basic method in both books is to let the body tilt forward slightly so gravity pulls you along. In running this works fine because your feet land more on the toes thus absorbing the weight of the body with no shock. In walking however you land more on the heels or midfoot, so if you are tilted forward falling towards gravity, the full weight of the body slams the knees with each step.

After trying this method of walking for half an hour I was feeling this slamming and tension in my knees, and figured I might be doing it wrong. I carefully reread the instructions and made the forward tilt very slight, tried to land on the midfoot rather than heel, etc., yet still the knees were slammed with each step, and all my back muscles became tense from holding the slight tilt position. After three miles, I stopped because it was quite clear I was forcing my body into an unnatural motion and damaging it.

I looked on Mr. Dreyers blog where he notes that "umpteen" reader have complained that their feet were "slapping the pavement much harder" with this approach. He acknowledges that landing on the heels in this way is indeed "unhealthy for your knees, the slapping can bruise the metatarsal heads." He suggests that a change of technique--landing on the midfoot directly under the body, and twisting the pelvis--will completely eliminate this hazard. In my experience this is simply not true. These corrections slightly soften the bow, but there is still a noticeable shock to the knees on each step (the full weight of the body hits the knees at once instead of rocking onto them).

Mr. Dreyer as pictured in the book is a very light, small-framed person, so he can probably get way with walking like this. A heavier person using this approach regularly will in my opinion almost certainly damage their knees over the long term (or more likely they will stop using it because it feels so jarring and unnatural). The corrections Mr. Dreyer suggests are complex, subtle and insufficient to fully eliminate the increased shock of this method.

In my opinion this is a very risky technique, virtually impossible to use without shocking the legs and knees, hence the one star.

Addendum: The day after my three-mile trial of Chi Walking my knees are aching like I jumped off a ledge. Looking through my racewalking books, all advise upright posture, warning that a forward tilt puts strain on the neck muscles and knees. Ron Laird, who won more national championships than any other racewalker, writes in Fast Walking, "Keep an upright posture with your hips directly underneath you... leaning too far forward from your ankles or waist puts extra pressure on the knee joint."

I think Mr. Dreyer is unwise to assume the many readers who complained are all doing it wrong. They are alerting him that his emphasis on forward leaning is imbalanced and potentially injurious.