In the past, whenever I went for my walk, I was never aware in any way of how gorgeous I am. I would often try to fit my walk in, almost as part of some ‘have to do’ list of chores to complete; I was totally unaware of the power of my walk. It was like ticking off the day box by box, with no real respect for me and what I truly needed to support me.
I would then often find that my days lacked a sort of space just to ‘be’. I had spent so long each day trying to be someone – like the ‘student’, ‘son’, ‘flatmate’, ‘cook’ and many other masks I put on – that I had no real time to just enjoy the real me.
It seemed that my walks too were never really for me to enjoy my body moving, either. They were driven, needy, set to time, and often full of lots of distractions and off-topic thoughts, like how my day was going or what sort of things I had to do when I got to work. I very rarely enjoyed the spaciousness that they could offer me. I was so caught up in my day and having to be someone, that to just be in my walk and enjoy that, seemed all too much. Seems that the masks had become so much a part of me I had forgotten what I felt like without them on!
I was rarely with myself. A friend asked me to recall what my feet felt like during my walks. I could not remember. I was so off in being someone or something else that my feet didn’t seem to be a part of me at all. They just seemed to be things that carried me from A to B and needed some maintenance from time to time – like going for walks, etc. They were my personal, in-built transport machines.
Not long ago though, I had the most revealing and deeply supportive moments I had felt on my walks in a long time.
I felt me.
Yep, I took the masks off and was agape at who I saw: a deeply tender, handsome man.
For the first time in ages I could feel that my walk was not based around getting anywhere, doing anything or trying to be someone. I wasn’t even concerned about the time. I took the moment as a space for me to enjoy me.
I found that in this space I could feel the gentle spring in each step I took, and the delicate wisp of my presence that warmed my chest each time I breathed. I could feel the deep simplicity of my walk, my love, and me. It was a time that was not governed by a need to finish something because I could feel how I was complete as I was. There was no need to worry about life because I could feel that my still presence offered all the strength I needed.
The work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine has inspired me to live my life in a more gentle way, focussing on each step I take.
So now when I go for my walk, I enjoy the power of my walk and how gorgeous it is to be me, taking each step.
by Joshua Campbell (21) Living in Christchurch, NZ
906 Comments
I read this just as I am about to go for my walk. Thank-you for the ever deepening stillness you have offered through your writing, Josh. I even made space to read this by getting up an hour earlier and now feel the space in which I will walk this morning is deeply enriched by the timely reminder you have offered. The power of my walk and the connection with me and nature and all that truly is, provides the foundation for my beingness in my day.
You totally nailed it Peta.
I really loved your blog and it really resonated with me because I have two dogs, so I go on two walks a day no matter what, to exercise them. This often leads me to going on a walk when I don’t want to, not going for me and not enjoying it. But, like you, I have been feeling the possibility for more in my walks, and it’s amazing what they can be. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Rebecca
This a lovely blog, Josh. I can really feel your tenderness in and through it. It has really made me stop and re-assess my walks. Thank you.
No problem Jonathan 🙂
Josh. You write such inspirational blogs. It really is great at times to get away and clear ones mind of negativity and get back to who we really are. It is amazing to feel how different one feels.
So gorgeous Josh. Your tenderness emerges so beautifully from your words. Thank you for the reminder of how allowing space in our day to fully connect allows us to drop the masks and appreciate and love who we truly are.
An important and worthwhile space to make space for. Thank you Anne-Marie
Thank you Josh. Wow you really hit the nail on the head here, how many of us just go from A to B with a 100 other things in our head? I can really feel the gorgeous space you created by being present with yourself. Thank you for sharing the beautiful grace that came with this discovery, this discovery of you!
Thank you Samantha. Is was inspired because this was one of the walks that I have felt does not leave me feeling tired or drained but truly invigorated. Most of my life the A to B walk style I realised was the one that also drains because we are not with our bodies when we are walking.
Thank you Josh for your beautiful sharing and reminding me that when I walk I am not walking towards an outcome but simply taking the time to be with me and to feel every step, every moment of the way.
A lovely metaphor for life too Ingrid. A simple way of bringing simplicity to the whole of your day.
This is lovely Ingrid, ‘when I walk I am not walking towards an outcome but simply taking the time to be with me and to feel every step’, a great reminder for me too.
I love the simplicity of this Ingrid – Thank you!
Hi Josh and everyone, What a great way to approach walking. I will keep this in mind when I next go for a walk.
