Walking isn't easy for me. My knees complain every time they have to participate in any sort of movement. They are happiest when walking in deep, warm water, and I accommodate their preference six days a week. However, they are part of team body, so they also have to adjust to walking on land, like it or not.
There are many difference places to walk here in Durham. I thought I would prefer walking in a highly air conditioned environment (the heat and humidity is exactly what you'd expect in August in North Carolina). I considered walking in the mall, but my brain refused to accompany my body there, and since I'm learning mindful living strategies, leaving my brain home seemed like the ultimate bad idea. There is a walking track at the fitness facility I use for swimming - a nice indoor air conditioned oval walking track that is perfectly lovely, cool, and - well - boring. My doctor instead suggested walking outdoors on one of the trails in the local state park. He thought it would be good medicine for both body and soul. And he was so right...but for reasons I did not anticipate!
I assumed the park would help my soul because of my love of nature, and the peace I feel when deep in the woods. But that isn't what spoke to my soul.
Perhaps it would be the silence and solitude that one finds early in the morning on a trail in the woods. Lovely as those things are, it wasn't what touched my heart.
Maybe my psyche would be soothed by the creatures I would encounter on the way - all manner of bird and small beasts who would watch as I made my way along the path (not to mention the two large coyote-like creatures who shadowed me one day - I'm sure they thought Thanksgiving dinner arrived early this year, and came with two walking/rotisserie sticks)! But alas, not even the yotes were the medicine I sought.
Instead, the medicine came in the form of tree roots - thousands of them- sticking up on the trail. I cannot safely walk the trail unless I proceed slowly, and carefully place each foot where it needs to go. If I want to look around and monitor the four legged hunting party watching my every step, I have to stop and look - not look and walk (a behavior that surely disappoints the yotes, as it decreases the likelihood that they will snatch an easy meal). Each foot is carefully placed on a carpet of soft Carolina pine needles that fall among the hard tree roots. Leaves are beginning to find their way to the floor of the forest, adding color underfoot. And here is the amazing thing - my mind cannot spin off in a zillion different directions when I am concentrating on not breaking my ankle or hip. I am fully in the moment - fully mindful.
And I am at peace.
I have tried walking meditation many times, and always found my mind would spin off in one of a hundred different directions. In the forest, it is still - focused - at peace.
Peace is great medicine . It is a precious gift, for which I am deeply grateful.
May you find your peace medicine as you follow your heart, and listen deeply...
Walking and living mindfully,
Kim
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