The Walking Site Store Book Review

"The Spirited Walker"  by Carolyn Scott Kortge

Review by Deborah, Virginia

Unlike a number of authors who come to their fitness activities carrying the baggage of years of poor habits, Carolyn Scott Kortge brought her writer's eye to the venture.  She grew up thinking of herself as awkward and therefore wary of any physical activity.  Although she tried golf, skiing, jogging and even took aerobic classes, at best these activities were seen as something that she "should" do.  An approach that she likens to taking a vitamin pill.

As a newspaper feature writer she began to notice that walking was becoming a trendy alternative to jogging and aerobics classes.  She wrote about the benefits of walking as a low-impact exercise and described the formation of walking clubs.  Soon she had measured a 2 mile course in her neighborhood, embarking on a personal experiment to see what this new trend was all about.  It wasn't long before Carolyn Scott Kortge was hooked and face-to-face with 40 years of determination to maintain her status as a non-athlete that was now crumbling.  The PE classes of her youth did not encourage girls to sweat or explore their athletic prowess and physical strength.  But as she puts it, "Walking crept under my defenses.  The tight lines that bound me inside the image of an athletic 'klutz' began to loosen.  Instead of a klutz, I found a woman who loved testing her physical limits.  I had been looking at my body from the outside, as something to control with discipline and diet.  When I stepped inside, I connected with a new self-image and a deeper knowledge of myself."

This book can best be described as mapping a course from sole to soul. Michael Murphy, co-founder of Esalen Institute had interviewed top athletes almost 30 years ago and came away describing a "spiritual underground" of sports that was rarely mentioned in sports literature.

Carolyn Scott Kortge writes about the process of making that "spiritual underground" accessible.  And access does not require winning medals or setting records that will be recorded in the newspapers.  It is achieved with practice.   Regardless of the discipline, all practice is mental as well as physical,and just as important, movement in the body brings movement in the mind.

In order to help the reader explore the  spiritual side of walking Carolyn Scott Kortge covers topics not often found in the "how to" books.  She does not neglect the "how to" , including a section on shoes, stretches and the toys of the sport - treadmills and heart-rate monitors.  There is even a short section that covers the usual motivation that people have to begin a walking program - weight loss.

Some of this information is integrated into the text and some is highlighted in sections called Side Lines, scattered throughout the text.

But the great contributions of this book are in the sections on imagery and breathwork.  She cautions us not to dismiss visualization and affirmation as so much "mental fluff."  Instead she reminds us of the power of visualization to encourage healing and then eloquently describes a number of mental exercises that can be incorporated with walking.  There are references to yoga, tai chi and other meditative practices and suggested breathing patterns that will enable the walker to tap into the power that deep conscious breathing brings.  As a new Tai Chi student and a student of yoga for the past 10 years, I can attest to the clarity and healing that come when physical movement and breathing are coordinated.

Getting started in a walking program is the first hurdle.  But, sometimes even when we see much progress or change as a result of walking our motivation can begin to sag.  There is a wonderful section, "Yes, I Can! Maintaining Motivation and Clearing Hurdles," that addresses these issues.  While some might argue that because Carolyn Scott Kortge draws from a number of disciplines when she talks about mindfulness and motivation she is merely dabbling or sampling from old venerated traditions.  I like the eclectic approach because what works for me on Monday may not work on Tuesday and the more tools I have the better equipped I feel to deal with what it means to literally and metaphorically put one foot in front of the other.

Some come to walking out of physical considerations - weight loss, diabetes, hypertension, etc. while others come from an emotionally painful place.  Kathy Smith, one of the fitness industry's leaders came to running to help heal following the death of her parents shortly after she started college.  As a counselor myself, I know the value of exercise in moderating anxiety and depression.

"The Spirited Walker" addresses these issues better than any other walking book that I know.  The resource section and the information on retreats is unique in its emphasis. 

Maggie Spilner, the walking editor of Prevention Magazine says, "This is the walking book I wanted to write!"  Amen

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