CIRCLEWALKING: PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE Notes for Aug 3 2025

With deep respect to all my teachers and training partners, what follows is my current understanding.

“STAY IN THE CENTRE, AND YOU WILL BE READY TO MOVE IN ANY DIRECTION.” ALAN WATTS

Let’s begin with a few open questions:
• Why do we train?
• What keeps us moving with purpose and care?
• How do we return to centre — again and again?

We train for longevity — not just to move well today, but for sustained vitality, mental clarity, and reduced wear and tear over a lifetime. Circlewalking, especially when combined with Qi Gong energy drills, becomes part of a holistic self-care practice. It’s gentle, grounding, and best practiced outdoors in community.

We train to:
– Cultivate a yin body state
– Improve balance and coordination and generate vitality
– Stay connected to centre — physically, mentally, and emotionally

DOWN REGULATING THE NERVOUS SYSTEM – Cultivating a Yin body state is the goal of moving meditation. You start with relaxation and feeling interoceptive awareness.

Cultivating a Yin Body State: How Mind-Body Practices Support Balance and Well-being

Throughout this workshop, we’ll explore how gentle, intentional movement (Circlewalking and qi gong) can help us shift into a more restful, balanced state—what we might call a “yin body.” This state supports deep healing, resilience, and connection between mind and body.

Mind-body practices work by encouraging two kinds of processes that support well-being:

• Top-down processes start in the mind. When we set an intention, focus our attention, or consciously relax, we influence how our body responds. These techniques can calm the nervous system, reduce stress, and support emotional and immune health.
• Bottom-up processes begin in the body. Through slow movement, breathwork, and somatic awareness, we send calming signals back to the brain. This helps regulate the nervous system, ease tension, and improve emotional balance from the inside out.

These practices—whether they come from yoga, qi gong, somatics, or mindful movement—help us self-regulate. That means we become more able to stay grounded and steady, even when life brings stress or challenges.

A key outcome of this work is resilience: our ability to bounce back, stay present, and adapt with grace. A more resilient body and mind respond to stress more smoothly, recover more quickly, and experience less wear and tear over time.

By inviting softness, stillness, and embodied awareness, we create space for the yin body to emerge—calm, open, and connected.

EVERY CIRCLE HAS A CENTRE

Circlewalking is a practice of moving in relationship to your centre. Your centre becomes your reference point — a source of connection, orientation, and self-awareness.

The physical centre (lower dantien) is also a metaphor for your mental and spiritual centre. When we learn to move from this place, we gain two valuable life skills:

1. Resilience – The ability to stay or return to balance when life challenges us
2. Capacity – A wider window of tolerance for stress, emotion, and complexity

The basis of a of a safe practice is staying connected to your centre and remaining active at end range.

CIRCLEWALKING AS MOVING MEDITATION

At its heart, Circlewalking is a form of meditation in motion. Using a slow, deliberate heel-toe gait, we spiral around the centre with mindful structure and intent.

“Slowness of movement is the key to awareness, and awareness is the key to learning and neuroplasticity. Slower movement allows for subtler observation and deeper change.”

We develop stability from the ground up:
– Foot-to-core connection via external rotation
– Alignment of the centre of mass over a strong, quad-dominant base
– A vertical spine supported by intentional breath

It’s about feeling. It’s about focus.
And it begins by simply paying attention — to your breath, your body, and the space around your centre

WAX ON, WAX OFF – THE EIGHT SPINS

The Eight Spins are drawn from Taoist Kung Fu/Yoga training and are fundamental to developing whole-body integration in movement.

They involve shoulder circumduction (circular arm movements at the shoulder) and are designed to establish a strong hand-to-core connection. These spins explore movement in three dimensions: vertical, horizontal, and sagittal planes.
They are created through 2 hands × 2 directions × paired or unpaired combinations — giving us 8 core variations.

Beyond Muscles: Moving as One

One of the key aspirations of Circlewalking and Spinning Hands practice is to train whole-body awareness.

Rather than isolating muscles or joints, we learn to feel movement as an interconnected wave — where force is transmitted from the ground, through the core, and out through the hands.

This taps into the myofascial system — long chains of connective tissue (called myofascial trains) that span the length of the body. These lines support what’s known as biotensegrity — a tensegrity-based model of strength, where power and stability arise through balanced tension and integrated movement, not muscular tension alone.

Strength Without Strain

Unlike conventional strength training that often targets isolated muscle groups in linear patterns, this approach develops relaxed strength — power that is distributed, adaptable, and sustainable.

We begin with:

• Foot-to-core awareness (connection to the ground)
• Then develop hand-to-core integration (extension through the upper body)
• Ultimately, we arrive at a sense of whole-body connectivity and flow

The Eight Spins aren’t just drills — they’re a moving meditation and a powerful way to cultivate effortless strength, balance, and embodied presence. Top of FormBottom of Form

IT’S A FEELING
This is not about style. It’s not about how you look — it’s about how you feel. It’s a heart practice.

Circlewalking is a form of moving meditation, grounded in Taoist practice. We move slowly, continuously, paying close attention to how we feel in relation to the centre of our focus — a point we circle around, both physically and internally.

