Mindfulness and hiking: Oxfam Trailwalker Test Walk

I haven't had a chance to mention it in this blog yet, but I'm sort of potentially signed up for the Oxfam Trailwalker event in April of this year: walking 100km in a 36 hour period to raise money to combat poverty around the globe.

It's a big task, and I'm not sure if I'm (or the rest of the potential team is, for that matter) honestly up to training for it in the time we have left. Yesterday was meant to be the test walk that would determine whether the four of us who think we might be up for it really are or not.

NB: The reason we need to figure out a definite 'yea or nay' now is that it costs $600 to enter a team in the event, with a commitment to raising a further $2,000 for the charity. The deadline for that payment is in a couple of weeks time, so by that point, we really need to have a an accurate idea of whether or not we have a chance of completing it.

Based purely on the results of yesterday's walk, I'd say "no, we're not", although, for reasons mentioned within that post, that may not be an accurate assessment. So we have a second test walk planned next weekend. And meanwhile, I'm getting to reflect back on the walk yesterday and look at the role mindfulness played in it for me. In particular, I'm reflecting on how the act of walking and pushing myself physically created moments of mindfulness I hadn't actually gone looking for.

From the outside, it might appear that there was little mindfulness involved anywhere. The team I'm walking and training with are a boisterous lot, and rowdy conversation accompanied much of the walk. But honestly, there were long stretches of track where I was either on point, or tail-end charlie, and thus slightly removed from the conversation and more able to focus on what existed around and within me. Especially in the harder, steeper bits where each step required focus to ensure it was landing on solid footing... well, mindful being-while-walking was something that just kind of happened without being deliberately chased: an interesting experience.

And I do find it interesting. More and more over the past couple of years, I've been experiencing mindful interludes at times when I haven't specifically been looking for them. They've been like gifts (although I'm not sure about gifts from whom) in the moments they've occurred. It's not, you understand, that I can't find usually find mindfulness when I seek it out through meditation or just being - but somehow, the mindful moments that occur spontaneously seem to be far deeper and richer than the ones I've actively look for (do I but notice the spontaneous ones when they occur, anyway).

Perhaps that's where the interesting bit lies. The deliberately-sought moments are more consistent and reliable now, but they're not as bright and rich and beautiful. Meanwhile, the spontaneous ones feel as thought they're somehow more of everything... but they can't be relied upon. They come when they will and last as long as they will before fading again.

Perhaps wisdom is in realising that both types of moments have their value, and that neither suffers from not being the other? Perhaps they even complement each other. Or perhaps the spontaneous moments are a model of what the deliberately sought moment could (or should?) be; a destination to aim for, using consistent practice and self-discipline.

Or it could all mean something else entirely... What do you think? How do your spontaneous mindful moments relate to those you deliberately seek? Where do you think wisdom lies for you?

Blessings



Starfire