Walk, walk, walk!

#149

Any task done mindfully can become a form of meditation. This is true of walking too. Usually, when I go for evening walks, I'm invariably either listening to music, a podcast, or talking to friends and family. Rarely do I just 'walk.' One day, my phone ran out of charge and so I decided to go up to the terrace to simply walk, without any accouterments. Interestingly, I could walk a lot faster for a longer period of time since I did not run out of breath as quickly as I do when I'm talking, but it wasn't as effective as walking with music or a podcast. Another way to continuously walk for longer is to listen to a YouTube clip on walking! 

Enter Leslie Sansone.

My mother introduced me to her videos and her energy is contagious. She's a fitness instructor who has released more than 100 DVDs on aerobics and other exercises since the 1980s. Wow! Since I'm a beginner as of now, I often go with the 10-minute walk or the 12-minute brisk walking videos, which itself feel challenging as the pace picks up. The title of this post is in reference to Leslie's videos, where she keeps repeating 'Walk walk walk' over a hundred times, but not in an annoying manner at all. It is in fact, quite encouraging to follow along, and feels more effective when wearing shoes.

I'm sure all of us are aware that walking boosts creativity, adds longevity to your life, and helps with problem-solving, as I have experienced myself when walking in silence and pondering over unsolved mysteries at work and about the world in general. As Cal Newport calls it, 'productive meditation' can help you solve something you intentionally think about during your walk. 

I try my best to do paced walks rather than dawdle since only the former is effective as confirmed by research, though I do tend to amble when walking along with my husband, discussing the highlights and lowlights of our respective days and planning for our future, unraveling intriguing questions along the way. 

For now, I use Google Fit's 'steps' and 'heart points' to measure my progress. They've recently also introduced a 'paced walking' option, which determines your speed for the chosen time period. I've heard that smartwatches like Apple Watch are smart enough to detect slow and brisk walking, so your steps are only counted when you walk fast enough and not otherwise. It's tempting to explore something beyond a basic Fitbit, but I'm going to stay put for now until I decide to make daily brisk walking an active goal to consistently work upon.

Did you know?

Tesla came up with his idea of AC current (alternating electric current) during a stroll and William Wordsworth is said to have walked a whopping 180,000 miles in his lifetime!