Well worth a go Shevon 🙂
Thak you Josh, I really loved reading this blog. I walk everyday now and I’m finding that I am becoming much more aware of my body when I walk, the more I do this the more I enjoy just being with me – thoughts aren’t taking over, if they creep in I just allow them to disappear like they are being blown away in the breeze. In this walk I am creating space for me…. and it feels very precious.
So beautifully described Susan. Yes, I too claim my walk for me, thoughts gently ‘being blown away in the breeze’. I love it.
I loved that bit too Michelle and Susan – thoughts being “blown away in the wind”. Gorgeous.
Walking with you and your body brings confidence and awareness to what is already felt about a situation or thing going on in the day. It can be a great time to confirm and check in with what you truly are feeling about your day.
This is so true Joshua, well said.
Beautiful Josh, what a treat to read, and to be able to feel the deeper connection to yourself that has developed from walking. I love walking just to walk, and not to get somewhere.
Walking to get somewhere is also not going to truly nourish one when they walk as I am finding by walking with me in connection with my body and the moment the blood really does get pumping! Thank you Janet
Josh, I really enjoyed reading this because I could feel your beauty in every word; the true gentle, playful handsomeness of you. It is so helpful to me to read of your evolution in walking/being with yourself. I feel a renewed and deepened commitment to walk with myself and allow me to unfold!
Beautiful Jo, thank you for sharing this.
Wow Josh, I love the tenderness in your bog, what you in essence and simplicity describe with ‘I felt me… …a deeply tender, handsome man’ (and that you are). It is great for men to do, to appreciate the tenderness and beauty they innately are and by living this we can bring this back to all men and women in the world.
And our walking just like anything we do can be a lovely reminder of that tenderness we all have inside us. A tenderness that once felt can not but be shared with others around. Thank you Nico
Well said Josh, walking is and can be a reminder of the tenderness we all have inside us.
Josh I love everything about this! What an amazing description on the power and grace and amazing fun we can have while walking. The grace and ease of just being in your body and accepting your beauty is an amazing feeling and you’ve captured the wonder awesomely.
Thank you Meg.
I love this blog Josh, the simplicity of walking is beautiful and I relate to what you have expressed. I now walk with me rather than ticking a box and it is great to take the time to appreciate what I feel as I walk and also notice if my mind tries to butt in with thoughts of the day.
Thank you for sharing Josh.
Thank you Beverley
Beverley I can completely resonate with what you share, I too have started to appreciate my walk and connect to how I feel and this has allowed me to stay present with myself. It feels really beautiful.
Josh – this blog is very gorgeous and is a beautiful and timely reminder for me to feel all of me when I walk. I love walking in the early morning when it is often very still but I am often governed by time instead of appreciating the spaciousness around me. Thank you for gently bringing this to my attention.
Time can never own us if we are letting ourselves appreciate that we are worth the space we create for ourselves in our day. Thank you Anne for your beautiful honesty
Wow Josh, this blog is oozing with tenderness – I melted when I read it. I love the simplicity of this blog which would make a great article in a men’s magazine too. I too am realising more and more how I love feeling me, my body, and, appreciating me as I walk and making sure that at (many) moments in my day I truly feel this.
Absolutely Jane, it is oozing with tenderness and yumminess and would make an amazing article in a men’s magazine.
Thank you Jane. I can feel myself appreciating what a beauty-fully tender man I really am when I read your comment. I am definitely extremely tender as are all of us. Something our walk, like anything we do can show us with our presence
Me too Jane! Completely melted, I can really feel your gorgeous tenderness as a man Josh.
Thank you Josh, I can definitely relate. Something to take with me on my next walk – a simple marker of feeling how my feet feel when I walk – thank you.
Thank you Amelia
A very lovely and in-spiring blog Josh. I will remember on my next walk and allow myself the joy to feel me just walking – more fully so. 🙂
Beauty-full. Thank you Sarah
Thank you Josh for writing about your experiences with walking and how it can be so simple, supportive and spacious – a time with you and very powerful if you choose it this way. I can really relate to this and am someone who has always found walking a time to be with myself and especially a time to appreciate everything around, especially nature and the smallest of details to see. It is a very precious part of my day and very supportive.
Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have really helped me to bring so much more awareness and hence presence and joy and purpose to my walk, and to my whole life and how I live and such a beauty and love to myself inside, and to everything and everyone.
Thanks Tricia. Walking is an excellent way of accepting and appreciating us and where we truly are.
