The way you walk can affect your health, with bad habits causing everything from back pain to ankle instability.

After observing the students in his own yoga classes, a New York-based instructor, Jonathan FitzGordon, realised that most didn't know how to put one foot in front of the other. “People would do beautiful yoga and then, as soon as the class ended, would leave with terrible posture.”

So convinced is FitzGordon that most people need to relearn the basic act of walking that he launched his own method of “walking yoga”. “The body is like a machine,” he says. “Each part has its own job, but everything is connected.” He trains people to walk with feet parallel, weight evenly distributed and body aligned to reduce joint stress, tiredness and back pain while improving physical performance. Walk this way...

1. Your ears, shoulders, hips and ankles should all fall in a straight line.

2. Unless you're going uphill, your buttock muscles should have no active role in walking. Untuck your tailbone so that your bottom juts out slightly. This makes the buttock muscles relax and helps to recruit the deeper core muscles to hold us upright.

3. Think about keeping the muscles of your inner thighs back so that your legs fall directly underneath the pelvis. This keeps the pelvis level and the spine balanced.

4. The stomach muscles should be strong and engaged so that you are using your entire core section as you walk.

5. Imagine a string being pulled from the back of your head, allowing the chin to fall to level and the throat to soften.

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