It is essential to have a better knowledge of the composition and structure of our body, that is, of the arrangement throughout it, of the different parts, elements and systems that make it up.
There are 206 bones that give structure to the human body (Future Post WALKING AND THE 206 BONES OF OUR BODY) and 660 muscles that compose it (Future Post WALKING AND THE 660 MUSCLES OF OUR BODY). This bone and muscle constitution must be taken into account to know how our body responds, both physically and mentally, to the functional aspects of its symmetry.
Undoubtedly, the human body has a functional symmetry. The better we understand how the body moves and the functions performed by joints, muscles, bones and ligaments when performing certain movements and actions, the easier it will be to improve the execution of the mobilities (physical displacements) necessary for the practice of a given exercise or sport, always looking for its structural balance.
Thus, balance and symmetry are two fundamental aspects that must be taken into account for any type of body exercise.
A) The human body keeps a balance when walking, not only because of the symmetry of the body -defined by volume, mass and weight-, but that balance that is achieved and maintained by the existence of a centroid line, which is a dynamic line that divides the body longitudinally into two volumetric parts with equal weight, as it moves.
B) Every exercise should be performed taking into account the symmetry of the body, that is to say, to perform it for the two symmetrical sides of the body and according to that dynamic line. (Future Post THE PRACTICE OF THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM USING THE TWO SYMMETRIC PARTS OF THE BODY)
The human body is constructed with parts symmetrical with respect to a vertical axis of symmetry, as we see in the previous figure and in the following one.
We have limbs, lower and upper, in pairs; and even almost all the external senses and organs are housed symmetrically in both parts of the body, except for some which are not in pairs.
All the external senses exist in pairs, except taste, which must have a physiological reason to be unitary and individual.
That is to say, we could assure that the left part is equivalent to the right, the human body being divided by a vertical line passing through its middle part.
Thus, we have 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 feet, 2 heels, 2 ankles, 2 knees, 2 buttocks, 2 hands, 2 wrists, 2 elbows, 2 shoulders, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 2 eyes, 2 cerebral lobes, 2 testicles, 2 ovaries; all of them equidistant to a central, longitudinal axis, which separates them vertically and symmetrically, in a single plane and equidistantly. There is no other axis that divides the human body symmetrically.
The sense of sight can clearly illustrate this symmetry and give us some valuable information as to why we have a paired constitution. Binocular vision allows us to focus on objects at variable distances, through the phenomenon of convergence. This is a coordination that is done with binocular vision, that is with the 2 eyes, to place the images in an exact point of the retina and send the message to the brain. In this way we can calculate -approximately- how far –or near- an object is from us. If we cover one of our eyes, we will realize that this calculation becomes more difficult.
Bipedalism -walking on two legs and feet- is an activity that should continue to be deeply analyzed in the future to better understand its functionality and the benefits it generates on the entire human body, physical and mental.
Now, the LINE OF GRAVITY and the POINT OF GRAVITY, are 2 parameters functionally equivalent to the concept of centroid that we use in engineering to calculate the moments (Force x Distance) of the different elements that are used to study the loads and efforts of the materials and the metallic, concrete, wood and other structures. In planar figures (geometric or any other configuration) it is not advisable to talk about the force of gravity, since they are figures that are only “ideally” defined in 2 dimensions. In the analysis of our subject, being the human body the main object to be exercised, we must consider for its observation and treatment, the 3 dimensions since it is a volume and has a weight, so it is essential to use the concept of gravitational force, since among other technical and functional aspects, it is required to place it under analysis and observation (exams and laboratory tests) of its operation with respect to the gravitational phenomenon (Future Post A SMALL STEP FOR A MAN, A GREAT LEAP FOR MANKIND).
In itself, gravitation is one of the important phenomena that we must take into account for the observation and examination of the functioning of the human body.
There is no doubt for us, at present, that the human body is practically symmetrical physically with respect to that vertical axis; but surely it is also symmetrical with respect to the cerebral-spiritual functions (Keep in mind what was expressed in Post TOTEM AND WALKING-PART I, ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASPECTS, about what I consider spiritual [*]). That is to say, the activities we develop also have a symmetrical effect on the brain functions and the aspects of creation and creativity generated by our mental-spiritual part. All the exercises that we perform -as we have already mentioned- must be based on the 1st fundamental principle of the WALK-RWD system so that they are carried out in a harmonious way with respect to the vertical axis or alternating the 2 respective symmetrical members.
