Take a Walk

photo courtesy of Spencer Greet

September 23, 2008



Yesterday I touched on the topic of exercise, and how it can improve balance. But there is a lot more that exercise can do to help us live balanced lives.


It is no secret to anyone that we Americans as a society have become quite sedentary. And overweight. Rarely does a day go by without an article about the obesity epidemic appearing in the mainstream media. Certainly food intake plays a part in the perceived blubberization of the masses. But lack of exercise also plays a part.




A life lived while sitting down is a luxury that until recently was available to a few very privileged individuals. And still, in many parts of the world, the average person works hard physically from sunup until sundown just to be able to survive.





Here, though, and in many parts of the west, much of our time is spent in front of computer screens, much as I am doing right now. I confess to being a computer junkie; I could surf the Internet all day. In the many corporate jobs that I have had, though, I rarely got out of my seat to do more than walk to a conference room. Ironically, in my current position as a stay-at-home mom and blogger, I get more exercise doing laundry and cleaning than I did when I was "employed".





In the Woody Allen movie "Annie Hall", Woody compares relationships to sharks, saying that, like sharks, a relationship must move forward or it will die. This is true of some, but not all, sharks; the Great White Shark is an example of a shark that must move constantly to keep from drowning.





While we as humans do not require incessant movement to stay alive, we do have to move some. There is a debate as to whether moderate exercise will be helpful in achieving long-term weight loss, but no one will argue the fact that exercise benefits everyone. Moderate exercise, such as walking, is easy to do, and is unlikely to lead to the kinds of injury that can come from serious training.





According to another of our ancient Greek friends, Hippocrates, "Walking is man's best medicine." It can reduce stress, help circulation, and give us time to think, all at a reasonable pace. You can even meditate while walking; walking meditation is a form of meditating while moving advocated by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.




It is not necessary to join a fitness center to take a walk. Just go outside, and put one foot in front of the other. Repeat.