Walk as Worship

Here I am again on a Monday evening, staring at a blank page, trying to figure out what to write. But no matter, as always, I'll just take my fingers for a walk.

To walk leisurely is one of the greatest pleasures in life. My parking spot at the office basement is a distance away from the lift but I always enjoy the leisurely walk towards it. When going to a meeting anywhere, I often have a habit of parking a distance away from the actual destination. This is because the short walk from the car gives me time to think and help put myself into the right frame of mind before a meeting.

I think walking is also one of the healthiest exercises for cubicle creatures like us. It relaxes the body and helps circulation; it makes us body-aware and frees us from living too much in our heads. Buddhists are familiar with the practice of walking meditation, which is often done to break the monotony of its sitting counterpart. To walk slowly, observing the movement of the heels and the the pressure of feet on the ground helps to slow down our hurried pace of life.

I remember my time in Singapore when I was commuting by bus everyday to work. Singapore is very pedestrian friendly and I enjoyed alighting at the bus-stop outside Liang Court, along River Valley road. From there, I had the pleasure of walking across a bridge over the Singapore River towards my office at Central Mall. That was a very happy time in my life. I had my Walkman with me, and was listening to audiobooks everyday.

To walk is to engage in the simplest physical activity that one can do. To me, it is an act of worship, of participating in the flow of the universe. Only when you are in the throes of rhythmic locomotion are you at one with everything.

Isn't walking also the cheapest form of exercise that anyone of us can pursue? You don't need fancy exercise outfits or expensive gym memberships. And the best thing is that you can incorporate it into your daily life. Do like what I do: just park further away from the office. Or just take the train, which would surely involve a lot of walking.

Being able to walk is actually a great blessing which many of the old and disabled are not able to enjoy. So be grateful that you've been blessed with this gift. The simple and graceful act of walking is a miracle of motion which our most advanced robotics are still struggling to reproduce. But enough of talk. Let's just walk it.