Slo Poke
Some readers will surely remember a caramel-on-a-stick candy treat suggestively labeled Slo Poke. A favorite among young movie goers in the 1950’s, it was a confection that could sustain one for an entire Saturday matinee, plus a Bugs Bunny cartoon. To bite into a gluey Slo Poke was to risk losing a filling. It was meant to release its sweetness gradually over the tongue and behind the teeth.
The protocol for consuming a Slo Poke came to mind after a recent early morning “run” on the University of Wisconsin’s Lakeshore Path. I’d only traveled about a hundred yards and was still limbering up in the breezy, 15 degree weather when a warmly clothed couple passed on the right with a cheery salutation. I turn seventy-two this week, and after fifty years of pounding the pavement I’m used to being overtaken by members of the younger set. But these folks weren’t fellow runners; they were walking (albeit at a decent clip).
I have to admit that I found the encounter somewhat disconcerting. Granted, I feel fortunate to still be able to lace up my Sauconys at all. But half a lifetime ago, while my competitive juices were still flowing, I was breaking 16 minutes in the 5K, and 2:40 in the marathon. Such starkly revealing evidence of aging can be a bit disconcerting.
Fortunately, racing no longer holds the appeal it once did. I exercise - alternating days of running with time spent on the Schwinn Airdyne and vigorous sessions of yoga - because it lifts my mood, controls my weight, and sharpens my thinking. Life extension might be another benefit, but that’s really beside the point. Still, I am trying to get used to the idea that it’s a gift to be able to work out, no matter how slowly. It is, as they say, better than the alternative.
As my own pace slackens, it has become clear that there will be more walking that running in my future - a form of exercise whose advantages ought to be obvious to a man who’s also practiced movement meditation for several decades. Not to mention that walking is an easier practice to master than t’ai chi….Or not. In an 1862 essay on the subject Henry David Thoreau wrote: “I may have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of walking, who has a genius, so to speak, for sauntering.”
Thoreau’s observation echoes advice one finds in many contemplative traditions. “Solviture Ambulando,” St. Augustine exclaimed in the 5th century – “It is solved by walking.” Whatever troubles your spirit, whatever you soul yearns for, walking is a resource ready at hand.
How, then, shall we walk? If one wishes to perambulate in a “sacred manner” here are just a few simple rules for the road. First, find a comfortable pace. Very slow, deliberative walking, as in a cloister, isn’t always advisable. Each of us has a stride length and a turnover rate that feels most natural. I learned this about running decades ago, and it’s also true for walking. What matters is the ability to attend fully to the act itself. If walking too languidly or too quickly feels awkward and distracting, you haven’t found the sweet spot.
Second, keep the senses wide open and tuned in to the world around you. As one becomes sensorially engaged the boundaries of the self begin to blur; we become more permeable. “While walking, I can almost hear the redwoods beating,” the native American poet Linda Hogan writes, “I can feel the clouds rolling above, heavy and dark.”
Third, stay present and in the moment. “What business have I in the woods if I am thinking of something out of the woods?” Thoreau asked rhetorically. Of course, whether in walking or in sitting our minds will wander and in the blink of an eye we are miles and months removed from our surroundings. This will happen time after time, so we must be gentle with ourselves, and patient as a person savoring a Slo Poke.
Finally, we should proceed with a positive, appreciative outlook, a slight smile on our face that says, “it’s good to be here, it’s good to be on the path.” This is undoubtedly what the Navaho mean when they say, “May we walk in beauty wherever we go.” The idea is to conjure an inner beauty that can reflect and respond to the beauty of the world around us.
And, of course, in the current season one must always be wary of black ice!
