a note from Carl:
“Sometimes the truth depends on a walk around the lake.” -Wallace Stevens
I have been reflecting on and deeply appreciating this line from Wallace Stevens on morning walks recently. On one of these mornings I almost didn’t leave the house because there was a sink full of dishes, a long to-do list, and not so much time before my day with clients began. On another morning I began the walk feeling stressed about a challenging situation with a colleague. By the end of the walks I am always refreshed, deeply nourished, and everything in life once again is clearly workable.
I don’t know why it still comes as such a surprise to me, but a walk – whether around the lake, in a canyon, in a neighborhood, or in a park– is like magic. The truth depends upon it, my sanity depends upon it, my creativity depends on it. My well being is deeply influenced by it.
Last year I wrote on the beautiful distinction John Muir made between hiking and sauntering. (You can read the post here.)
“Hiking. I don’t like the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in mountains, not hike! Do you know the origin of that word “saunter?” It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages, people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, “A la sainte terre.” To the Holy Land. And so they became known as the sainte–terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are are our Holy Land, and we should saunter through them with reverence, not “hike” through them.”- John Muir
How valuable it is for me to have walking in nature as a sacred pause in my life– a pause from the momentum, a pause from the computer, a pause from being in my thinking mind. And how beautiful, always, to discover how self-corrective, how self-organizing, and how truth-revealing those walks can be. In the words of Mary Oliver:
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean–
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down–
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
May you enjoy sauntering,
and may you be idle and blessed.
Carl
p.s. If you love walking and sauntering, you might love to join Erin and Nan Seymour in Santa Fe for an amazing Embodied Life Retreat – Walk In Beauty –that will feature brilliant Feldenkrais lessons to support walking with grace and pleasure, morning meditation, powerful Embodied Life practices, and afternoon River Writing sessions, along with plenty of free time to stroll the gorgeous and inspiring streets of Santa Fe. Spaces are filling –we have a wonderful group of people gathering for this one-of-a-kind Embodied Life retreat in Santa Fe. The discounted room block at our boutique hotel in Santa Fe is available through June – so please sign up and book your room very soon! We’d love to have you join us. Men and women are warmly welcomed. It is going to be aaahhhmazing! We can hardly wait!
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