After running for nearly 40 years and three marathons, my knees and hips recommended that I move to a less stressful form of exercise.  So eight years ago I began to walk in earnest.  A daily walk of 4 or more miles was my goal, and my I-phone made it easy to keep track across days, weeks, months, and the year. In addition, I combined my love of conceptual art with my love of walking to construct walking projects (which you can find at www.epsteinreads.com/projects).  These included walking Rowe Hill which rises from the western edge of our Vermont property on every day of the calendar over a period of 9 years; walking the length of Broadway in NYC, a 17 mile stroll; walking the length of the Long Trail in Vermont (I’ve completed nearly 90 miles of the 272 mile length.), and walking from our home in Cambridge, MA to our home in Brownsville, VT, a distance of 132 miles (nearly half way there at this time!).

So I was thrilled to receive this slim volume from my sister for Hanukah. DeLana has written a delightful celebration of her MorningWalk, a practice that she had done every single day without exception for 9 years at the time she wrote the book.  She sets an alarm for 5AM, ties up her running shoes, dons the appropriate apparel for the season, and hits the road, usually embarking on a 7.3 mile loop when at home somewhere in New England near the sea or wherever her travels have taken her. She’s covered about 25,000 miles at a pace of 4 mph (I’m snailing along at 3 mph.) and has managed to combine practical details about clothing, head lamps, etc with observations about the mindfulness element in this practice.

Along with these practical tips for walking, DeLana provides some wonderful quotes from walkers as diverse as Nietzsche (a compulsive walker who thought and wrote while walking), Thoreau, Muir, and Kierkegaard, and Thich Nhat Hanh.  Kierkegaard wrote ,“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” And I love this advice from Hippocrates, “If you are in a bad mood, go for a walk.  If you are still in a bad mood, go for another walk.”

If you love to walk, whether with ear buds listening to books or podcasts as DeLana does about half the time or just listening to your mind, heart and surroundings or if you hardly ever stir from that couch, this is a book worth reading.  You don’t have to commit yourself to walking “every damn day” as she puts it or walking 25,000 miles.  Just lace up those sneakers, pull on a sweater, and hit the road.  You won’t be sorry.