I took some awesomly inspiring walks in the forests during this Easter break. My mind first clears up and then starts to entertain a new course of thoughts while I walk. It happens faster in a forest among tall, scented Ponderosa trees but it does also in the canyons just outside my house. It is a totally different feeling than what I get from a sitting meditation, which I don't discard as a powerful tool to manage stress and achieve peace of mind but... it's not my "medicine. " As soon as I thought this, I recalled writing a passage about in my upcoming novel. When Claire, the protagonist, finds herself in need of taking some distance from worries and frustration, she goes for a walk.
I'll share it here as it is food for thoughts and debate material:
"Breathe in, acknowledge the thought, let it go when you breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out… Hmmm, pardon me, but they don’t want to leave. Thoughts can be stubborn beasts, lingering over a foggy mind like lazy bats in a cool cave, perfectly comfortable where they are, feeding on confusion, rage, and anxiety.
Yoga might work wonders, but it isn’t Claire’s medicine. Walking works a lot better. You move that incredible machine that is your body, made out of hundreds of movable parts, and satisfy its purpose, genes, and DNA. You start to feel active and more relaxed. You look around and notice interesting things there, outside of the claustrophobic prison of your mind. The colors of the greenery around, a kid kicking his ball to the wall of a courtyard over and over, the scent of the eucalyptus trees, the creases of the asphalt if you’re walking on city streets. No matter where and how fast or slow, the automatic mental response to walking is a natural desire to slow down.
If you walk alone and don’t waste time and energy chatting your walks up with a companion, it’s like meditation. Your brain goes in Alpha mode, but you don’t need a pack of followers. It means that your brain starts humming only in sets of Alpha waves. Generally speaking, they rise like a swell from the occipital lobe during wakeful meditation with closed eyes. But somebody experienced can walk at the pace of Alphas still managing not to bust her nose on obstacles, keeping her eyes open. Walking should be prescribed as a math class in grade school. Hmmm, maybe not. Walking should always happen by free choice, or it would lose its magic dust."
Recent Comments