More on walking…

I came across this today while taking a break (and just before I took a walk). It’s from the New Yorker magazine and while I didn’t see extensive citations it does make sense. You can read the whole article on the New Yorker site.

The way we move our bodies further changes the nature of our thoughts, and vice versa. Psychologists who specialize in exercise music have quantified what many of us already know: listening to songs with high tempos motivates us to run faster, and the swifter we move, the quicker we prefer our music. Likewise, when drivers hear loud, fast music, they unconsciously step a bit harder on the gas pedal. Walking at our own pace creates an unadulterated feedback loop between the rhythm of our bodies and our mental state that we cannot experience as easily when we’re jogging at the gym, steering a car, biking, or during any other kind of locomotion. When we stroll, the pace of our feet naturally vacillates with our moods and the cadence of our inner speech; at the same time, we can actively change the pace of our thoughts by deliberately walking more briskly or by slowing down.

The article talks about the writers Joyce and Woolf and while I doubt I’ll be writing any major fiction anytime soon, I do feel pretty good about my neighborhood walks.

Aloha!

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