[*] We said in that Post: “I would like from this moment, at this level of the Blog, to mention that when I use the word “spiritual” I am not referring exclusively to the religious concept; of course they are intimately related, but they are not equivalent. Religion is an evolved phase of Magic and Totemism, as James George Frazer rightly mentions, and spirituality is the sensitive and dynamic force (energy), which escapes the rational and the senses for its quantification, dimensions and power, through which, the human being develops certain forms and religious aspects, but also dozens of other functions and soul operations, which only with this ethereal energy, constitutive of being, we can achieve”.
We should always keep in mind this dimension of the bodily, mental and spiritual symmetry of the human being, because effectively, only by maintaining the body in a correct symmetry of weights and volumes, including areas (Future Post THE MAN OF VITRUVIUM AND THE PROPORTIONATE WALKING OF THE HUMAN BEING) we will be able to keep a corporal balance, and therefore, to facilitate all the other activities that we develop while we walk.
About the mental aspects, I expressed in Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING: “So much has been experimented that walking promotes the harmonious functioning of the cerebral hemispheres, that there is no doubt about it. Walking is an exercise that causes effects on the 2 symmetrical parts of the human body, so any exercise that generates it, will have similar effects (Future Post THE SYMMETRY OF THE BODY, ITS BALANCE AND WALKING), as long as they are not gymnastics or sports too strenuous, exhausting or violent”.
On the other hand, perhaps we could differentiate the physical-anatomical axes from the almathic or hermetic ones, such as those we observe in the conceptualization of the CHAKRAS. The latter irrigate the spiritual body along an axis that is also vertical, but of the almathic, not somatic, type.
The CHAKRAS remain on the same symmetrical anatomical-physiological axis. The axis of the CHAKRAS is of the hermetic-almathic type (Future Post WALKING ALONG WITH OUR CHAKRAS).
Thus, each of the symmetrical and proportionate parts that make up the human body can capture the reality of the world in a specific and different way from its corresponding symmetrical one, and the joint work of the pair, by the simultaneous harmonic perception and its dynamic-energetic assimilation, allows us to have a better complete and unique representation of the external reality -as we explained in the case of the sense of sight). It is a known fact that the very functioning of these symmetrical pairs and their respective perception, being different in realization and perception, is due to their direct or crossed connections with the 2 cerebral hemispheres; these being the ones that contain dissimilar mental neurological functions, and that by receiving the information of the symmetrical pairs, they retransmit compositive images to the other double parts of the human body and to the rest of their own constituent elements and to other systems, organs and glands.
Walking is beneficial for the development of all these functional actions, communications and transfers. The reason for this, from the mechanical point of view for bodily locomotion, is that the body keeps its balance better supported by two elements than by only one. And in relation to the external senses it is probably because they work better in pairs to distinguish and better perceive the motive, object or external stimulus, since they must be located in time and distance. In other words, two vectors of the same sense are required to better locate and distinguish the respective stimulus, both in its distance and in its temporal disposition. These functions of the human body is where we can appreciate them more objectively the dimensions of time, distance and number (periods of exercise, speed, acceleration, even limbs and organs, etc.).
Walking benefits, drives and stimulates: a) physical equilibrium, b) mental-cerebral equilibrium and c) instinctive-spiritual equilibrium. The first one moves us bodily and harmoniously through all external physical environments; the second one allows us to develop mentally, intellectually and emotionally, in the social environment that surrounds us; and the third one guides us in a prudent way, through the path of intuition, imagination & creativity.
Therefore, all exercise activities that we develop, and mostly in our own walks, we must take into account this constructive structure -of symmetry, pairs and dynamic balance- to maintain the stability of the body, physical, mental and spiritual. In this regard, we must keep in mind that the human body – I repeat- has only one axis of symmetry: the vertical axis. There is no other. And that will be the axis on which we will have to program and project the exercises.
In general terms, we can affirm that due to the symmetry of the human body itself, the physical exercises, whatever they may be, should be carried out considering it, even if in a simultaneous way, using the two symmetrical limbs (arms, legs, etc.), or alternating one and the other, if not immediately, then with small inter-phases.
In my own experience, when I am walking, I perceive that my two cerebral hemispheres begin to work together. I realize this because the responses I get during my walks are different from when I am static, abstaining from my daily walking. Type of ideas are different, they are less in quantity and of course, the best ideas come to me when I am walking. (Future Post WALKING VERSUS SITTING, STANDING, LYING DOWN).
Of course, as I have already mentioned, this symmetrical structure of our whole body, acts on that healing and creative potentiality, which emerges from within us, when we are walking.
In future Post LISTENING TO OUR BODY WHILE WE WALK, we present a whole series of mechanisms that we must use to become aware that our body is permanently communicating with us, and how to understand it in its symbolic language.
