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For slightly longer lines, the appropriate metaphor is that of a tree: the arms are the crown, the torso the trunk, and the feet the roots. The upper part seeks balance, the central part transmits it, and the lower part anchors and consolidates it in the ground. It is no coincidence that this posture bears a resemblance to the standing-pole positions of Qigong.
Julius Kugy, an alpinist of the early 1900, took particular pride in crossing the narrow, windswept ridge between the Ponze with a gait that was, in his words, "nobly upright." It is a fascinating image, but it speaks of possession and mastery, and here that approach does not work. Instead, we might speak of an "arboreally upright" gait: a way of walking that listens to the heart, the breath, the wind, and the ground. This is what allows one to move forward, constantly relying on the axis that connects the center of the Earth with an undefined point in the sky.