After yoga class a couple of weeks ago, I asked my friend Jenny Rossen a.k.a. the Sandcastle Girl … former sand castle builder & entrepreneur, present-day mum, health freak and yogini… how I could tell people that walking in nature was so good for them.

‘Well it’s bloody obvious,’ she said. ‘I could list 7 reasons just off the top of my head …here I’lll write something for you. ‘

So she did.

Warning: like me, she’s a bit of a hippy … but I reckon she’s got some great points!

What do you think?

1.  Walking in nature helps us reconnect with our radiant life force or the nature of our being…

We are energy – some call it ‘life force’; it is the energy that animates our physical form, flowing through it and around it.  Modern physics, e.g. theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, explain the duality of matter-energy, time-space, and particle-wave by showing that matter and energy are interchangeable.

If you go to any yoga class you will be reminded that this “Qi” (as the Chinese call it) or “Prana” (as it is referred to in Hindu tradition) is flowing in all living things and we are part of nature.

Quite often, in a sweaty yoga studio we stand on a little yoga mat attempting to harness “the force” - as known by 1980’s self-help hippies and anyone who knows Star Wars, attempting to get in “the flow”… it works.

However, if you really want to reconnect with ‘high vibrations’ you need to get out in nature.  

Did you really need to be told that? Don’t you already KNOW that our energy is reinvigorated when we go and walk in the natural world?

Well, it’s easy to forget that when you are out walking in the open air breathing the ions from the roaring ocean and bathing in the vibrations of the trees, surrounded by an intimate group of people who are most likely very similar to you in many ways; this is when you get recharged; this is the awesomeness of being on country, this is the flow of nature to which we are integrally connected. 

2.  Get out of WIFI range and energy of other people electronic magnetic field (EMFs)

The invisible “smog” created by the electricity that powers our civilisation is giving children cancer, bringing people down with immune system disorders, causing miscarriages and suicides.

It is not just the above-mentioned hippies and weirdos wearing alfoil hats who believe this; scientific evidence is always revealing more about how our modern life is making people sick.

Almost everyone is being exposed to new forms of pollution with countless sources of radiation in your own home: cell phones, television, microwave ovens and our best friend, the computer - and how do you stop using your computer?

But there is more, WiFi & our devices all give off radiation.

Hidden Sources of EMF in your home are electrical wiring, dimmer switches, plumbing, radiant electrical heating and your neighbour’s WIFI, to name a few.

Bad news is that is just the beginning of the list. Don’t get me started on 5G!!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls the electronic smog "one of the most common and fastest growing environmental influences" and stresses that it "takes seriously" concerns about the health effects of this modern phenomenon.

So, turn off your WIFI at night, don’t charge your phone by your bed and get out in nature away from all the electronic smog.

Have a phone holiday and give your body a “smog” 2-day break on the Cape to Cape… with Edgewalkers, of course 😉.

3.  Breathing deeply

When you breathe in a certain way it turns on your body’s ability to heal. 

That’s it!

When you breathe deeply your body starts to heal.  

There is no point in writing any more, it’s very simple but for some reason we need to keep reading it and hearing about it. 

Just breathe – go outside (or do it in your car at the lights) and breathe deeply this turns on your parasympathetic nervous system and starts your body healing.

 (I am sure we do not need to hear about sabre tooth tigers anymore.) 

Paradoxically, it is usually that moment when we really need to remember this, when something bad happens, when we get bad news or we get frightened (by the press) that we hold our breath.

So just imagine taking 2 … or 8 days off walking and consciously breathing? This breathing alone will completely reset your dial.

 You can do all types of breathing. Pranayama breathing in one nostril on out the other; or the one Anthony Robbins prescribes: tapping your fingers and counting. Wim Hof is trending at the moment and he is all about the Kumbhaka breath-holding system. The Hawaiian breathing techniques are also easy to practise. Google them people.

Just stop and take a full breath in through the nose, and out through the mouth with the sound, ‘Ha.’
The out breath is whispered loudly, and is twice as long as the in-breath.

