There's a lot of talk about the connection between the body and the face. It's true: an asymmetrical body creates a symmetrical face and vice versa. Let me explain!
The muscles of your face are connected to your body through tendons that attach to bones. So if your body is asymmetrical, so will the muscles in your face. An asymmetrical body causes asymmetry in the face and vice versa. I'm going to show you some examples of how bad walking can create an asymmetrical body and how to fix it!
1. Shoulder down
If you're like me, you've probably wondered why people walk asymmetrically. I know I have!
It's always seemed odd to me that most people don't walk perfectly symmetrically—that one side of their body is usually more extended than the other. And if you're like me, you've probably wondered if it was something about your body that made this happen. But after some research, I've realized that it's not just us—it's everyone!
Asymmetrical movement can also happen with our heads: we might tilt one way while walking straight ahead, but tilt the opposite way when we turn around to go in the other direction. This results in a very slight head rotation towards one side or another as we walk around corners. It's almost impossible not to do this—it's hardwired into our brains!
2. Arm imbalance
I've been working on my walking posture and I've seen some really amazing results. One of my really amazing friends in Japan is the world-famous walking instructor Kimiko, and we did a video a couple of years ago so check it out if you haven't watched it because there she's introducing three tips for good walking posture. She works her way up from standing to sitting to walking, which is great because it gives you time to practice each step individually before moving on to the next one.
One of her points is arm balance—she always says you kick back but instead of walking like this with your arms straight out in front of you, looking forward for the first no instead of kick back and kick back keep coming back this kick back thing is more important than anything else. And then arm two: You wanna kick and swing your arms back not forward like this very lot of people are doing this—if I exaggerate that's what happens when I see someone who's walking asymmetrically; it looks like they're only swinging one arm forward too much.
3. Rhythm
Asymmetrical walking is something that happens to everybody, including those who walk perfectly symmetrically.
It's normal! It's healthy! It's a natural part of life. It just means you're being human!
The key to making asymmetrical walking work for you is finding ways to balance it out. Maybe that means taking smaller steps when you're carrying heavy grocery bags—or maybe it means taking bigger steps when you're walking with a backpack on your back. Either way, your body will thank you for working with it instead of against it!
Let me summarize the three bad asymmetrical walkings that you might be doing so you can stop right now. First off is shoulder down. If you're doing this, it means your shoulders are rolling forward and overworking the muscles in your back, which can lead to all kinds of problems. You want to make sure that your shoulders are always level with each other, like so:
Next up is an arm balance. This one can be tricky because it's easy for people with weak arms or wrists to use their upper body too much as they walk, but if you find yourself doing this one a lot then chances are you have strong legs but weak arms. The best way to fix arm balance is to practice walking with a ball—just hold onto it and walk around while holding it at chest level.
The last bad asymmetrical walking pattern that I want to talk about today is rhythm. This one can happen when you put your feet down too hard or too soft, or if one foot hits the ground at different times than another foot does when you're walking (one foot hits first).
