Where does it start? Muscles tense. One leg a pillar, holding the body upright between the earth and sky. The other a pendulum, swinging from behind. Heel touches down. The whole weight of the body rolls forward onto the ball of the foot. The big toe pushes off, and the delicately balanced weight of the body shifts again. The legs reverse position. It starts with a step and then another step and then another that add up like taps on a drum to a rhythm, the rhythm of walking. The most obvious and the most obscure thing in the world, this walking that wanders so readily into religion, philosophy, landscape, urban policy, anatomy, allegory, and heartbreak.
— Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (Penguin Books (June 1, 2001)
Photo: Bjorn Breimo, Walking (Norway)
Did you not go for your photo-walk today, proving yourself to be a mere mortal?
I remain immortal.
the mechanics and power of walking, well defined here
Yes. Oh, the Words. Pearls.
Yes, the mechanics, it’s like this text came from a physics book. Wow
She’s amazing.
I love how Solnit susses out the magical in the quotidian….
Agree. Magic.
Oh, I love this.
I guess this is why da Vinci was fascinated by the human foot…
Genius. You are right.
Makes me want to practice walking right now. Thanks for getting me off my a.s DK!
Laughing. Mission accomplished.
Still here… Getting caught back into the WP net once more.
Out! OUT!
Not quite yet …..
OKAY OKAY!!!
As a physio who analyzes gait patterns all day long and charts those patterns using official medical lingo, I particularly love this poetic description of it. Walking has so many physiological, psychological and spiritual benefits. Those of us who can walk take it for granted, often letting our bodies rust. And those clients of mine who can no longer amble, google miracle cures and magic machines, and dream of being upright every single night.
And your last 8 words Sharon, the wake up call. Gratitude for each moment upright. BTW, as a former skeptic of PT, I continue with my daily exercises and pain is gone. I’m a believer.
That makes me happy. 😊 I always tell my clients that a successful outcome is 10% what I say and 90% what you do with that information.
Yes. And now to stick to it.
You’ve found your rhythm, I think, and the reward that comes with earned wellness. I’m not worried. 😉
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Walk, walk, walk … “The most obvious and the most obscure thing in the world, this walking that wanders so readily into religion, philosophy, landscape, urban policy, anatomy, allegory, and heartbreak.” – Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (Penguin Books (June 1, 2001)