"Journeys of discovery are not something you start doing, but something you gradually stop doing." -Erling Kagge
Sauntering is defined as walking in a slow and relaxed manner. While having substantial health benefits, sauntering has less to do with exercise and is more a way of seeing the world. It connects us to ourselves and our environment; it is a practice in presence. Sauntering has become less popular as our culture is more "purpose-driven," determined to get the most productivity out of our time. But if goal-oriented self-improvement is desirable, why aren't we collectively happier and healthier?
The gift of a walking practice is that it is a path to a creative life, and creativity makes us happy. When you walk every day, simply placing one foot in front of the other, you use your body, observe your breath and thoughts, slow down, and create a mindful relationship between yourself and your environment. It is unique from other self-improvement methods in that you don't have to walk in a particular way, have an allotted amount of time, or have an end goal to receive its benefits.
Walking outdoors offers an opportunity to clear the mind, generate fresh insights, and return to activities with greater focus. How does movement in the form of casual walking lead to creativity? One crucial aspect of invention is the ability to generate novel ideas to what we are thinking about or working on. Walking enables enough engagement to occupy the conscious mind while allowing space for the unconscious to wander and wonder. It is because it is not goal-oriented that flexible thinking towards goals is enhanced.
In four experiments, Oppezzo and Schwartz at Stanford showed how walking boosts creative thinking. They asked 176 college students to complete various tests of creative thinking while walking on a treadmill, sitting, or walking in a relaxed way across campus. One test, for example, asked students to come up with unique uses for everyday objects, like a tire. On average, students walking thought of four to six more innovative ideas than seated students. In another experiment, students reflected upon a metaphor (e.g., "a candle burning low") and then generated a similar analogy. Nearly all those who walked, 95%, were able to do so, compared to only half of the seated students.
The researchers concluded that walking at our natural pace is good for our health and a great strategy to increase the capacity to generate fresh ideas. It has a beneficial effect on associative memory. And walking outdoors produces the most novel and highest-quality analogies.
Before science looked at the benefits of walking on creativity, writers and many others who lived creative lives had paid tribute to it. Since the 1400s, walking and writing have become closely connected. Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, William Wordsworth, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Kate Chopin were a few literary avid walkers.
In Wanderlust: A History of Walking, Rebecca Solnit observed: "Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented society, and doing nothing is hard to do. It's best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking."
Norwegian writer Erling Kagge wrote a slim book on Walking: One Step at a Time. This beautiful meditation not only offers a comprehensive list of its benefits, but it also does so in beautiful prose. He grieves the loss of walking in the modern world, believing it is walking that has made humans who they are.
Kagge's love of walking led him to walk to the North Pole at the age of 27, and three years later, he became the first person to walk to the South Pole alone. Now, as a father and head of a large publishing company, Kagge's beloved activity is closer to home. He walks the two miles to his office daily, in the evenings amongst the neighborhoods in his city of Oslo, and in the woods on weekends. Wherever he goes, walking is how he comes to know a place and himself within that place.
"I have no idea how many walks I've been on. I've been on short walks; I've been on long walks. I've walked from villages and to cities. I've walked through the day and through the night, from lovers and to friends. I have walked in deep forests and over big mountains, across snow-covered plains and through urban jungles. I have walked bored and euphoric, and I have tried to walk away from problems. I have walked in pain and in happiness. But no matter where and why, I have walked and walked. I have walked to the ends of the earth—literally. All my walks have been different, but looking back, I see one common denominator: inner silence. Walking and silence belong together. Silence is as abstract as walking is concrete."
Exercise: Start or Deepen Your Sauntering Practice
If you don’t yet have a daily walking practice, begin by setting aside 20 minutes a day to do so. With time, increase to 30 minutes a day and build up to an hour a few days a week. You can choose to take one longer walk or, instead, walk more frequently for brief periods throughout the day. For part of every walk, consciously orient your attention to what is happening around you, rather than getting caught up in thinking.
If it is hard to commit to a time to walk, it helps to schedule it so that the busy-ness of life does not interfere. If you need help to commit to walking alone, find a partner to join you.
Briefly jot down notes after a walk. For example, how did you experience it? Relaxing? Restless? Were you lost in thought? Did you notice your physical environment? This noticing exercise should not take a lot of effort. It is meant to help you bring awareness to the practice of walking.
If you already walk most days, consider varying your practice, and notice what you experience. You might choose new paths or walk familiar paths in new ways. For example, on an hour long walk, try to be silent if walking with someone. If walking alone, commit part of the time to noticing the external environment. When you find yourself drifting into thought, gently bring yourself back. Or you might allow yourself to actively reflect on something for a part of the walk. This is a creative practice because it is intentional, a conscious choice where to place your thoughts. If you find your thoughts drifting in habitual ways that aren't helpful, like going over what you need to do during the rest of the day, bringing yourself back to what you notice on the walk is beneficial.
If walking is physically or emotionally challenging, give yourself big kudos for moving in any way you can. Be patient and gentle with your efforts. If you need assistance with movement, such as using a walker or a wheelchair, the felt experience of movement still has emotional and physical benefits.