‘If you’re in a bad mood, go for a walk.
If you’re still in a bad mood, go for another walk.’
Hippocrates
Great philosophers down through the ages have extolled the virtues of walking.
Exercise and movement are perhaps the ‘greatest pills of all’ in terms of preventing chronic disease. While the physical health benefits of regular walking are well established, walking can also become an incredibly powerful tool to become more mindful, to unplug, recharge from stress and connect with nature.
‘Green exercise’ as I like to call it. Gifting you more feel good positivity hormones, natural pain killing endorphins, helping you to feel more calm, energised and optimistic.
Here’s a poem I came across recently about the mindful benefits of walking.
which I thought I’d share with you!
‘I like to walk alone on country paths,
rice plants and wild grasses on both sides,
putting each foot down on the earth
in mindfulness, knowing
that I walk on the wondrous earth.
In such moments, existence is a miraculous
and mysterious reality.
People usually consider walking on water
or in thin air a miracle.
But I think the real miracle
is not to walk either on water or in thin air,
but to walk on earth.
Every day we are engaged in a miracle
which we don’t even recognise:
a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves,
the black, curious eyes of a child–
our own two eyes.
All is a miracle.’ -Thich Nhat Hanh
🙏♥️🦋📘
