Walking Backwards

     I recently finished Yann Martel's book, The High Mountains of Portugal.  The book tells three interwoven stories with a how-about-that ending.  As he did in Life of Pi , Martell writes unbelievable stuff and has the reader believing.  In the book's first narrative, a young man named Tomas grieves the loss of his paramour and son by walking backwards.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that walking backwards is "a thing," and not something made up by Mr. Martell.
     The Chinese have been walking backwards since ancient times.  Backward walking or retrowalking has been proven to be a better cardio work out than walking forward, and the Chinese believe that walking backwards staves off Alzheimer's disease.  It is a common site in China to see seniors gather in the morning and retrowalk around the local track.
     Studies show that walking in reverse increases heart rate, but is the true cause of that increased heart rate from fear of falling?  Anxiety makes my heart race, and marching around blindly would certainly have me in an anxious state.  Some people like to run backwards, and I read that running uphill backwards is "relatively" safe.  Running downhill backwards falls somewhere between imprudent and harebrained.  Another variation is to walk backwards on a treadmill.  That's definitely harebrained.
     Reading books is supposed to provide food for thought.  I started to dwell on all things done the opposite way.  The first thing that came to mind was playing Beatles' songs backwards. Playing recorded music backwards is called backmasking, and the Beatles were far from the first to use it.  Thomas Edison, the inventor of the phonograph, found some pleasing melodies when he turned his wax cylinders in the opposite direction.  The movie "Gold Diggers of 1935" included a musical number titled "The Words Are in My Heart" which was filmed backwards with a reversed musical score.  Who hasn't thumbed through a magazine from back to front?  Who hasn't read the last chapter of a book first?  I danced backwards (and in kitten heels) to Mike's lead at our wedding.  The Lakota Indians tell of a sacred clown named Heyoka who does everything opposite of those around him.  Every culture needs a contrarian.
      I'm extremely tempted to contra perambulate around the neighborhood, but I worry that the neighbors will start talking.  Well, slap my butt and call me Heyoka.  Every neighborhood needs a contrarian.  Does anybody out there want to join me?