Walking is a man’s best medicine – Hippocrates
There is no shortage of advice on health and well-being, much of it conflicting. It is impossible to get through a day without being presented with yet more information.
Yesterdays solution quickly becomes today’s problem with yet another list of what we should and shouldn’t eat or do.
There are powers at work who play to our need for quick fixes and instant transformations. There’s a reason we keep coming back for more. Long term, these interventions simply don’t work.
Maybe we have forgotten that the whole point of moving is to feel better. We need to be driven by a sense of spontaneity, curiosity and fun.
At Earth Strength we embrace this lexicon and for us no activity better captures this than the art of walking.
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir
Walking is, literally, the most overlooked and underrated path to health and well-being in our opinion. We are so easily deceived by the simplicity of what seems an every day activity. But in reality its strength resides in that very simplicity.
Let’s be clear, walking is so much more than exercise, it is a whole bodymind activity that can stimulate, invigorate and relax all in one.
Walking briskly will elevate the heart rate. Experimenting with the terrain, starting on flat ground, striding on sand, walking up a hill, all of these things create a demand on the body that begins to reflect the way our ancestors would have covered ground.
In our hunter gatherer past, we would have covered great distances looking for sources of food, tracking animals and shifting camps. We humans are walkers, it’s in our DNA, our biomechanics as well as in our very humanity. When we walk we become human, it’s literally what we were designed to do.
Studies have shown that walking is a useful first line of defense for so many of the lifestyle diseases that we are up against, as well as impacting positively on conditions such depression and anxiety.
At Earth Strength we are quick to say, ‘its never just about one thing‘ and any form of movement needs to be combined with nourishment, good company and a relaxed state of mind.
We are also advocates of the healing power of being immersed in the natural world. Our own unique approach, Shinrin Shintai, emerged from the desire to create a playful, spontaneous and confident experience of connecting with the demands of the environment.
Shinrin Shintai is the art of moving in nature.
Walking in nature is a central aspect of this experience and is undeniably enjoyable and contemplative. It is a moving meditation. This combination of awareness, movement and the natural world is powerful and profound.
Walking in nature is therefore truly medicine for both body and soul.
We like to deepen this experience, when appropriate, by removing our shoes. Our sense of proprioception, bodily ease and physical awareness arises from thousands of nerves in the soles of our feet. When we are barefoot, the 26 bones (one-quarter of the bones in the human body are in the feet), 33 joints, more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, come alive and we begin to align or bodies and walk in the way that nature intended.
The art of walking thus joins the dots with all of human movement.
On an Earth Strength course we will take you deeper into this practice. My colleague Rannoch Donald is a certified ‘Barefoot Running Coach’ who trained under Lee Saxby, called the world’s best barefoot coach by Chris McDougall author of the best selling Born To Run.
Under Rannoch’s expert guidance we will help you to completely change your perspective on walking through to running.
Each day we will be moving through the stunning sub-tropical forest above our base, applying these techniques and most of all sharing the simple joy of moving with ease and imagination.
This is where we practise being human.
Come and join us in Tarifa for an Earth Strength course.
Move the Body – Still the Mind
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