The Beauty of a Silent Walk

In a TikTok video that has now amassed describes taking a walk. But not just any walk: a silent one.

 For her, the 30-minute stroll was revelatory. No podcasts, no music. Just "me, myself and I."

My anxiety could never

The first two minutes as mental "mayhem" that eventually gave way to a "flow state." The brain fog lifted. Ideas started popping into the head because is necessary "giving them space to enter.

The silent walk is TikTok's latest wellness obsession, a blend of meditation and exercise that aims to improve mental health. Unlike the similarly trendy "hot girl walk," a four-mile odyssey that requires goal-setting and giving thanks, the silent walk does not involve multitasking. There is no agenda other than to set one foot in front of the other and take note of the world around you.

Walking in silence is an ancient tradition rooted in mindfulness, a form of meditation that helps people focus on the physical sensations, thoughts and emotions of the present moment, without any judgment.

The fact that the silent walk is nothing new has attracted a chorus of critics; "Gen Z thinks it just invented walking," they say.

Walking is a well-established balm for the mind and body. Research has shown that walking for as little as 10 extra minutes a day may lead to a longer life. 30-minute walk in an urban park reduced the amount of time that people dwelled on negative thoughts. Walking has also been shown to improve creativity and help fend off depression.

"Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative," the study authors wrote.

Walking, however, can make it more pleasant to spend time with ourselves, experts say.

If the idea of daydreaming seems luxurious, it may be because our attention spans have shriveled over the last two decades.

We now spend an average of about 47 seconds on a piece of screen content before switching to another piece of content.

But a silent walk can help replenish our "tank" so that we have a greater reserve of mental energy, she added. In other words, disconnecting for a while can actually help us perform better.

When we're walking, and that we think about an emotional goal for the day, not just a list of tasks.

For example, if your goal is to feel calm, you can write that on a Post-it note and refer back to it when thinking about how you'll spend your fleeting free time that day.

"So many of us feel like we're always behind and running to catch up," This can lead to a state of being "so distracted that we aren't present at all."

But in a future-oriented society we need opportunities to be satisfied with the here and now. There is great beauty and aliveness in the world outside of whatever it is we're doing on our devices.