Walking up and down stairs helps to maintain mobility in your hip joints, legs and back. The old agade use it or lose it applies here. People that don’t walk stairs on a regular basis eventually get rusty and then actively avoid stairs.
Seek out stairs to help you stay young and agile. Aim for at least one flight a day.
But it is important to be aware of how you are walking up and down stairs so you can do so easily. Try these tips to help you:
- As in walking on a flat surface, think of the back leg and foot giving you the power to move forward and upward rather than pulling yourself onto stair with your leading foot. Try climbing a stair with each intention and notice the difference.
- As you walk up, notice where you direct your gaze.Try to maintain your focus directly on the stair in front of you. When you do so notice the angle of our neck, the shape of your mid back, the length of your stride and the movement in your hip joints.
- Then go up again and shift your gaze a few stairs higher up rather than onto the one directly in front. As you do so notice how the shape in your back changes, whether your neck lengthens and what happens in your breastbone and in your hip joints. Does the quality of your breath change?
- When you go down the stairs have a soft focus to maintain your long neck and back. Relax your toes and ankles to better enable your back heel to peel off the stair behind you.
