It’s National Walking Month, and isn’t it lovely to be able to walk when and where we want this year, not subject to the restrictions we have encountered in the last few years. It leaves me wondering if we are celebrating our freedoms enough, given what we have collectively been through since 2020.
We can now travel to the wild and wonderful places in our beautiful country, and in most other countries too. As the weather warms it’s a great opportunity to enjoy the hidden gems near home too, perhaps places you have found in recent years while spending more time at home. Why not walk a different way to usual and explore different paths? Or extend the length of your walks day by day to reach new places?
Walking has a rhythmical quality to it, it can be soothing. The reason babies like to be rocked is because it re-enacts for them the motion of Mum walking when they were in utero. We can be soothed by walking any place, just by placing our attention into our body and feeling the sensation of the feet as they touch the earth, and noticing the feelings in our body as we move.
Motion is a perfect remedy for stuckness. When you have a problem you are pondering, it can be useful to gently have it in mind before you go out walking, and then to put it to one side as you move, just being in the environment you are in and being with what you sense - see, hear, smell, touch, and even taste. Oftentimes your perception of the problem you had has changed by the time you return home, with no conscious effort on your part at all.
So, this national walking month mix it up. Walk fast. Walk slow. Quick walks. Long walks. Most of all, walk mindfully. Walk with curiosity. Treat each walk as if you have never done it before, because you have not done it this day, with this body, in this weather before, how could you?. What’s new to notice?
Can you #Try20 and walk 20 minutes each day this May?
