Walking Backwards

Tai qi is a very popular form of excercise in China - especially for the elderly, who find fencing and pole vaulting too strenuous. On the drive into the office everyday I see hundreds of senior citizens practicing tai qi on the sidewalks, in parks, and in front of department stores. It looks easy but anyone who has tried it knows it 's harder than it looks. Balancing is the most difficult part as the practicioner moves from one stance to another. Some of the elderly tai qiers exhibit a grace and ability I could not have achieved at 20. One old man I saw in a park was repeatedly doing an impossible limbo-like move that involved squatting on one foot and sweeping the ground with the other, extended leg.

One particularly odd thing I've noticed over the last few months is the number of senior citizens walking backwards down the sidewalks in Shanghai. I inquired about this and was informed that it is a form of tai qi. This is what "Ask Ayi" had to say in her blog about this:

Walking Backward - China抯 ancient Mountain and Sea scripture records the exploits of an itinerant immortal who could walk backward faster than the eye could see. Walking backward has been popular ever since. The movement exercises muscles that are not used in ordinary walking, especially in the back, waist, thighs, knees and lower legs. Some people believe walking backwards is akin to a karmic reverse, allowing you to correct mistakes and sins of the past. A version of the walking backward exercise is the walking-backward-while-rolling-magnetic-balls-around-your-hands movement. The magnetic balls electro-magnetically massage acupuncture points in the palms and give aging wrists good exercise.

To me, walking backwards over the obstacle course-like sidewalks of Shanghai seems a dangerous pasttime. The cost / benefit ratio on health benefits would seem to be in favor of the cost side.