Great blog Josh. There always seems to be a handy excuse of late to not go walking but I can really feel the joy of your words and it reminded me of how I felt when I was regularly walking, so thank you for inspiring me to start again.
Thank you Tim
Hi Josh, it took a while to get started again but its now been just over 2 weeks where I have consistently walked everyday. Already I feel stronger and fitter and my thoughts are clearer. I am more focussed and my commitment to all areas of my life have increased. Who would have thought just by putting one foot in front of the other and being with myself could have such a profound effect. Thank you once again for inspiring me to ‘get on with it’.
Solidarity, Tim.
Great to read this Tim!
I agree Tim
I totally agree
The ending line is so awesome ‘So now when I go for my walk, I enjoy the power of my walk and how gorgeous it is to be me, taking each step.’ This feels SO great, it brings a super smile to my face and a feeling of joy that I want to express by getting up and walking for me! Thank you for a great blog Josh, very inspiring!
Definitely claiming it Ariana, thank you 🙂
Wow, Josh, that’s gorgeous. I now realise how I have made my walk a tick box thing on my to do list for the day, thank you.
I realised life is definitely not a check box list of chores! For it is no fun trying to see life this way as there is always too much to do, so you feel behind! Lovely revaluation to have Natalie, thank you for sharing
Yes Joshua I totally agree. Whenever I go into box ticking I completely fail to appreciate what I’m doing – even if it is a really lovely thing to do because I’m so preoccupied with trying to complete the list within a time frame. Not much fun at all!
Thank you for sharing Josh, it is so easy to get caught up in the day and having to be someone as you said, it’s incredible how our walk can change depending on who we are with, yet that is fitting in with them, trying to be something, not our gorgeous tender selves. I love that you wrote you can now ‘feel how I was complete as I was’. It is awesome to have come to.
Thanks James
Absolutely James, I also find it incredible how my walk and posture can change depending on my thoughts/ mood/ reactions to situations. What’s great is that since I’ve brought more of an awareness to my body in my walks I’ve got this beautiful marker of my true movement and so it becomes more obvious when I deviate from it, which enables me to see quicker when I’ve reacted to something and to see how I’ve let it affect my body.
Me too Fiona, I find that I can now catch myself when I am walking, when I am not being present with myself, trying to rush etc.. and can then bring more focus to my feet and the way I am moving which brings more focus back to my body and helps me let go of what I may have taken on and/or to helps me understand why I had reacted to something. Walking is a great reference point and one I use everyday.
Josh this is great – I’ve had so many times when I’ve walked because that is the “Good” or “Right” thing to do or it will “make me better”. I’ve also struggled with exercise for a long time – and found it a “waste of time” yet this is the time when, as your article shows, I can connect with me! A few days ago on my walks I also started to feel I was walking because I enjoyed feeling me as I walked. I was shocked how before feeling the walking for me, it was purposeless, yet in the walking I was further putting on “masks”. Early days with that but a lovely article to read and reflect on as I build a new relationship with walking and exercise.
Lovely David. When we walk in the stuckness of our day we confirm that deeper in our bodies if we escape into our head to not feel it. This becomes the walk we otherwise would say as being ‘ours’.
Josh, I really love what you have written, especially about your feet being “in-built transport machines”. So true! I have developed a daily walk into my rhythm now and I love it when I am really with myself and not in my head being transported about. I have now found that I have turned by evening walk from the station into a ‘Michelle walk’ too. Previously, I used to walk home hard and rushed to be home at the end the day. Now I choose to feel what I need, don’t rush and enjoy the sky, the colours and beauty of nature and me along the way. It is a simple joy to behold.
We don’t know our true style of walk and its true gorgeousness until we re-connect with the body, any other walk is not truly our style but the momentum we have taken on in our day. Thanks Michelle.
Lovely Michelle and Josh, ‘in my head being transported about’ – that so captures how we can walk and when we connect to us and walk with us in our bodies it is completely different, we do indeed find our true style – love it.
Thank you Josh, this is so beauty-full and just what I needed to read this morning, particularly ‘There was no need to worry about life because I could feel that my still presence offered all the strength I needed.’
Now is time to appreciate the presence and strength, for its all in there 🙂
Thank-you Josh. Your blog is a beautiful reminder for us all to take time out to just be, for ourselves, without feeling we have to do something or be somewhere. I love to walk, especially in the countryside or on the beach, with that lovely connection to myself and nature and I enjoy taking that time out to appreciate ME.
So true. The difference between walking between point A and B and walking with yourself in connection to all around you is a revelation. Walking in appreciation of you can be felt in every step you take and brings a lightness to your whole body.
