In praise of walking

I have been walking now for almost my whole life. I have always loved walking, and still do.

My sister Judy lost her ability to walk in mid life, due to the affliction of Multiple Sclerosis.

Since then, I have often dedicated walks to her, often with tears, and gratitude----walking when and where she could not.

While I am out here in Sedona, I do even more walking than I normally do. A couple hours a day(or more) is normal for me here. Sometimes it is one longer walk, sometimes two shorter ones. I find it a fine way to pray, to reflect, to get my creative juices flowing, to heal, to strengthen, to enjoy incredible natural beauty---and more.

The pictures I posted with this blog are all about the benefits of walking. One is of a shadow of me walking at the end of a day in a big field near a campground we stayed at on the way out here. Another is of a favorite path of mine through pine woods at MorningStar Retreat center near LeRoy, Michigan. It is like the aisle of a cathedral. The floor is clear of everything but fragrant pine needles and some patches of soft, emerald green moss. On both sides stretch straight rows of towering pine trees, like the pillars of a cathedral. When I walk this path, I feel I am walking deeper inside my soul as well as deeper into the woods. The third picture is recent. It is of husband John, daughter Rachel, her dog Howie, and our dog Leo on the path ahead of me on the beautiful Brins Mesa Trail. The late afternoon light was golden, and the path reminded me of the "Good Red Road" of Native American tradition. The silence was very deep and complete---no traffic noises, no people noises, only those of nature: whisper of wind in the pines, a few soft chirps of birds nearby. Nothing else but the sound of our own breathing and footsteps. Silence like that restores my soul like little else. I could sit and listen to it for hours, and will, the very next chance I get! I recommend it to you if you can find such silence anywhere near where you live.

The dogs, of course, love walks too. And Leo keeps John and I walking more often and further than we otherwise might.

I am currently working with the book "The Vein of Gold" by Julia Cameron. Here are a few quotes about walking from that book which I found particularly fine.

"Solvitur ambulando...It is solved by walking... (St. Augustine) !

"Walking is the the most powerful creative tool that I know. Although it has fallen into disuse in our hurried times, it may be the most powerful spiritual practice known to humankind." (Julia Cameron)

"I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." (John Muir, explorer, conservationist, nature mystic)

"Walking with our souls is really walking with our souls. Our internal horizons stretch with our external ones. We walk into expanded possibility. If you can bear it, the soles of our feet lead us to the feats of our souls." (Julia Cameron)

Have you taken a walk lately? Try a gratitude walk, a moaning groaning walk if you are sad, a reflective, pondering walk, a sensing walk in which you deliberately become aware of what you are sensing, one sense at a time. Its a most sensible thing to do!

An old Irish blessing begins with these words I offer to you in blessing as you walk...

"May the road rise to meet you...."