Maybe this sounds familiar for you now, if you haven’t yet gotten help for an eating disorder, or perhaps it brings back a harsher reality before you began your recovery journey: striding, every footfall a way to fight back against the calories and emotions. Further, faster, farther. This is what walking was all about.
Recovery from anorexia, bulimia, BED and other eating disorders means finding new ways to move and enjoy moving, just for the joy in what your body can do. Increasing research shows that walking can also help discover our natural inner rhythms. What a contrast to walking as personal punishment!
Poets’ Thoughts and Scientists’ Facts
Philosophers and poets have expounded equally upon walking as a way to fall deeper into not just one’s thoughts, but into a meditative state that brings together the body, mind and spirit. According to research being done on both US coasts, just taking a gentle walk with no real purpose or intent creates a kind of feedback-loop that connect our mental and physical state. Again, the pace sets the tone, and a slower pace quiets the mind.
Now a brisk walk isn’t a bad thing, particularly as eating disorder recovery brings about a new connection with wellness. But at times using walking less as exercise, and more as meditation, brings about even deeper inner-connections. Walking is also a way to celebrate a new and personal self-kindness.
Need more perks and proof? Other studies show that walking through green spaces, such as a park or arboretum, can improve creativity and memory!
Stories Shared: Personal Walks
Take some time this week to dip into social media and share your thoughts on #loveyourbody, and perhaps even share a walking photo to celebrate the #NoFilter movement and the awareness of natural inner and outer beauty.