Lovely, thank you Sandra
Agree Sandra, a lovely reminder and said so well by Josh
Hi Josh. What a beautiful reminder to keep it simple and simply enjoy ourselves in the moment. I love walking but sometimes feel as you have felt that it is something else to tick off in my day. If I take the time to remember to enjoy myself, the experience is totally different. Thank you for creating space in your day to write about this and share it with others.
Inspired to share to allow others to create space. It was so gorgeous to feel I had to share.
Thanks Rebecca. I have found that if I take the time to remember to enjoy myself, it changes the experience of any task during my day, no matter how tedious I would have previously perceived that task to be.
How gorgeous! It is so amazing to feel you claiming your tenderness, “the delicate wisp” of your presence and how handsome you are, because that is WHO you are! Thank you Josh for your exquisite honesty and allowing us to see and feel your delicate presence. A true gift for all to enjoy and be graced by.
Thank you Rowena
Beautiful spacious blog, I loved it, thank you.
Hear Hear.
I loved writing it 🙂
Wow! This is such a great article. I love the question “how did your feet feel?” That’s brilliant. Zillions of times I too would never have been able to answer that question. And it powerfully illustrates how we use our bodies as machines, tools, purely for functionality. Forgetting the greatest tool that it is – a reflection of where we are at. Where we truly are at. For example, if I actually can’t feel my feet when I am walking….. then what is going on? What masks, blocks, burdens, issues, denial etc… am I carrying in my body? That is what is so super cool about our bodies. The absolute opposite of the machine that most of us consider it… it is in fact our greatest teacher, counsel, guidance, parent. It tells us everything. Yet we ignore it. We pound it, bash it, smash it and fill it with junk fuel. BUT, but… what your article so beautifully expresses Josh, is the other way. And how much more simple can it get than going for a walk. Gorgeous. Inspiring.
I agree with you Otto, our bodies can be so much more if we just give them the space to pipe up and start telling us what’s going on. Awesome!
Another beautiful tender man expressing the amazingness of honouring, listening to and living respectfully with his body. Thank you, Otto.
And sometimes that is too much honesty to accept which our bodies share with us all the time
This is such an insightful reply to a brilliant blog, thank you both :-). What I get from you both is two beautiful men not afraid to express their tenderness and call out the function of walking… just getting from A to B. As you so well express Otto, “It tells us everything. Yet we ignore it. We pound it, bash it, smash it and fill it with junk fuel”. Then of course we complain when ‘it’ the body breaks down.
So very true Otto, and a great way of expressing this. It is amazing to walk while enjoying every step and playing with how you place each foot down, much like children when you see them playing as they move. It is a great moment to feel how simple and care free these moments are.
We treat our body badly because our body shows us where we are really at and that can be feeling quite awful at times. Hence the need for emotions, junk food anything to numb what is there.
Beautiful comment Otto and I totally get that we can ignore all of the counsel and teachings our bodies can give us. It is almost too easy to override what we feel.
I agree Otto, great questions too. It really is about being aware and listening to our body. When we pay attention to the messages our body gives us we are then able to truly feel what is actually going on. Our body gives us the truth of our choices and it reflects everything we have chosen.
I love this Otto. Such a beautiful reflection of the steps you have taken for yourself to bring forth the amazing and tender man you truly are for all to enjoy. Thank you!
Beautiful Josh. I can feel the deeply tender, handsome man in your words as they take each step on the page. It reminded me of the joy of a child skipping on the sand enjoying the moment and just being with themselves.
Gorgeous 🙂 Thank you Mary
What a lovely blog Josh, I can relate to the functional walk of the past, getting from a to b, fitting it in, but being totally pre-occupied. Now I too LOVE my walk to reconnect me to my body, feeling my connective tissue and the beautiful flow in my arms and legs. It’s becoming a part of my rhythm to start my day and a daily joy to do.
And not just “on a walk” but also on a walk to the printer at work, fax machine in the office and the lamb on the stove at home. All is a way of showing and reminding how tender I am and can be.
Thank you Josh for your great blog, and also for the gentle reminder of the importance of the quality of our walk, not only when we go for a walk but also during all our daily activities that involve walking.
Great point Elizabeth. When I set out for my walk with the intention of feeling and connecting to my body there is purpose but when I walk going about my daily activities I can easily slip autopilot. Thank you for the reminder; to be present with myself every time I walk whether it is in the home or out in nature.
