Bi-pedalism (walking) is what humans do. The act of bi-pedalism is associated, of course, with many physiological benefits. The bodies of all beings (no, this is not a typo) experience movement on some level, even if it is just stationary expansion and contractions. The human body, through bi-pedalism, is energetically aligned so as to receive energetic input in the form of Universal Frequencies from SOURCE (GOD). This connection can be enhanced through focused, spiritual walking endeavors. Bi-pedalism affords humans that direct, unobstructed connection to SOURCE.
How do humans get around?? Before planes, before cars, before bicycles, before domestication of beasts of burden, the mode of ambulation was and still is bi-pedalism. Humans walk on two feet. This unique mode of transporting the human body has developed so as to be as efficient as possible. The skeleton is arranged and the musculo-tendonous system is connected so that bi-pedalism is initiated, sustained and supported throughout the body. Humans, though bi-pedal by default, have to use it in order to maintain the ability.
What are the benefits of bi-pedalism?? The entire body receives the benefit of enhanced, increased blood and lymph circulation. The larger muscles in the legs are working to move the body. Specifically for barefoot walking, the foot, ankle and associated stabilizing structures are appropriately exercised and stimulated. The postural muscles and the core work in unison to support the torso. The body functions in harmony with itself; every movement is connected and serves to propel the body. The breath becomes more full and more cyclical, deeper inhalations, longer exhalations. These are only a few of the physiological benefits of bi-pedalism.
All life on earth displays movement on some level. Insects crawl. Microorganisms get around. Rocks and boulders expand and contract. Trees grow leaves and shed fruit, in addition to expanding and contracting. Animals, on land, crawl, fly, and walk. Not to leave out aquatic life – swimming. This movement is evidence of the animating aspect of SOURCE that dwells in all things. There is no place where this animating energy does not extend to. There is nothing that is not affected or influenced by this animating energy.
The human body is structured to directly receive input, through the brain and the energetic body, from this SOURCE provided Universal Energy. Many scriptures express the essential beauty of ‘walking with GOD’ or of walking in the ‘SPIRIT’. We are in communion with SOURCE by walking on the support of the ground and expanding our thoughts upward and outward. At the same time we receive and perceive the penetrating energy and can inwardly connect it to the very depths of our being. Walking, then, can become an active meditation.
Many activities can be meditative. However, walking is an activity that is universally associated with connecting to SOURCE. Jesus, purportedly, walked and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Muslims walk around the Kaaba 7 times. Buddhist practices are rife with various walking meditations. One Buddhist practice is for devotees to walk around Mt. Kailas and prostrate themselves as they walk. This aspect of the journey is very arduous and can take up to 3 weeks to complete. The labyrinth is a meditative pathway which according to history has pagan roots, yet it has eventually found its way into Christian church yards. Walking the labyrinth is a reflective journey of the spirit. The spiritual journey can be undertaken almost anywhere but it is most conducive when the locale holds some spiritual significance.
Bi-pedalism is not only a physiological adaptation, there is a spiritual aspect to bi-pedalism that extends beyond the mere physical. Some of the most grueling journeys are completed not because of mere physical ability. There is a connection to SOURCE, to a motivational, supportive Universal energy that draws out a deeper reserve of strength. That source of strength might lay dormant were it not for the trial of the spiritual journey. The spiritual journey that is facilitated through bi-pedalism can be most rewarding when it is approached as such.
True bi-pedalism is a human trait. The body is structured for humans to easily walk on two feet. Walking provides certain physical benefits to the body, as such. The benefits are many and could easily fill a book. Movement is part of living on the earth. All things on the planet exhibit movement even if they are seemingly stationary. Bi-pedalism afford the human direct input of Universal Energy that descends into and throughout the body. Bi-pedalism is a way to enhance the energies by connecting to that SOURCE which is beyond mere physicality. Humans are part of ALL, bi-pedalism is one of the evidences of that connection.
I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks — who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering, which word is beautifully derived “from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretense of going a la Sainte Terre, to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, “There goes a Sainte-Terrer,” a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander. They who never go to the Holy Land in their walks, as they pretend, are indeed mere idlers and vagabonds; but they who do go there are saunterers in the good sense, such as I mean. Some, however, would derive the word from sans terre, without land or a home, which, therefore, in the good sense, will mean, having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere. For this is the secret of successful sauntering. He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all; but the saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea.” – Henry Thoreau
Ab-Sutra Wellness and Fitness 