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Our environment is three-dimensional, and movement has a direction. Nurturing movement means diversifying not only how we move but also the directions in which we move and how we perceive our surroundings. Here, I am engaging with LMA's principles of Wayfinding through backward walking.
In the video, I lean my trunk backward to propel movement, relying more on sensory feedback rather than direct visual perception. The perception of my feet, acoustics, memory, peripheral vision, deduction from the available environment, and even the smell of the pool guide me. By engaging these often-overlooked senses, I expand my action capabilities and deepen my connection to my environment. This approach exemplifies Wayfinding, as I actively infer my path from the information landscape available to me. LMA's Wayfinding is meant to be accessible to anyone in any situation. When needed, I glance over my shoulder, emphasizing adaptability over rigidity.
Target fixation offers a valuable lesson: if I fixate on the pool with anxiety, I increase my likelihood of falling into it. Conversely, by fostering ease and focusing on the shape I want to create, I can navigate smoothly. In LMA, you, your emotional state, perception, path, and movements are flexible.
I am not using the pool to demonstrate LMA's principles of Wayfinding as an idealized example, nor am I suggesting that you do something similar; instead, it reflects my material conditions. It was the only available space where I could walk in a large circle and document it on my phone. The LMA approach conforms to our abilities, disabilities, conditions, and situations. Rather than deny or blame ourselves for our conditions, we adapt to our conditions, making them collaborators in our training.
Backward walking challenges forward-dominant movement patterns imposed by colonial frameworks of linearity. By diversifying movement and expanding perception, we not only enrich our embodied knowledge but also disrupt the narrow confines of repetitive, task-based motion. This explorative activity deepens our relational understanding of the environment as dynamic and responsive rather than inert. It also deepens our trust in ourselves and our senses. In LMA, who we are is our engagement with our environment. There is no self without the environment—the land and the sky—and our connection to our environment—our senses, kinship, belonging, history, experience, and so much more. Without this understanding, you will never understand anti-colonial struggles.
[Sometimes, people will ask me to explain the Liberation Martial Arts approach in a nutshell. But if backward walking can't be explained in a nutshell, how can I ever explain LMA in a nutshell?]
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