Thank you Josh. I have found myself that at the end of a busy day my evening walk brings me back to me. It is something I will always make space for.
Thank you Steve
It is a great way to wind down, to connect and reflect Steve. Most people use alcohol and other stimulants instead which takes then further away from connecting to themselves.
Thank you Josh. I loved this blog. I could feel the difference in your writing of the distracted walk filled with the day’s thoughts and the power of your walk when you took off your masks and felt you in your walk. I loved this sentence, “I found that in this space I could feel the gentle spring in each step I took, and the delicate wisp of my presence that warmed my chest each time I breathed. I could feel the deep simplicity of my walk, my love, and me.” I could feel the simplicity and the completeness of this and it was a great reminder of how easy it is, when we shift our awareness from our head to our heart.
Simplicity = enjoyment. Enjoyment = no more head distraction.
Love this equation – should be the first thing that children are taught at school.
Great point, walking and being fully present – lesson one of your school day.
I love this Josh – simplicity does = enjoyment, I whole heartedly agree, and a definite yes to no more distractions and crazy thoughts head nonsense.
This is a fab equation Josh. Definitely going for a walk this morning!!!!!
I love equations and this one is great!
🙂 so true
I will carry this lovely equation in my body, not my head, when I next go for my walk Joshua. Thank you.
Josh, this is a beautiful blog with the sharing of your growing awareness of your innate tenderness within. I can feel the love expressing through you as you walk and a sense of really enjoying walking with you as I read… Thank you.
A blessing to share with you Stephanie, thank you
I love the simplicity of the details in your writing, and feel inspired to be appreciative of myself after each and every walk, as every walk I take in presence helps me feel in my body what is going on and/or confirms me to me which feels amazing! Thank you, Joshua.
Everytime I walk now I feel a fresh and whole person when I go back into my day. Often my walk gives me insight into my day as I am accepting it with the space I create.
I totally agree Josh, every time I walk now I too feel fresh and whole, and my walks give me insight and spaciousness and I really treasure them and feel joyful. Walking is a very important part of my life, my daily rhythm and really supports me .
Thank you for writing about this.
Josh, this is a beautiful article. I can feel how you are claiming the spaciousness in the walks you are doing now. It is so important in our modern times of rushing and racing, loaded with pressure to have a tool what is providing the opposite: spaciousness. And as Serge Benhayon does reflect this to us in his walks, we have an inspiring role model.
Thank you Kerstin.
Very true Kerstin. Serge Benhayon is a continuous inspiring role model.
Josh, what you have experienced is so lovingly reflected on. I too, find it very easy to put a walk on my to do list and that is exactly how I walk with myself in ‘doing’, not in being with me and enjoying myself. When I do walk with me and enjoy myself as I am walking, it is a totally different experience. I love how you expressed ‘I could feel that my still presence offered all the strength I needed.’ Yes, that is a wonderful reminder for me. Thank you.
I’m so with you on that Nicole – I love walking and it was such a timely and refreshing reminder this morning to read this before I went out for a walk – so often I too can go into the ‘doing’ of walking, feeling it’s something I should do or I’ve got to do, and in that lose the simplicity and joy of simply being and connecting to my body. Such a joy and different experience walking this morning.
It is all about creating space. Space to enjoy and space to accept the day. Then it is no longer a chore but a moment.
And how absolutely gorgeous when walking to simply be with ourselves, developing our own intimacy and deepening our understanding of ourselves. Like taking myself on a date each time I go for a walk (or swim).
Jane I love this too, like taking ourselves on a date each time we walk, swim etc.
Cool, i’m going to take myself on a date walk right now.
That is a great idea Gyl – taking ourselves on a date in everything we do
Beautifully put Jane.
Jane, It feels lovely and intimate to view going for a walk or a swim as taking myself on a date.
Love your comment Jane, and the reminder that it’s not just walking, but swimming too. I find the same with cooking…
Great comment Jane, whether its walking, cooking, cleaning, showering – its EVERYTHING we do in life gives us the opportunity to be with ourselves.
That’s a really cute way of expressing it – being present is like taking yourself on a date – loving every minute of yourself and being with yourself.
Simply brilliant Jane I love this. We are so worth it too.
‘Developing our own intimacy and deepening our understanding of ourselves’ – beautiful Jane, a reminder for me that my walks are an opportunity to surrender to feeling more of who I am.
Awesome Jane that’s what I feel when I go for a walk with our dog, its my walk with her, but also my walk with myself and its really joyful.
Absolutely Josh – it’s amazing to feel how much more space was in my body and day.