A wonderful by product of conscious breathing is that it can turn off your brain and the breathing itself becomes a meditation. 

I know one Guru who would make all his followers do Pranayama breathing every sunrise and sunset. In this way opening the channels for meditation.
Take time out, walk and breathe, that’s the third reason I can think of.

4.  Creativity and Spirituality

Creativity – Well, Erika knows all about this; and, she’s probably written about it before - Stanford University researchers concluded that walking boosts creative inspiration and increases creative output by an average of 60 percent. I did not check these figures 😉.

I say let’s get walking.

And if you have a problem that you need to ‘nut out’, why not go on a multi-day hike?

By the time your hiking holiday is over you would have worked out a creative solution for whatever challenges you have, so they say. I sure do solve a good problem while on a walk.

Erika sure thinks it’s worth it – she teaches that at Murdoch and she wouldn’t be running the retreats if she didn’t!

Spirituality – There is something spiritual about moving with the body cadence swinging your arms and putting one foot in front of the other, isn’t there? Or is it just me?

The tradition of the old English poets like Wordsworth & Keats, who would go on long walks together and both the poetry and trail became very popular.

There is a new book out called Path to Enlightenment that talks about the pilgrim writers and spiritual nature and meditation of taking long walks.

Notice the metaphor walking the path to enlightenment. Is it significant?

5.  Walking is health for your body

Walking is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health – duh – did you really near to hear that …. again?!

Just 30 minutes every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones, increase muscle strength, help with digestion, tone your body, reduce body fat, improve your mood, reduce stress; improve circulation, coordination & sleep. Why wouldn’t you want to walk?!

Research has shown it is best to walk twice a day.

BTW - sleep is when most of the healing of the body happens, when we builds stamina and boost our immune system.

Okay so that’s it, the jury is out – let’s all go walking every day for at least 30 minutes and preferably two times a day. Start off with a 2 day walk; a walking boot camp down south with Edgewalkers to get you going, then incorporate walking into your daily routine when you get back home. There’s an idea!

6.  Detox - give your digestion a break

We all know we should give our digestion a little break. The digestion track from our mouth to our bottom is about nine meters long. So, it makes sense to divert the traffic for a while and give your food highway a chance to rest.

Some people only drink water to detox and others believe that juice fasting is better as it floods your body with nutrition. I know one man who only drank and ate watermelon for two months until he literally pooped water melon. He did this as part of recovering from a car accident and his healing time was astonishingly fast.

Edgewalkers provide vegetarian and vegan meals and snacks at all their events, it might be a good detox for all of you who eat meat daily… they also eat a variety of organic fruits.

It is easy to be “good” when someone is preparing the food for you and after a morning or afternoon of walking your appetite will be ready to really enjoy the delicious, plant-based meals.

Special dietary requirements can be accommodated too, if you ask them!

It is not just what we eat but when we eat and what is eating you. Mindful eating and creating a ceremony around food helps with digestion.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner time is an occasion on the walks when you’ll have a moment to sit and eat your meals in peace, grateful for the sustenance.

7.  Meditation and yoga

Walking, breathing, forest bathing or being in nature can all be a meditation. And so on the Edgewalkers walks you’ll find time to meditate as well, if you want.

I know Erika has been experimenting with this but this will be in place during the 2-day walks for those who wish to participate. We will set aside time for sitting mediation and soft yoga stretch meditation; time for silent walking mediation and a discussion of a variety of meditation modalities.

These tools are offered so that you are assisted in being brought into the moment. Meditation that has you sitting in your room on a pillow trying to turn your mind off can be a real challenge. But when you are walking in nature or have the chance to stop at a breathtaking spot, then it is easier to see that it is all meditation.

This is to help enhance self-awareness, “who am I” connection with self – “where am I” connection with space and who is it that is watching the mind.

For those of you who find that all a bit too hippy-trippy, then there is the meditation of putting on some funky tunes on the head phones and kicking down the limestone paths and enjoy the now-ness of great music in the great outdoors. Why not?

Thanks Jen…