I do the same in some future posts:
In the future Post THE MAN OF VITRUVIUM AND THE PROPORTIONATE WALKING OF THE HUMAN BEING, the proportionality of the areas, volumes and weights that must be considered to perform any walk is explained.
In the future Post BODY PARTS FOR WALKING- CARE OF THE BODY we explained in a general way the care we should take with our body, and observe the aspects of balance and symmetry, which are essential to developing our walks, in an adequate and healthy way.
The body should definitely not be put to work while we walk, subjecting it to excessive loads or overloading it asymmetrically:
As shown in the figure above, we should not cause a displacement of the verticality (vertical axis) during the activity of walking, so we must be very careful with the objects we carry, especially with those that are heavy to move comfortably.
Even if they are marginal, these displacements generate physical disarrangements in the body that can have medium or long term consequences, important deviations in the spine or simply reductions in the ease of walking or speed.
The correct position for a walk is to maintain a strict perpendicular to the plane of the ground where we are walking, both frontal and lateral. In the following 2 figures we can observe this required perpendicularity:
Any exercise should always be performed taking into account the symmetry axis, either simultaneously or alternating. For example, lifting both arms at the same time or first one and then the other. The alternation does not necessarily have to be immediate, we can -depending on the exercise- perform it 3, 6 or 10 times a symmetrical part (arm, hand, leg, foot, etc.) and then the other symmetrical part, the same number of times we exercised the first of them. The latter is imperative and irrefutable, since both parts must be exercised the same number of times and with the same speed, intensity, effort and periodic duration.
Finally, it is worth asking ourselves the question, if this awareness of the symmetry that we must take care of when putting into practice the WALK-RWD system, will also help us to improve our body and our mind? Of course it will, with the commitment that the exercises we perform are carried out for both symmetrical parts of the body.
An illustrative example is that of the skateboard, although this is only for the mechanical device and not for the electric one. Clearly it is observed that the exercise that is developed is of dissimilar effects for the symmetrical parts of the organism. This is not a typically healthy exercise for the human being. However, if we were to perform it alternately, it could be considered healthy; that is, 10 exercises with the left leg and 10 with the right leg, and so on indefinitely. The body always responds to the rhythms, to the measures and cadences to which we submit it, as long as they tend to a mechanical symphony that considers its symmetrical parts, its proportions and its natural inclinations to its mobility, to keep its balance and correct development.
In this exercise of the mechanical skateboard it is clearly observed that the person’s body is positioned in an eccentric way, in addition to the fact that the exercises performed, for the whole body, are carried out in an asymmetric and unbalanced way.
The solution is to alternate in its mechanical practice; for example, to propel oneself with the left leg 10 times and to alternate immediately with the right leg with 10 impulses, and so on without limit.
The case of the rowing boat clearly illustrates what happens, both in the efforts and in the advance.
When you push the boat by rowing with only one arm, you are moving forward but in circles. It is the same when we exercise with only one part of the body, we develop the exercise but only for one part of the body, in an unbalanced way.
In the practice of rowing in the boat, what should be done, to really move forward, is to alternate rowing with both arms. Exercises should also be performed alternating both parts of the body to achieve a symmetrical and balanced exercise.
If we row alternately, we will observe that the boat will advance correctly and thus the assimilation of the exercises, on our body, both physically and mentally.
The same scheme could be done with the skateboard.
From all the exposed, we can deduce the following principle of the WALK-RWD system, as
1st fundamental principle or Principle of Symmetry:
“All the exercises to be performed must be carried out with respect to the vertical axis of anatomical symmetry of the human body, either simultaneously or alternating the 2 respective symmetrical limbs, always in a harmonic way, in both options”.
Walking is an example of the application of this principle, with respect to the second option of alternating the respective symmetrical limbs, in this case, the legs, knees, ankles, and feet.
However, the 2nd fundamental principle of the WALK-RWD system, generated in Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING-PART I, implicit but not expressed, should also be taken into account. Its definition is expressed in the second part, in the future Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM STIMULATES CREATIVE THINKING. PART II, precisely to abound in what are the unbalanced postures (Future Posts THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND KUNDALINI YOGA and WALKING IN THE YOGAKARA) and the “unbalanced” states in movement, such as walking, which generate very important effects in our brain and body (stable unbalanced movement):
2nd fundamental principle or Principle of Dynamic Equilibrium:
“Keeping the body in physical movement through walking, generates by itself a vibration of the brain, which causes it to enter into an imbalance and normal functions are carried out and effects are generated, of the dynamic type, on the different systems, organs and glands of the body”.
Let’s revive our limbs, muscles and joints of the body with walking, taking into account these 2 principles of the WALK-RWD System.