VI. WALKING — DOCTOR LAKE

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”

– Buddha

Shelley Lake, Falling Man, digital scene simulated GIF animation, 2019 — Shelley Lake, *Falling Man*, digital scene simulated GIF animation, 2019

Walking, like breathing, is profoundly important. Instead of passively waiting for someone else to fulfill our desires, walking symbolizes the ability to go after what you want. Walking energizes. Walking facilitates the calf pump, a pump comparable to the heart as an advocate for the circulatory system. Walking engages the respiratory apparatus, forcing the diaphragm to communicate with the chest and abdomen–unifying the upper and lower body.

“A person who doesn’t breathe deeply reduces the life of his body. If he doesn’t move freely, he restricts the life of his body. If he doesn’t feel fully, he narrows the life of his body. And if his self-expression is constricted, he limits the life of his body”[21]

– Alexander Lowen, M.D., Bioenergetics

Shelley Lake, Jeremiah Crosswalk Composite, 2020, 90 frame simulated GIF animation — Shelley Lake, *Jeremiah Crosswalk Composite*, 2020, 90 frame simulated GIF animation

Oppositional cross crawling movements of each arm build a neurological bridge between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Locomotion in the gravity field strengthens the musculoskeletal system and helps restore balance, alignment, and immunity.

[21] Lowen, Bioenergetics, 43.