I like that Joshua. A great way of expressing it.
Beautiful Josh, creating space, so lovely. And Jane yes taking myself on a date when I walk, how exquisite.
Thank you for showing how something so simple that we do everyday is taken for granted and how it can be used to support us in our day in every way.
Johsua, your words are like music to my heart and body. My head doesn’t want to join in and chooses not to, regularly through my day, but when I do create space for myself as you say, isn’t it the most delicious way to be in a moment with yourself, and you feel the connection to everything around you. It feels like everything is complete and all that is left is to just be there/you. Just magic.
Gorgeous Joshua, I love your comment, so simple yet so very true.
I agree Nicole, going for a walk for me can feel so different by just being aware of what my intention is for walking. Checking in first if I am going because I have to, or its one of my to-do’s, or going because I want to create a space for me to reconnect.
Nicole and Josh I have been reminded of your sharing when going for my walks and it is simply Joyful to be with me and enjoy my body whilst walking but it doesn’t stop there it really follows on into everything else that I do… Being me in what I do… I’m learning to appreciate how Amazing I am when in this connection.
I agree Nicole. A great reminder from Josh of how lovely I feel when I walk with me. I get to feel the grace and pure gentleness in my walk. There is no imposing in anyones space but holding myself equally with another on any beach, path or park I walk near.
I really appreciated reading this blog on walking. I used to walk as a chore. Something I needed to do for my health. Of course, I did start to enjoy walking but I liked to walk with a friend so I had someone to talk to. I did occasionally go walking on my own but was always looking for something to do while I was walking. Looking at gardens, looking at architecture, looking at birds. It was always about something outside of me. That is until recently. I too have started walking with the intention of it being time to spend with myself in as much presence as I can muster. How do my feet feel? How does this pair of socks feel in these shoes? Which direction is the wind coming from and how is the wind entering my ears? I am really enJOYing being present enough to notice when my heart rate starts to increase, being present enough to notice the change in my breathing, being present enough to feel like I am taking myself for a walk.
And you get some lovely gentle exercise too, bonus! Thank you Gayle.
Beautifully expressed, and I can totally relate to being in the mind and not being aware of where I have been for most of my walk because of it. I too use little physical things to help me stay connected and feel my body when I walk, like feeling the way my feet touch the ground, heel first or ball first.
I know Rebecca I have many a time walked and not even known where I have been. Once I even went outside purposefully to notice my environment and my flat mate got home and said wow they have chopped all the trees down on the street – I hadn’t noticed! That was quite sometime ago, gosh 20 years, I can say that this happens much less and the ability to feel my body and my feet as I walk is a great part of why I now remember where I have been and how I have felt. It is very supportive to my life, I literally love walking now.
I absolutely love the subtle reminders you can add to walking to not only support my presence in each step, but as a bonus prize it makes walking anywhere so fun. Nothing beats feeling every step you take and breathing gently for brining a richness to my senses. Paying full attention to how each step is lovingly placed is like playing a game in supporting myself and the ground I am walking on…it’s so awesome. Great observations Rebecca and Joel.
Hi Gayle, I love your words, ‘I too have started walking with the intention of it being time to spend with myself in as much presence as I can muster.’ It feels so different from walking to get fit, or to get somewhere. Walking in the presence of ourselves feels so much more tender, and something nurturing to do each day.
Carmel I agree walking in presence of self feels so much different than walking to get fit or to get somewhere. Walking in presence really allows you to connect to how the body is feeling and allows to let go of tension in the body as you walk.
Yes Carmel, this is a great thing to practice, using walking to remove the distraction and busyness of the head from its usual dominating of the body. I find it a challenge to to avoid my wandering mind but the power in doing so is, I feel, quite a mighty way worth mastering.
I agree Stephen. Walking certainly helps me to get out of my head and back into my body. I have lived my life so much in my head and still can at times but walking every day helps me to clear the chattering in my mind especially after a disagreement has taken place.
I like this Gayle “being present enough to feel like I am taking myself for a walk.” What a great idea. When I am present and I can feel my body and my feet when walking I can really enjoy my own company it feels good to spend time with me. Some mornings walking can still feel like a bit of a chore but this is great reflection of what’s going on with me and offers me the space and support to come back and re connect to me.
I first read this blog and your comment a week or more ago now, and I love how both have stayed with me on my walks. It’s lovely to connect with you and what you have both written as I remember to connect with me and feel the wind or smell the rain, or feel my feet as I walk.
