The kind of walk that can change your life and your gut

The walk: a simple yet magical act

Taking a short walk after eating lunch is a perfect reset for the remainder of the afternoon. And my god, the walk at dusk after dinner is even better. It inevitably leaves me calm while wrapped in a cloak of dreamy shadowed light. The lavender and deep blues fade into indigo, giving way for an entirely new crew of creatures to emerge. It’s magical!

It’s an added boon that these micro walks happen to be one of the best ways you can support digestion. Even though it was initially conveyed as a tactic for facilitating easy breakdown and optimal absorption of what you just ate, it quite frankly is also a wonderful way to absorb the subtle pulse of life. 

It needn't be a long walk, 15 to 20 minutes will suffice. It sounds incredibly simple, which it is. Yet it’s rare, even for me, to actually do it with any sort of consistency. However, just the other day was one of those days where I stepped outside post meal and remembered how great it feels on so many levels. I embarked and returned from a lovely abstract and sensational stroll, my mind and gut elevated. 

There’s something about walking without anything else to consume except the experience itself and a little food in the belly. No music, no podcast, no phone conversation, as those are just more things to digest, inevitably splintering my attention. Instead, I like to focus my compass on breathing, movement, and taking in my surroundings. 

I go in and out of making it a daily practice even though all it takes is just one step for momentum to build. For me it can be a bit weather dependent. I’m less likely to go when the wind is howling thirty plus miles an hour or if it’s pitch black and twenty degrees. This may not stop some people, yet for me, stillness sometimes trumps movement and the gravitas of a soft cozy couch has more allure than the raw elements.

Sometimes in the moments where I remain seated the potency of my digestion suffers. This applies to how I digest life as a whole. I end up feeling a little sluggish, sometimes even stagnant. 

So I mix it up. 

Movement. Rest. 

Ebb. Flow. 

Depending on the city or where in the world you live, walking is a natural, normal, and multiple-time-a-day thing. It’s a standard need rather than an intentional practice. In my circumstance, I must choose. Most often it leaves me wanting more….for which I’m truly grateful. So this then becomes the practice; micro acts which feed the following act. 

The cool thing about a walking practice is that it’s cumulative. It sparks a kind of recollection. What I like to call, the genuine pleasure arising from our reunion with nature. For example, I love to take in the sky no matter where I am. I’m most fond of dawn and dusk. Maybe even a little later so I can take in the stars. Or even better, catch a glimpse of a waxing crescent moon on the verge of setting. 

I practice deep listening and the art of slow time. I watch for patterns and signs with birdsong or clouds. I notice the inevitably hum of cars, which seems to be more or less dependent on the thickness of the air. 

If you’re anything like me, do these practices when you are so inspired, when you can, or when you feel you could benefit from more flow and clarity. There’s nothing quite like it. I find that it supports my way of being in a tender yet profound way. It dramatically shifts my mood. It hones my intuition. It leaves me craving more of the connection I seek. 

Greet the sunrise. Listen to the wind. Take it all in on your post meal stroll. Put yourself in the way of beauty. Your guts will thank you.