The Benefits of Walking

If you are a Kiwi, you will know that the lifestyle in Auckland is regarded as the most stressful kind in the nation. Think about the population, crowded streets, heavy traffic…

So, after living in the most stressful city for over four months, how do I find it?

I actually find life less stressful compared to my days in Wellington. Amazingly, it actually doesn’t take much of a change to be less stressful. By simply getting rid of one activity - driving, many of daily stressors have gone!

During this period I have driven only three times. Instead, I walk everywhere. I walk to work. I walk to the local groceries. I walk to the parks. I walk to my evening classes. When we do go out say at weekends or on a vocation, or visit someone or some place, I have a personal chauffeur (hubby). *grin*. I do power walk in the mornings, and I have slow walks with hubby in the evenings. I walk to the office using stairs and at work I walk to the printer and mail tray hundreds of times. Although I don’t wear a pedometer, I am sure I would easily exceed the benchmark of 10,000 steps a day.

Now I start to reap some real benefits from walking, one of which I have noticed is that: I am generally not in a hurry! I don’t worry about rush hour which might cause delay in getting somewhere. I don’t have to listen to the morning news about traffic. Red traffic lights no longer cause me any anxiety, and I don’t get irritated with road rages, as I am not part of them!

See, how easy it is to eliminate stress just by changing one little thing! On the other hand, I find that walking is a perfect opportunity to meditate. As I walk, I can look around and observe how vast and pure nature is - the trees, the grass, the wandering cats on the streets, the forever changing clouds, the colour and texture in the sky, the birds and their singing, the gentle breeze in the air, the subtle scent from the flowers... can all beautifully merge into every step I walk and every breath I take, as long as I pay attention. In mindful walking, I find that life is all around me and I am such a healthy, beautiful and robust being, just like the trees, clouds, birds... I don’t need to, nor do I want to, think, imagine, or expect what I am going to become or what‘s going to happen tomorrow or next year. What’s the point to wander away from this moment, if this moment is perfect?

I know, my kind of walking meditation is perhaps not the ideal kind of walking meditation. It’s certainly not the one I learnt at my Buddhist’s teaching, which was very slow in motion, and attention is paid to each foot to great details such as lifting the foot, moving forward, and putting it down. Naturally, I would eventually love to practice that more often.