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There's One Thing About Walking

Counted one step at a time

By Jane Finley

Found in: | Inside | Wellness |

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

I call Dr. Andrew Weil my health guru even though we've never met. He is an M.D., but he believes in using the least invasive treatment and healthy living as the best defense against illness. I get his free health tips every day in my email, and I heard him speak once. I think he's written the best book on healthy living for the lay person, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. He takes a holistic approach, suggesting what to do in several areas on a weekly basis.

For instance, he says to walk 10 minutes a day the first week, 20 minutes the next week and so on until you're up to an ideal 45 minutes. When I first read that, I thought, I don't have to do that because I workout an hour a day, but oh no! In practically the next sentence, he wrote, "even if you workout daily."

So he got me with that, and now I so heartily agree because there's so much more to walking than exercise. There's the beauty of nature, silence, meeting neighbors, getting to know the area by taking different routes, discovering things often missed when driving or biking - all culminating in an appreciation of life, making one glad to be alive - a kind of walking meditation.

What can I say other than it is one of my great joys! I've also heard that walking a half hour a day reduces heart attacks by one-third and that daily meditation reduces doctors' visits by two-thirds, but that's another story.

So I've included walking in my daily routine for some time now. Last night, in Dolores, Colo., I parked by the river, put on my walking shoes and started out on the path. When I got to the river, I wanted to go both ways but decided to take the path that led under the highway to the big body of water that I'd glimpsed previously. As I walked under the highway, the path took a sharp turn to the left along an enormous lake. Wild flowers bordered the path: purple thistles and two kinds of yellow. Suddenly, four very large birds took off from the water's edge. From the crook in their necks and their feet pointed straight out behind, I could swear they were dark-colored herons.

One Thing About Walking: You can count on little gifts of nature along the way.

I continued on, thinking the path ended in the distance, but instead it took a sharp right. There were several people fishing along the shore and, in the distance, I was surprised to see many cars. As I approached the cars, I asked some people where the access road was. The path ended there, but I wasn't ready to start back.

One Thing About Walking: Once you start, you don't want to stop.

So I decided to walk through the nearby cemetery. It looked very old and was mostly overgrown although some graves looked newly tended; the metal enclosures were rusty with age. As I entered, I thought what a lovely, final resting place - through changing seasons, beneath high cliffs, a view of the water.

Amazingly, when I came to the first gravestone, I saw that the person died the year I was born! (Synchronicity is alive and well!) The earliest gravestones were dated in the 1800s. I came away with two thoughts. The first, a lot of babies never survived during early times. And second, that I had outlived all but one person -- another reason to count my blessings. (I often say that if someone had told me I would live this long, be this healthy and be this happy, I never would have believed them.)

Having come to the end of the trail on this beautiful, cool July evening, I headed back along the same path, thinking One Thing About Walking: You can count on many surprises along the way.

Jane Finley has been traveling in her small camper since February 2000. She describes her life as a great adventure and gives talks at YMCAs, senior centers and churches along the way. She describes herself as "young at heart - other parts slightly older." Her favorite T-shirt says, "I'm retired; this is as dressed up as I get."