How to Make an Infinity Walk

Deborah Sunbeck, a clinical psychotherapist working in behavioral medicine, conceived the "infinity walk" in the 1980s, according to infinitywalk.org. The theory is simple: infinity walkers stride around in a figure eight while watching some sort of visual stimulus that distracts them. As a result, they use more of their brain than if they were just watching or walking, which Sunbeck believes stimulates neural networks, improving both the body and the mind. While books and classes for infinity walking are available, you can try it at home for next to nothing.

Things You'll Need

• Two chairs
• Butcher paper
• Television

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Instructions

Making an Infinity Walk

• 1

  Set a sheet of butcher paper on the floor and draw a figure eight large enough for you to walk along. Teachersalley.com recommends putting two chairs at the center of the top and bottom of the figure, so that you have an added guide to the path you're about to walk.

• 2

  Place a visual stimulus at a 90-degree angle to the figure eight, Sunbeck says. If the eight is aligned north-south, the stimulus should be east or west. In a clinical setting, therapists will sometimes use flashcards or an eye chart-like board with letters and numbers, but Sunbeck says an infinity walk at home can be done by using a television.

• 3

  Turn on the television and walk the figure eight, swinging your arms in the opposite direction to your legs and keeping your eyes on the TV screen, turning your neck to watch as you move. Sunbeck says this stimulates your brain by forcing it to multi-task. Schedule infinity walks as if they were regular exercise walks--five minutes a day, 15 minutes three times a week or whatever arrangement works for you.

• 4

  Challenge yourself by increasing the stimulus. According to the Northeast Center for Special Care, physical therapists may start patients looking at flashcards, then begin asking them questions about what they see on the flashcards, or throw a ball back and forth to the patient as they walk along the eight. Adding to the stimulus keeps the mind from becoming complacent with what it's doing.