LMA Approach to Walking

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So far, we've covered breathing, seeing, easing, and tempo. The next movement theory and practice is walking.

Priming was the count-in for our moving and breathing. Now, we will express this tempo through the consistent swaying of our legs and arms: walking.

In the video, I'm walking and breathing with intention. I use a metronome as a guide to decrease conscious effort. A lot is happening here that needs unpacking.

LMA walking

Feel your connection with the ground as you walk and move through space.

Walking sets the movement and tempo for the rest of training. In fact, everything else we do is modified walking. Regardless of how spirited our training and sparring games become, it's always rooted in our walking tempo, momentum, and inertia.

As you begin walking and moving through space, feel your connection with the ground. In physical terms, connection is your body's attachment to a surface—in this case, the ground. Rooting is a deep and firm connection for support.

Surface contact is a broader way to think about ground connection. It's the connection between two surfaces. Even when two objects touch, only a certain portion of their surface areas will be in contact with each other. A surface contact describes the connection between parallel surfaces. In LMA, we call this a seal. Surface contact and feeling what that feels like in the body is important because, later on, you will also be connecting with other people.

Base of support is the ground surface supporting your body. It's your points of contact with the ground surface and everything in between. A chair's base of support is the four legs and the area in between. If you're standing evenly, it's the length of your feet from front to back, the width of the outside edges of your feet, and the area in between. If you stand staggered, it's the length between the lead foot and rear foot, the width between them, and everything in between. The longer and wider apart your feet are the more base of support. The closer your feet are, the less base of support.

Friction is the resisting force between two surfaces. The ground surface resists against you; otherwise, you'd sink or slide. The more surface contact, the more friction.