Welcome back to my blog! I’d like to start off with a story from my mindfulness class in high school. A few times each month, if the weather allowed, my teacher would herd us out the gym doors (we had class on the gym stage) and lead us on a walk through town. These walks lasted up to half an hour, and they were a welcome break from the dreariness of the school building.
During one of these walking days, my teacher presented us with a challenge: walk in silence. We all groaned, wanting to talk to our friends. Our teacher urged us to use the silence as an opportunity to be more mindful of everything we saw on the walk—the sounds of the cars racing by on the street, the colors of the changing leaves, and the smells radiating from the local restaurants. As it turned out, that walk left me feeling more refreshed than ever, and walking in silence is now a technique I incorporate into my everyday life.
Silent walking does not only exclude conversation with friends—it also means no music, podcasts, or anything else you may listen to. All of these tasks require focus on something other than walking—talking with a friend while walking is especially cognitively demanding, as this 2018 study proved.
At first, being alone with my thoughts was a scary idea to me; I often find myself reliving negative memories or stressing myself out about all the work I have to complete when I’m surrounded by silence. It turns out that I’m not alone in feeling this way, either. In a 2014 study, subjects were left by themselves in
an empty room for up to fifteen minutes with no belongings. They were instructed to “entertain themselves with their thoughts,” according to the study, and were given the opportunity to administer an electric shock to themselves if they desired. It turns out that 67% of men in the study administered at least one shock during the 15 minutes (one man even gave himself 190 shocks!); people would rather harm themselves than have to sit in silence, surrounded by only their thoughts.
However, silent walking doesn’t mean you have to be alone with your thoughts—you just have to redirect them. Instead of ruminating about everything that went wrong during your day, pay attention to your senses. What do you see? Maybe you spot one of your neighbors, or a cute dog, or the pretty red leaves falling from the trees. Maybe you notice that the sky is a particularly beautiful shade of blue today, and that the clouds resemble dollops of cotton candy.
Next, notice what you hear. Maybe you hear birds chirping or squirrels screaming in the trees (did you know squirrels could scream?). If you’re taking a silent walk with a partner, maybe you can hear their breathing or the light padding of their shoes on the concrete.
Can you smell anything? Maybe you’re walking past a restaurant and get a whiff of the delicious food being prepared inside. Maybe you’re walking shortly after a rain shower and smell the earthiness of the wet leaves and soil. Or maybe you don’t smell anything. That’s okay, too!
Next, focus on what you feel. Maybe you feel the handle of your water bottle, if you’re holding one. Or, if your hands are empty, feel the light brush of your clothes against your skin. Feel the firmness of each step against the ground.
Hopefully, after being more mindful during your silent walk, you’ll feel calmer and less anxious. It turns out these benefits have been reaped for many years, particularly in Buddhist meditation. Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the mindfulness trailblazers of this century, wrote a valuable article about the spiritual benefits of this mindful walking, including uniting the body, mind, and earth. “We don’t need to wait until after our body has disintegrated to go back to Mother Earth,” Hanh explained. “Whenever we breathe, whenever we step, we are returning to the Earth.”