This practice invites a deeper relationship with your centre, your breath, and the subtle shifts in balance.
It’s about embodiment — internal vs external awareness — and moving from the inside out with softness and intent.

We train:
• Falls prevention through mindful, grounded movement
• Balance and stability in motion
• Peripheral vision and core connection
• Breath-centric awareness to support nervous system down-regulation

Circlewalking is subtle, safe, and inclusive. It builds confidence, cultivates presence, and invites a quiet strength.
This is not a style. It’s not performance.
It’s a feeling.

STILLNESS – MOVEMENT – STILLNESS
How do you move from stillness — and return to it?

In this practice, we activate the microcosmic orbit — the energetic flow through the governing (back of torso) and conception (front of torso) meridians — using breath, intention, and movement.
Inhale down the front body to absorb, exhale up the back body to project. Feel this yin–yang pulse in the joints as you move: absorb/project, flex/extend, pull/push, open/close.

We begin in an open parallel stance, gently bobbing with a quad-dominant squat. Gradually make the movement smaller until stillness reveals your vertical centre — your inner axis.
From this centred stillness, extend up the back body to activate and energise. Then pause… and feel.

From the centre of your body you cultivate a feeling of drawing energy into yourself and condensing at your centre. Then you recognize the expansion at the lower back as you exhale from your centre. You have a physical centre of mass and a feeling centre of gravity. You condense to that centre and expand from that centre.

On the inhale condense on the front and yin lines to the abdomen. On the exhale expand the lower back and kidney area using the back and yang lines. On the inhale condense on the front and yin lines to the dan-tian (abdomen) and sink. On the exhale expand the ming-men (lower back and kidney area) using the back and yang lines, push up and vertically align on the back line..

We explore both the microcosmic and macrocosmic orbits — working with the body’s yin (soft front and inner limbs) and yang (strong back and outer limbs) architecture.
On the inhale, energy condenses to the lower dantien (abdomen); on the exhale, it expands through the ming men (kidney and lower back) and out the back body.

Feel into your structure. Condense and expand in 3D — from and to the core.
Move with awareness. Come home to stillness.

SLOW MINDFUL WALKING VS. CONVENTIONAL WALKING

Aspect

Conventional Walking

Slow Mindful Walking

Speed & Tempo

Typically brisk or habitual; goal-oriented.

Deliberately slowed down; focus on presence rather than pace.

Attention

Often distracted—thinking, talking, or using devices.

Anchored in present-moment awareness—of breath, body, and surroundings.

Posture

Can be automatic or unexamined; head forward, shoulders tense.

Upright, relaxed posture; spine aligned, shoulders soft, movement integrated.

Breath

Often shallow or unconscious.

Breathing is slow, deep, and coordinated with movement.

Purpose

Often utilitarian: getting from A to B, exercising.

Exploratory or contemplative: to arrive in the now, not a destination.

Mental State

May reinforce a state of busyness or disconnection.

Cultivates calm, clarity, and a parasympathetic (rest/digest) response.

Body Awareness

Limited; movements are habitual and unconscious.

High somatic awareness; attention to the sensation of feet, weight shift, and balance.

Connection to Environment

The environment may go unnoticed or be tuned out.

Sensory engagement: noticing sounds, light, textures, and terrain.

Energetic Quality

Often output-focused; can be depleting if stressed.

Yin-like; nourishing, grounding, and restorative.

Traditions/Lineage

Commonplace, secular activity.

Found in contemplative traditions (e.g., Zen, Taoist, Qi Gong walking).

HOW MINDFUL WALKING IN CIRCLES IMPROVES BALANCE

1. Continuous, multi-directional movement trains dynamic balance.
Unlike linear walking, circular walking challenges you to adjust constantly to shifts in direction, which:

• Activates the stabilizing muscles of the ankles, knees, hips, and core.
• Enhances proprioception—your body’s sense of position and movement.
• Builds agility and responsiveness in everyday movement.

2. It integrates whole-body coordination.
As you walk mindfully in a circle—especially when incorporating spirals, turning, and breath—you’re training:

• Upper-lower body synchronization, especially if hands are involved (e.g., in circlewalking or qi gong).
• Cross-body patterns that develop neurological pathways for balance and coordination.
• Smooth transitions between left/right sides and internal/external rotations.

3. It engages the vestibular system in a gentle, trainable way.
Circular walking gently stimulates the inner ear balance system without the intensity of spinning or sudden turns. Over time, this:

• Helps reduce dizziness or unsteadiness.
• Improves your ability to stay oriented during turns and curved paths.

4. It slows you down, allowing balance to be felt and refined.
When walking mindfully:

• You notice micro-adjustments in your feet, spine, and breath.
• You can respond before you lose balance, rather than after.
• You build internal stability by sensing how weight transfers from step to step.

5. It helps cultivate a centred mind and body.
Balance isn’t just physical—it's mental and emotional. Moving in circles:

• Encourages a grounded, yin state by reducing nervous system tension.
• Helps shift from scattered energy to centred awareness.
• Trains the skill of staying balanced within yourself, not just on your feet.