I can’t always fit a walk outside into a busy day, so when I have to go and get something, or visit a different part of my workplace, I use that space to feel how I am with myself. It feels great to walk with the feeling ‘hey this is me and it feels good’, and it feels great to feel the connection to whoever and whatever is around me as I walk.
I can so relate Gayle, I also used to walk because I felt it was a ‘good thing to do’, not really paying attention to me in the process. Now I walk much more consciously, and sometimes, when I forgot ‘me’ in the walk, all of a sudden I start to notice that I walk much faster. So that is my marker for me to slow down, reconnect and walk with me again.
Gayle I love your comment. “One could assume walking to be very straight forward, every walk is the same but there is so much more too it”. Today I felt a little off so my walk was to be with myself and come back to me, to feel the ball of my feet on the ground with each step and how open my feet and hips are too. Yesterday I walked with me again but I let my surroundings in, the blossom falling from the trees and the flowers shinning. I love the feeling the sun’s warmth and the coolness of the shade too.
Gayle I like the way you describe all the little ways we can be aware of our bodies when we walk, “how is the wind entering my ears?” I’ll have to try that one:)!
This is so true for me too Gayle, I used to walk focusing on things outside of myself and looking for distractions. It feel amazing when I walk feeling every step I take, the breeze against my skin, enjoying the way my feet lands on the ground as I walk. Appreciating the little things and connecting to my body. It really is a new way of walking for me, something I have just started doing.
I love this Gayle – from your old way of walking as a chore and being distracted by everything externally, to coming home to yourself within to truly feel the re-connection and presence with your body.
“How do my feet feel? How does this pair of socks feel in these shoes? Which direction is the wind coming from and how is the wind entering my ears? I am really enJOYing being present enough to notice when my heart rate starts to increase, being present enough to notice the change in my breathing, being present enough to feel like I am taking myself for a walk.”
Joshua, what another delightfully simple, yet powerful blog. This was such a great reminder to me today, not only in respect of appreciating how I too used to rarely be in any form of presence in my body – not only in walking, but in pretty much everything I did throughout the day, – but also to remind me that there is always a deeper level of connection I can go to in terms of staying present with my body in whatever I am doing. I would have described myself as a very heady person in the past, as in, very often ‘thinking’ in my head – what needed to be done, what I should be doing etc, pretty much anything that wasn’t connected with what I was immediately, or actually doing! What I too have learnt through the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, and have been inspired by, is to reconnect back to my body, to feel what my body is doing in any given moment. This is definitely a work in progress for me, but I am much more aware of when I am ‘off’ in my head, and not in my body, and a great marker for me is noticing when I can’t remember actually completing something (like driving somewhere, and not remembering what I drove past or how I got to my destination, going for a walk and realising I am already ½ way around the block without realising it etc)… so this is usually my check-in point to realise I haven’t been present in my body, and then to simply and gently bring myself back to connect.. And this can be as simple as just beginning to be aware of the detail in my body… i.e. feeling my feet as I walk, noticing the breeze on my face, how my hands touch the side of my body as I walk etc. The body truly is an amazing and powerful marker, not only when we walk, but in every single thing we do… And on that note, I’m now going to take myself on a walk…
Thank you Angela. Life is definitely much much more expansive and enjoyable outside of the confines of ones head.
Love that comment Josh, love it! Head, listen carefully to what Josh says, do you get it?
Love the blog and this conversation Angela, Josh and Catherine. Yes life really is far more enjoyable outside the head, but boy do I have to remind mine often, so your comment really resonated Catherine. And I loved how you described coming back to your body when you find you’ve strayed off into ‘headsville’ Angela, super simple and loving steps – great reminder, thank you.
Monica, I too can get caught up in my head and it’s not a good feeling, the body feels heavy and tired. When I bring my self back to my body everything feels more flowing and gentle.
Thank you Monica. I love this playful expression to bring more awareness when getting stuck in our head and ruled by the mind at times- ‘headsville’.
I am still smiling about it!
Yes Catherine, it’s a brilliant simple to follow comment, don’t be ruled by the head, anytime life seems tough bringing awareness to the body. Fantastic to hear as the default for me is to go to the head and live each moment caught in thoughts whirling around and creating tension through my whole body.
Awesome Josh. I so agree.
I love this comment Joshua – a beautiful way of expressing the freedom when not in your head. And Angela, a lovely expansion of the article – it is so easy to find oneself in the middle of something and not realise how one got there – I am discovering how much I am missing when when I do that.
