Open The Gait!

Categories: Blog Aug 23, 2015

It is our gait pattern that was designed to keep us strong, mentally and physically. Rolling, crawling, walking, climbing and running is what builds, heals and shapes our brains. These cross-lateral patterns, these gait patterns, are also what ties our bodies together by establishing our solid foundation of reflexive control. When we first learn these patterns and then engage in them regularly and consistently as we were designed to do, our body becomes able to express all the movement and strength potential that we were created for.

It is our cross-body form of locomotion that builds true strength and resiliency. Without engaging in rolling, crawling, walking, climbing or running regularly, we allow the superhighways of neural connections in our brains and throughout our bodies to erode and fade away. We become less efficient and sending and receiving information throughout our nervous system, our focus wanes, our creativity dies, our reflexes slow and become dull, and our mobility and strength become imprisoned.

It is not that we have to roll to become strong. We don't have to crawl everyday either. But we do need to express and move through our gait pattern, in one form or another daily and often. Yes, rolling is a gait pattern. It is foundational to crawling. It begins tying opposite shoulders to opposite hips. Crawling is also one of the movements of our gait pattern. It teaches opposite limbs to work together in rhythm and prepares us for walking, climbing and running. These movements are special, they do build, heal and keep our bodies well. As special as the movements are, it is the program, the operating system, that is truly special. It is the internal operating program that gives power to these movements. In the program, rolling is crawling is walking is marching is climbing is skipping is running. Does that make sense?

So you might ask, if the power lies in the program, is one expression of gait really better than another? The answer is always yes, but it depends. For a person who owns their full reflexive control, walking and running my be the most powerful resets, gait patterns, they can engage in. For a person who is wheelchair bound, cross-crawls (touching opposite limbs together - same program) will be a better movement to engage in. For a person who has a brain injury or has suffered some type of physical trauma where they cannot fully use their limbs well, climbing on a VersaClimber may offer the best way to tap into their internal program and integrate all their limbs in unison together.

The best gait pattern for you is the one that you need to engage in due to the state of your reflexive strength and control. That is the beautiful thing about our design. No matter what state your body is in, there is a level of movement, a reset, a gait pattern that is best for you at the time. And, if you engage in this program at the appropriate pattern when you need it, the brain and body restores itself (they are one) and you renew your foundation of reflexive strength and control. You become strong and resilient, able to be and live in life as you desire to.

We are supposed to walk through life, in one form or another. It is our gait pattern, our cross-body, contra-lateral limb movements, that builds true strength and health. They keep us strong, in mind and body. If you are not as strong as you know you should be, as you want to be, it may be time to explore the movements of your internal program. If your loved one is barely able to get up and down from a chair, it may be time to tap into their original operating system and start relaying their foundation. Strength can be renewed and it can be kept throughout a lifetime.

If you don't know how to walk, crawl. If you don't crawl well, roll. If you crawl with ease, explore climbing or marching. Engage. "Open the gait," go in and out using all four limbs. It is powerful.

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