{"id":94908,"date":"2025-08-26T21:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T21:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/94908\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T21:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T21:57:10","slug":"heres-what-an-injury-taught-me-about-meditative-walking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/94908\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s What An Injury Taught Me About ‘Meditative Walking’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even when I was the most active I\u2019ve ever been, regularly hitting more than 10,000 steps<\/a> daily, I knew I was being a little annoying about it all. <\/p>\n

I was obsessed \u2013 as many of the \u201cworried well\u201d are \u2013 with optimising my workouts, meaning even my evening strolls were part of A Programme<\/a>. <\/p>\n

While \u201ccolour walking<\/a>\u201d and \u201cJeffing<\/a>\u201d did help me to relax a little on my walks and runs, though, it took a recent injury for me to see the true value of walking from another (read: less egotistical, more practical) angle.<\/p>\n

For the past couple of weeks, my foot\u2019s been in a fracture boot \u2013 which is a little inconvenient, as my health issue means the area actually recovers better with more movement. <\/p>\n

Hobbling, hopping, and limping my way through my local park has taught me to embrace a less goal-oriented approach to walking, and I think it\u2019ll stay with me for life.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve begun \u201cmeditative walking\u201d <\/p>\n

Far from setting out at a fast clip (which, to be fair, is amazing for your health<\/a> if you can manage it), I\u2019ve necessarily started walking at a slower pace. <\/p>\n

And because it\u2019s not exactly a comfortable experience, I\u2019ve begun picking walking spots that engage my senses more to distract me from my steps. <\/p>\n

That, I\u2019ve learned, is a form of \u201cmeditative walking,\u201d which exercise physiologist and VP of operations at Gait Happens<\/a>, Dr Milicia McDowell, said comes in \u201cmany forms\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are numerous research studies supporting walking in nature, walking with a mindfulness lens, and walking while doing breathing exercises,\u201d the doctor told HuffPost UK. <\/p>\n

They can include \u201ccolour walking<\/a>,\u201d breathing drills, and repeating positive affirmations as you wander.<\/p>\n

Personally, I choose another of McDowell\u2019s favourites \u2013 \u201cWalking while focusing on beautiful surroundings in nature has been shown to reduce stress and elevate mood,\u201d she told us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese types of walks all boost your dopamine and serotonin levels, allowing your body to produce happy hormones.\u201d <\/p>\n

Joy Puleo, pilates expert, avid runner, and director of education at Balanced Body<\/a>, agreed, writing: \u201cWe can discuss the physical benefits of running and walking all day long, but it is perhaps the mental benefits that are most important. Walking… has been associated with breath regulation, decreased anxiety, decreased depression, and increased overall sense of well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake the pressure off doing it right, doing it too fast or too slow. Just commit to the walk, enjoy your time outside, ask a friend to join.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why I\u2019ve been calmer, more even-keeled, and have even enjoyed my walks more than before The Enbootication.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned a lot from the practice <\/p>\n

I\u2019m someone who anxiously researches every sport I try to make sure I\u2019m reaping the \u201cbest\u201d health benefits from each of them. <\/p>\n

However, not only might stress cancel out<\/a> some of the positive effects of your workout, but you really don\u2019t need to do that \u2013 once you\u2019ve reached the basic guidelines for exercise, where possible (75 minutes of high-intensity or 150 moderate-intensity activity a week), more is not always better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For now, long, fast walks, runs, heavy weights, and general high-stress workouts are off the table. But that means other sides to walking \u2013 including bringing a pal along, which, though good for you<\/a>, is hard to do when you\u2019re sticking to a strict schedule \u2013 have opened up to me.<\/p>\n

As Puleo put it: \u201cIn today\u2019s fast-paced world, we tend to forget that the small things we do for our bodies matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put, walking is just good for us. It helps maintain strong cardiorespiratory fitness and can increase general overall strength, balance, and flexibility. It all adds up,\u201d she ended \u2013 even when my more type A side wants to believe a slow walk doesn\u2019t \u201ccount\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even when I was the most active I\u2019ve ever been, regularly hitting more than 10,000 steps daily, I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55,6899],"class_list":{"0":"post-94908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom","13":"tag-walking"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}