Yes, Jonathan, where DO we go when we shift into auto-pilot. Wherever that comfort zone is, of not being with ourselves, it can sometimes be very alluring, and if we’re not careful we can spend years checking out and missing out on large chunks of our life and being aware of the lovliness of just being with ourselves.
Yes I agree Sandra, I get the feeling I have really missed out when I realise I am living in my head.
It is really scary when we go into auto pilot as we are checking out, not wanting to face or deal with what’s going on. Real comfort seeking, how do we allow ourselves to get there in the first place. What I find helps is constantly working on connecting to my breath and connecting to every moment, that way I don’t go into my head and I can feel my body.
So true what you are wrting Sandra – we can spend years checking out. I experienced that in my life and it is quite shocking to see – I was completely lost. But today I know there is another way – a way to connect to myself and to all other people.
Going for walks when I feel I’ve become to headdy in the auto piolet zone, is one of the way I come back to my body. Being surround by nature always supports me to accept whatever I am feeling, not matter how ulgy or absolutely gorgeous my feelings are.
never a truer word said Josh!
It’s actually quite amusing to think of how we can live confined to the head, ruled and dominated by thoughts, constructs, ideals and beliefs. Step outside of the head and into the body and a whole new world opens up for us.
I love your playfulness Vicky, it is so inspiring to me. It reminds me that staying out of my head and discovering the wonders of being in my body can be fun and I have been taking it way too seriously.
Joshua I absolutely concur with this 1000%.
We squeeze our lives into that little 7kg bobble on top of our necks, when all the while we have at least 50kg of body underneath it, waiting patiently for us to come and play.
That for me has been the joy of walking, getting reacquainted with my very patient body. And boy does it feel good.
so true josh- how awesome is it when we can feel the rhythmic flow of love pulsating through our body in stillness, instead of the controlling and negative thoughts in our head.
Lost or locked in our heads deadens and confines as you say. Much better to release ourselves from the tangles of the wayward mind whenever we can.
Great to read your comment Angela, and the awareness you have that if you “can’t remember actually completing something” then you know you are ‘off’ in your head. This feels very simple and true.
It can be a little worrying to realise that parts of my day have gone unnoticed, I have to constantly remind myself to come out of my head and re-connect to my body where truth lies and I feel more of the real me.
Gosh, yes, I’m with you on this one. Strange that the head is what is supposed to remember, yet when i am in my head, I can forget what i was doing 10 seconds ago!!
Thank you Angela for this amazing comment. Developing a connection and staying with my body, I have found the hardest thing to do. Being in my mind is so familiar and has managed to get me through life to get things done, but has often left my body in an anxious and run down state. Reading your comment I feel inspired to pay attention to how I walk indoors – in the office and at home.
I concur with you Shevon it is hard to stay with one’s body and yet so simple come to think of it. I’m becoming more aware along the day of the tenseness of my body and go for little walks to try to get out of my head and reconnect.
I love your comment Angela, you have beautifully reminded me to also do the same. to constantly check if I am connect to my body or not with everything I do. Awesome, thank you.
Love this Angela and thank you Josh. I used to think it was pretty impossible not to be in my head. My head ruled! And sometime it still does, but just as you share Angela and Josh, reconnecting back to my body through simple means, such as focussing on the tenderness of my fingertips, or feeling my chest expand as I walk, are ways I now know I can easily get out of my head and back into my body. And life is certainly a lot more fun when I’m in my body and not upstairs locked up getting all analytical and mental!
I agree Katerina – it is so much more fun and playful when connected in the body – having being stuck almost totally in my head for a good many years of my life – my body was very numbed out and movement was rather like a wooden plank in a stilted motion, often bumping into or tripping up over things, especially my own feet through this self-imposed disconnection.
I love the feeling of being re-connected in my body and being more aware of gentleness initially in the way I moved, then a deeper level of tenderness which is leading to really feeling delicateness arising from the inside now – quite mind-blowing in fact!
So confirming and inspiring to read all that you share in your comment Angela.
A big note to self ‘Remember to stop throughout the day and ‘be’ rather than ‘do’.
Gorgeous sharing Angela. I can totally relate to everything you’ve shared. I too am practicing to be more present in my body, appreciating every move I make and what I bring. Allowing myself to feel and appreciate who I am. Joshua’s blog and your comment are both awesome reminders for me. Thank you!
Connecting to my body is felt in the details around me. How my feet feel on the floor or how I hand a customer change at work. Its all in the fine detail that helps me connect to myself and the loveliness I hold.