Walking Backwards

Usually just for fun, I sometimes turn on and off light switches with my feet. Occasionally, I’ll open and close doors with my toes, flush the toilet and lower the toilet seat with my feet. Other times I’ll walk through the apartment backwards or make random spins before turning corners or sitting down. I say “usually just for fun,” because sometimes I’ll do these things when I’m feeling stressed and I need to lighten the load on my mind.
When I took a depth psychology class the instructor mentioned an ancient Chinese sage who said the best way to shake up one’s chi was to fall off of a horse. No horses were available, so we experimented with less jarring methods of shaking our minds out of their rut. Try crawling around on the floor and see how that shifts your perceptions. For the less self-conscious, or those who want to challenge their self-consciousness, crawl around in a public place like the airport, a library, or a park. Merely shifting the level of your eyes changes your world. Stand on a chair or table in a room you think you know and you can suddenly experience a whole different room.
I still vividly remember when I was about 7 years old hanging my head over the edge of a bed and looking at the ceiling. I had never seen that angle before. I realized that if the house was turned upside and we walked on the ceiling, we would have to step over the door jambs, and avoid light fixtures. I still feel that same sense of weirdness when I recall that afternoon.
Other fun, mind expanding activities include brushing your teeth with your non-customary hand. What had been an automatic chore can make you wonder if you have ever even brushed these teeth before. Try buttoning a shirt or zipping up a jacket with opposite hands. Some in the meditation world call these and similar activities “mindfulness exercises.” No offense intended, but I think that’s an awful thing to do to a fun, spontaneous, mind shifting, spirit lightening twist in the day. Why must we turn walking backwards into an exercise? Seeking enlightenment doesn’t always have to be strenuous, backbreaking work. I sometimes wonder if we utilize serious terms like “mindfulness exercise” in order to make enlightenment (or “evolving consciousness”) seem more respectable? Who in the larger world can argue with work?
There is a lake near my home that has a huge pile of boulders arranged as a breaker wall along the shoreline to prevent erosion. The boulders extend for over a quarter mile. I love stepping off the paved path and maneuvering from rock to rock, one end of the breaker wall to the other. At first I think I was attracted to this because as a kid, safety minded adults rarely let us play on such “dangerous” things. I was living out frustrated kid-ness. After traversing this breaker wall a few times over the course of a couple weeks I began to notice that my comfort level increased, my balance improved, my sense of awareness increased, and my focus regarding where to step became tighter even as I moved more quickly. Also the muscles in my calves and thighs firmed up and took longer before feeling tired. I suppose these benefits could all be considered the result of exercise – physical and mental – but the results are not why I walk on the rocks. I walk on the rocks because it’s fun, because it makes me feel better, and because I can.