Listen to Your Footsteps

Heelstrike Audio Biofeedback:

A cool way to give yourself some feedback as to whether or not your lateral hips (the muscles that control the hip list) are engaging well in your walking gait is to listen for the sound of your footsteps. If your heel strike is audible with a big “thud”, that’s a pretty good indication you are falling forward onto the next step. If your heel strike is soft or barely audible, then you know you’re on the right track. The term Heelstrike can be a bit misleading because it seems to indicate striking the ground with a lot of force. I would prefer the term, Heel Touch or Heel Connect because your lateral hips can control the downward phase of the hip as the leg swings forward and the heel can come softly to the ground. This helps mitigate the force of impact your body has with the ground on each step, it can save your joints, and also keeps you from experiencing the micro-whiplashes caused by falling onto your foot with each step.

Take a listen to the audio and see if you can hear the difference. Then try it out while you walk!

You could also use this as a walking meditation to draw your awareness both into your body and your senses as you connect your feet to the earth.