Stepping to mind, body, and soul improvement

Walking outside is a luxury most of us can afford. Beyond enjoyment and health benefits, walking is useful for more than you might think.

"Demons Hate Fresh Air" is one of my favorite Kleon-isms. This truth comes to mind daily. Going for a walk is the best simple solution if I’m feeling cloudy, cranky, stuck on a project, frustrated with someone, in need of new ideas, or trying to solve a problem.

No matter what I’m lacking, mentally or physically, walking can help. Especially now. It’s an enjoyable act that I can do from our front door.

Walking can lead us nowhere.

The best walk is one with no destination in mind. Just start moving. This is where the duality of walking shines bright. It’s both physical and meditative. I am in motion but not the movement is not too strenuous that my mind must be focused. My mind can wander but not relax so much that I could fall asleep. 

Scott Adams (author of Dilbert) suggests more daydreaming can benefit all of us. "The power of daydreaming is similar to the power of well-made movies that can make you cry or make you laugh. Your body and your mind will respond automatically to whatever images you spend the most time pondering. Imagination is the interface to your attitude. You can literally imagine yourself to higher levels of energy."

There’s no better way to daydream than to wander old worn trails or down new streets. The thinking that occurs is comparable to shower thoughts. Ideas that come to us in these moments are only connected by unplugging from a focused routine. Our brains need spaciousness and unfocused time to digest. We are able to integrate overlapping ideas and create new thoughts by embracing some slack in our days.

Walking can help us think. 

Writers and thinkers have been crediting walking for their ideas forever.

Nietzsche said, "It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth."

Kierkegaard commented, “I walked myself into my best thoughts”

Thoreau wrote, "Me thinks the moment my legs begin to move my thoughts begin to flow.”

Seneca advised, "We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing."

Walking can be exercise.

Any movement is good. There’s no secret way to a healthier and longer life. The more we move during the day the better our bodies will respond. 

Brad Stulberg sums it up best. “Move your body often, sometimes hard.”

Individuals who walk live longer. It’s proven to sharpen memory, drop blood pressure, and strengthen your immune system. 

As far back as 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates was aware of walking’s health benefits. He emphasized that “no medication could have such a broad effect as simply putting one foot in front of the other.”

Walking can wake us up.

Walking is the simplest and most effective way to get my blood pumping. An early morning walk primes the body and mind. The fresh air is invigorating to my lungs, brain, and helps me shake off the cobwebs of motionlessness. Early morning walks are the most potent but this is applicable any time of the day. Leave the headphones at home, take a few belly breaths and just start moving. 

You will feel more alive immediately.

Walking can be meditation.

The steadiness of one foot in front of the other can be hypnotizing. Walking helps free any rambling thoughts in my head and focus on the present moment. One step at a time. The Buddhist practice of Kinhin or “walking meditation” is the movement used after a long session of sitting as a way to unlock a different kind of stillness that traditional meditation cannot.

When I return from a good walk my thinking is clear, my mind is calm, and I feel more content and present. This sounds exactly like the benefits others receive from meditation. Walking is simply the version of meditating that I enjoy most.

Walking can help us see our world as it is. 

The worldview from Twitter or the latest CDC update is bleak. In reality, our world can be more positive if we look up. Walking paths near me are crowded during the day with neighbors I’ve never seen. There are more kids on bikes. We see our neighbors in a new element. They are doing yard work mid-morning and practicing their golf swing without leaving the backyard. When we go for a walk, we see the world as it is, not through a screen. This is what we all need to see and keep in mind. Everyone is affected by this odd and uncertain time (originally written April 2020). While we are sheltering-in-place, we are doing it together and this is a shared experience, no matter how separated we are.

Each walk is new. I can walk the same sidewalks and paths each day and so much changes. Springtime may cause a lot of this, but I also see different birds flying overhead and I seem to spook the deer in new areas.

Walking can take us somewhere.

Since moving away from Chicago, I rarely walk as a form of transportation. Walking in the city is one thing I miss the most. By walking from place to place, we are forced into a limited pace. We notice things that otherwise would be missed by riding in a car or even on a bike.

As children we learned to walk and simultaneously increased our ability to discover. Journey’s of discovery are something we gradually do less as we grow old. Walking allows us to hold onto to these discoveries. There is a thrill to not knowing what we may encounter as we walk. Go explore and discover something new.

Walking can help us remember.

Walking slows us down when we need it. We have all experienced walking while truly lost in thought or struggling to remember something. We automatically slow our pace as we attempt to pull a memory from our subconscious. This also proves why the faster we are rushing through a task, the more likely we are to forget some part of it. 

Milan Kundera shares, “The degree of slowness is directly proportional to the intensity of memory; the degree of speed is directly proportional to the intensity of forgetting.”

As an example, in Slowness, Kundera describes a man walking down a street, trying to remember something he has forgotten. In this moment, he automatically reduces his speed. Another man, who is trying to forget an unpleasant experience that he has just had, does the opposite and picks up the pace without a second thought, as though he wishes to escape from what he has just experienced. 

Walking can let us be in control.

Time passes more quickly the more we increase our speed of travel. I remember flying halfway around the world from Kathmandu to Reykjavik. The time change literally stole a few hours, but by the time I landed we had done nothing and an entire day had passed. 

Kagge explains, “This is the secret of traveling by foot. Life is prolonged when you walk. Walking expands time rather than collapses it.”

In our normal lives things are moving so fast that by walking we deliberately are taking back a slice of our time. For the moment we are in control of that time because the speed as which we move is limited. While walking we can stop and look at something whenever and however we feel like it. And then continue on. This stretching and slowing of time can bring order to the rambling chaos in our minds. 

Kagge again, “Chaos is king when I first strike out on my walk, but as I arrive, things have become more orderly, even when I haven’t given a thought to the chaos as I’ve walked along.”

Walk on.

Walk alone or with others, but always keep a notebook (Field Notes work best) on hand to collect those walking thoughts. 

* a reminder from Erling Kagge -  Weather should never deter me from getting out the door - “To take walks in fair weather alone—remaining indoors during wind, rain or snow—is to forgo half of the experience. Maybe even the better half.”

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