Beauty may be skin deep, but gracefulness goes down to your bones.
– Kathleen
Graceful motion seldom comes without effort to man or woman. You can watch a graceful body — female or male — and the motion will appear to flow naturally. In fact, gracefulness comes from a disciplined economy of motion. A female body’s appearance is enhanced by graceful motion, and does not invite an observer to see a man.
The limbs move no more than they need to before they arrive at the end of their travel; they need not snap back to the right place, because they have stopped at the right place. The torso, likewise, moves no more than it must to enable the limbs to move where they must.
Gracelessness abounds; too many people have been taught to hate their own bodies. You can watch people on the street, at a shopping mall, even walking down the hall at work or school. You will see
I know there are people with physical deformities; I do not make fun of them. Nor do I make fun of those whose off-center gait is the result of pain or injury — I have certainly had both pain and injury more than a few times. In the absence of injury or pain, however, you can smooth out your motion with deliberate attention and practice.
When I was a young boy, we made fun of the girls walking with a book balanced on their heads. Well, maybe it’s funny to see, but it works! To keep the book balanced, you need to move smoothly, keeping your head centered. Try it. You don’t have to practice hours a day — a few minutes will give you a feel for how you can control your body to move smoothly and fluidly.
If you are self-conscious doing this in boy-mode… good! You can allow yourself to feel relaxed, graceful, even radiant, when you do this in girl-mode.