My favourite form of exercise is walking. One of the advantages of my current job is that I can walk there and arrive to work feeling refreshed and mentally alert. I also like to go for a short walk at lunchtime to wake myself up, though currently Gorgie Farm is an ice rink, a cobblestoned, in many places steeply sloping ice rink so walking can be risky!
My favourite kind of walking though is through the countryside or a park like the Botanics or the Meadows. Here I can let my mind wander while at the same time remaining observant for interesting birds and plants. My walks are very often times that inspire haiku and equally they often help me to work on poems in progress. I am always refreshed after a walk and in the winter I also like the warming effect of regular walks!
Walking is a very natural form of exercise, no machinery required and you can do it wherever you are, no need for the sterile atmosphere of the gym.
Getting Physical for Write on Wednesday
Walking is also a great help when working on a poem, I find. Something about the rhythm of the activity seems to stimulate the composing.
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to your post-weekend posts, to see what wonderful parts of the city/country you've been to. It gives me some inspiration to actually go there myself.
ReplyDeleteHow right you are Juliet - I'd much rather see the trees, birds, animals and sky than be enclosed in a building.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as thought your muse visits you when you are walking - I agree that you can clear your mind of rubbish as you walk - particularly if it is in the countryside.
ReplyDeletei love walking in the nature, too... so little time, though.. and what used to be nice secluded paths in the outskirts of the city are now all infested by humans
ReplyDeleteYou make me want to go outside and take a walk -- even though it is pitch black and I am in the middle of the woods!
ReplyDeleteI visited Edinburgh in 1994 on a solo backpacking trip around the UK -- what a beautiful place!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might want to stop by again, as I am having a giveaway contest for my new book.
Thanks.
Susan
Yes, you got it! The irony is then that what might happen if we all do it is in Polona's comment. Such is what it is in most large US cities ... the wonderful walking areas are full!
ReplyDeleteI am a fanatical walker and go quite crazy if I can't do it. Like you I often walk through ideas and poems (and songs). Also I often find something that's a problem at the beginning of a walk is not still a problem by the end.
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I adore walking outdoors, in a park, or my neighborhood. Anywhere I feel safe, and am surrounded by nature!
ReplyDeleteYes! Walking started me writing, two decades ago. Some of the first "essays from the mountain" are on Small Wonders. Thanks for visiting there recently! I'm looking for that book review, but maybe it's not here yet.
ReplyDeleteGreat posts! Keep 'em coming...
Regards,
Sally