Tuesday, July 22, 2025
What happens after the first five to fifteen minutes of a silent walk? Thoughts settle. Mind relaxes. Senses sharpen.
Depending on the season, we may see green everywhere with variegated bushes and myriad scents. Birds in the trees calling our attention. We may notice fungi protruding from the base of a tree trunk. Or we may see a landscape blanketed with white. We hear nothing. Smell nothing. Just the shimmering reflection of sunrays on fresh ice and icicles. We are enraptured by contrasting lifeforms: plants, insects, birds.
Do you walk in deep winter months when snow has fallen and your neighborhood looks like a fairytale setting? When the leafless trees lining the roadside are frozen with transparent covering and reach through the blue air toward the brilliant blue sky? It’s absolutely quiet then. You can hear yourself breathe. When you walk, the snow crunches under your boots. The chilled air tingles your nose and courses through your body. A car rumbles in the distance. No birds chirp. No leaves swish. You walk with your focus on the inhalation and exhalation and see little diamonds shimmering on the ground. You don’t want to look up or sideways. Your concentration is on the feet that may step on a slippery spot covered by deceptive fluffy snow drifts.
Experiencing different seasons as you walk cultivates a craving for this short respite from your daily routine. Physical movement reenergizes and provides precious time for contemplation. But when you head toward home, you can’t wait to sip that hot sweet tea, fragrant coffee or frothy hot chocolate.
Jennifer D. Diamond
Good evening, Madhu! I LOVE winter walks for so many reasons! Thank you for sharing!
Madhu B. Wangu
Thank you Jenn!
Lorraine
A winter walk sounds wonderful right now. The heat has been a bit brutal. One of my favorite things in the crisp cool air is hearing myself breathe and feeling the chill in my throat and lungs. It’s energizing and refreshing.
Madhu B. Wangu
Exactly the reason I posted about the winter walk. Heat is unbearable although not as high as in New Delhi where I spent the first twenty-five years of my life. Summers were brutal with high humidity and temperature hovering between 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit!
Crisp cool air from air-conditioning feels like necessity instead of luxury which it is for majority of the peoples in the world.