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Walking Your Way to a Better Life
Author KIMIKO was a full time housewife and mother of two children who at the age of 36 discovered the mental and physical benefits of walking properly. Born and raised in Okayama—a prefecture west of Osaka—she attended an all-girls high school and was later hired by the Tokyo office of a cosmetics company. At the age of 27, she took the recommendations of a customer and met a financially secure man of 32 who was being groomed to take over his family's business. Falling prey to her friends' urgings to "marry a rich man" and her own ideas of equating marriage with stability, she got married soon thereafter. Though her husband was faithful, kind, and hardworking, and she provided office work for the family business, she found her marriage wanting until she realized one day that she "had nothing for herself in her life." She felt her "sense of self slipping away." It was then that she decided to take a walking class.
Within two years Kimiko was teaching walking herself, refining the lessons she'd learned in other walking classes and applying life-affirming lessons to her process. Though the basics of proper walking technique and posture are outlined, the extension of spiritual growth and reaffirmation methods from applying them supply the body of the text. Some of the lessons KIMIKO discusses
Within two years Kimiko was teaching walking herself, refining the lessons she'd learned in other walking classes and applying life-affirming lessons to her process. Though the basics of proper walking technique and posture are outlined, the extension of spiritual growth and reaffirmation methods from applying them supply the body of the text. Some of the lessons KIMIKO discusses
- GenresSelf HelpNonfiction
144 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 13, 2011
I don't doubt for a minute that Kimiko's discovery that keeping proper posture when walking and turning it into something you enjoy is good for one's heath and mood, but that statement tells you everything I "learned" from this book.
Kimiko teaches "posture walking" -- essentially walking in a normal, relaxed manner but with good posture -- and spends much of the book explaining how she went from frazzled housewife to independent businesswoman using the skill. Interesting, but not exactly helpful; it's not just the walking that helped her, but the fact that she turned it into a way to make money.
We also learn the benefits of posture walking... sort of. Kimiko has very little scientific backup for her claims, merely generalized observations. And she often doesn't focus on walking at all, but rather keeping a positive outlook on life and finding little ways to enjoy your day. What that has to do with walking I don't know, but it's not very satisfying to pick up a book about walking and end up reading about how I ought to find affordable luxuries to improve my mood.
Again, the advice in this book is sound, but it's just far too unfocused and usually obvious to be worth reading. If you'd like to read about the power of optimism, there are certainly better books for that; and if you're truly interested in improving your walking technique, you're only going to get a few pages worth of useful content.
Kimiko teaches "posture walking" -- essentially walking in a normal, relaxed manner but with good posture -- and spends much of the book explaining how she went from frazzled housewife to independent businesswoman using the skill. Interesting, but not exactly helpful; it's not just the walking that helped her, but the fact that she turned it into a way to make money.
We also learn the benefits of posture walking... sort of. Kimiko has very little scientific backup for her claims, merely generalized observations. And she often doesn't focus on walking at all, but rather keeping a positive outlook on life and finding little ways to enjoy your day. What that has to do with walking I don't know, but it's not very satisfying to pick up a book about walking and end up reading about how I ought to find affordable luxuries to improve my mood.
Again, the advice in this book is sound, but it's just far too unfocused and usually obvious to be worth reading. If you'd like to read about the power of optimism, there are certainly better books for that; and if you're truly interested in improving your walking technique, you're only going to get a few pages worth of useful content.
May 1, 2012
"Realizing how each step connects you to the earth will make you feel joyful. You might even experience a warm feeling like rubbing a whale's belly. (I've never actually rubbed one myself, though.)"
April 27, 2017
Not actually about walking, but rather about good posture. A really adorable read that wants to be Marie Kondo's THE LIFE CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP. Mostly fluff.
Still, it got me fired up about working on my posture, and it was a nice bit of end-of-the-day cheer--you can read it in about 45 minutes.
Still, it got me fired up about working on my posture, and it was a nice bit of end-of-the-day cheer--you can read it in about 45 minutes.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews