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TextAkker Publishing / Wenchien
Many people walk on the street every day. However, people pay less attention to thinking about what a walk does for their bodies. Compared to strenuous exercise or weight training, walking is an easier exercise. You'll be able to communicate with your body when you just walk forward without any certain purpose.
Frédéric Gros, author of the book Marcher, Une Philosophie, is a Professor of Philosophy at the Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) in France. Gros sets forth his views on how walking affects a person's physical, mental, and spiritual life, healing, and loneliness. Also, Gros shares how famous people take walking as the inspiration for their creations. Seven famous people in history are cited in the book including Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Mahatma Gandhi, and the rest. Let's take a peek at how Gros explains the relationship between walking and energy.
When walking, the first energy which a person feels is personal energy, the power of the body moving. Rather than explosive, such energy spreads sensitively, gently, and continuously.
Thoreau quite admires the wisdom of the Native Americans in the United States. Indigenous Americans feel that the land is where the sacred energy comes from. One could take a full rest when lying on the ground. Walking on the ground without wearing shoes makes one stronger. Rather than stretching one's hands to the sky to pray, the Native Americans prefer to walk on the ground without shoes.
A walker's body has continuous support from the land. He could feel his weight layering to the land. Each of his walks turns into a lasting mark on the ground. Walking becomes the inspiration that continuously motivates energy. Walking is a kind of physical motion. When your heart beats race quicker & body movement gets bigger, it'll boost your blood circulation go throughout the entire body strongly.
A walker could still feel another energy source – landscapes. Landscapes never stop calling the walker: the scenes are home for the walker as the mountains, colors, and trees all support him. The walkway is secluded. It's romantic to walk through a vineyard in autumn. All of these will nurture the walker and make him level up.
Marcher, Une Philosophie
Author：Frédéric Gros
Publication date: 2008