A Path with Heart: Walking with Spirit

By Katherine Stewart

At her opening lecture for The Spirited Walker: Fitness Walking for Clarity, Balance, and Spiritual Connection, Carolyn Scott Kortge appears lithe and chic in a white twin-set and pearls. The former newspaper journalist and racewalker is at the Golden Door in Escondido, California, to share the news that mindful walking can be a powerful form of meditation. But with her elastic facial expressions, herky-jerky gestures, and creative use of pointing, she seems less guru than mistress of physical comedy.

When Kortge speaks, it is as though she shares her 66-year-old body with an inner 16-year-old buffeted by insecurities, as well as an inner six-year-old who has trouble with impulse control. At times, it seems all three personalities are locked in combat. Perhaps its one reason she’s so persuasive: when Kortge tells us that “spirited walking” can help quiet the negative or critical voices in our heads, you know she has come to that realization though hard experience.

Over time, Kortge says, the spirited walk can cultivate an optimistic outlook, giving rise to compassion and a sense of balance. She teaches her techniques over the course of five guided walks, giving each one a name that reflects its intention: Open Heart, Warm Heart, Loving Heart, Strong Heart, and Soaring Heart.

Open Heart begins at one of the Golden Door’s Japanese-style Torii gates, meant to mark the entrance to a sacred space, and moves to a verdant field dotted with eucalyptus trees. Kortge instructs us to pair a firm, steady stride with a silent mantra. Rather than obscure fragments of Hindi or the one-size-fits-all “Om,” her suggestions are playful: affirmations such as “I am happy, I am healthy,” counting to three, Yankee Doodle Dandy. Kortge also encourages her students to devise their own mantras. One of her personal favorites: “Puttin’ my foot down, takin’ a step,” set to the tune of Zippity Doo Dah.

The point here is not so much what we are saying to ourselves as the idea that we are saying it at all – that we are clearing our minds of mental detritus. Kortge cites a recent study from the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, in which researchers scanned the brains of those who meditate or perform meditative activities, from prayer to swaying to knitting. Regardless of which repetitive activity they chose, research subjects showed a thickened cortex, which is linked to a range of benefits, from stress-relief to improved memory to a better quality of sleep. “Science is coming to understand the benefits of meditation,” Kortge enthuses. “Now there’s proof in the lab that it is helpful to us, not just, ‘It feels good’.”

As we pause in a circle under the shade of an old-growth oak, Kortge reminds us that negative thinking habits and their consequences are to blame for much of the stress we experience. “We are so critical of ourselves we forget to be grateful for our positive attributes and qualities,” she says. I nod in recognition. Why, for instance, do I focus so much on my post-baby belly pooch instead of being thankful for my good health?

But I guess I’m not alone. Most of us marinate our brains in a stew of negative thoughts. The trick, says Kortge, is we have the power to change the marinade. “Instead of constantly criticizing yourself,” she says, “try self-talk in a supportive way.”

As our next walk leads us through a glade of sun-spangled bamboo, Kortge asks us to reflect on one of our personal challenges, then choose a mantra that will help us to meet it. Guiltily, I think about losing my own temper when my children squabble.

In spite of its harder moments, I remind myself, parenting has vast rewards. I settle on “Love comes in, all is right,” and I repeat this phrase to myself as we follow the path through tall grass. Whenever outside thoughts intrude – I hope there are no snakes. My ear itches. I wonder what’s happening in Tehran? – I gently guide my mind back to the mantra. Soon I am in that golden place where I am no longer thinking, just being. By session’s end, I feel buoyant and serene.

In subsequent lessons, Kortge introduces other elements into the program: creative movement, visual imagery, variations on pacing and posture, and finally, for Soaring Heart, a mountain hike. Quoting Marcel Proust, Kortge tells us, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Indeed, by week’s end, Kortge has given me new legs. By allowing me to reconsider such a fundamental activity as walking, she has given me a tool to help quiet the static in my head, so that I may be able to hear the deeper voice within.

Carolyn Scott Kortge is the author of The Spirited Walker: Fitness Walking for Clarity, Balance, and Spiritual Connection (1998, HarperOne). Her next workshop will be held during the Life Beyond Cancer retreat at Miraval Resort, December 10-13, 2009.