Winter Walking, Trager Style

I sent out a newsletter earlier in the week that suggested taking a walk in the snow and feeling how the light fluffiness of it all could permeate your body/mind and affect how you walk or how you feel about walking. Well, I just got back from such a walk. The snow is coming down fast here in New Paltz - a perfect opportunity to take a walk and enjoy the winter wonderland.

As I was walking with my husband, we started to play in the snow... what else would you do in the snow, afterall, but play. We started walking backwards, sideways and in zig-zags and we noticed something interesting upon walking backwards. Firstly, we noticed that in order to walk, we were using our bodies differently. A little more muscle here - a little less there - head postures changing... But what was most striking was that we could clearly see our footprints in the ankle-deep snow that we were leaving behind us (although they were really in front of us since we were walking backwards). Steve noticed that he was walking with his toes pointing inwards. I noticed that my left foot was totally straight while my right veered out to the right each time.

We both played then with walking as if our heels were leading the motion of each step and both noticed that again, it changed the way were walking and how we felt as we were walking, and all the while, just playing in the snow. Then, of course there were some impromptu sno-cones in our gloves that turned in to a minor, yet cold and wet snowball fight!

What kinds of things do you notice when you are walking in the snow today? Enjoy the exploration of playful movement in this winter wonderland.