If you are someone who becomes overwhelmed by too much information or explanations, here are the basics for this practice. Begin with these, and if and when you decide you want to know more, read the more information section starting on page 2.
The Basics
At least 3 times a week, for 45-60 minutes:
Go outside.
Talk a walk or go for a run (30 minutes).
Pay Attention.
Be open to wonder.
When you’re done, write about it in your movement log (15-30 minutes).
Movement logs should include the following:
1. At the top:
Date + Time
Distance moved (you could also do amount of time spent)
Route/location
Weather/temperature
2. a 1-2 sentence summary of what you did, or how/what you felt as you moved, or anything you want to document about the walk or run for your future self.
3. Each week, end at least one of your entries with someone else’s words. Something you’ve read or heard that you’re thinking about, one of the quotes I post, or a passage from our reading, a poem.
The rest of the entry will be about paying attention and being in wonder. In addition to a big list of suggestions/prompts/possible experiments, I will offer several activities related to our topic of the week that you can try to help you practice attention and be in wonder.
That’s it. Try to be consistent in this basic practice. The benefits of a log are in the accumulated effects. It is slow, small, satisfying work. The practice of noticing, then finding wonder and words to express it, builds over time. You not only get better at doing it, but you create an archive of ideas, images, thoughts, experiences, details that you can use in future writing projects.
More Information
Go Outside.
When I started my practice in January of 2017, I wanted to learn about a place in my neighborhood, the Mississippi River Gorge. So I chose to run beside it most of the time. You can walk or run in the same place, or you can choose different places. Moving through a place that’s unfamiliar, everything seems fresh and exciting. But moving through the same place again and again, allows you to develop a deeper familiarity with it.
Walk or run for 30 minutes.
Or hike or bike or swim or ___? Most of my practice is done running, but I also walk and swim. It can be fun to experiment with different ways of moving to see how they affect your attention. 30 minutes is the goal — it’s enough time to become immersed in your walk/run — but you can move a little more, or a little less. Again, whatever works best for you (your schedule, helping you to pay attention, etc.)
Pay Attention. Be Open to Wonder.
Each week in class, we’ll try out activities/prompts/experiments that help you develop your attention skills and learn how to be open to wonder — to search for it, or to be ready when it finds you. One useful technique that we’ll use frequently is: 10 Things I Noticed.
Write in your Movement Log.
The idea of the movement log comes from my experiences, over the past 5.5 years and over 1500 entries, of writing about my runs, swims, and sometimes walks. It was originally inspired by Thomas Gardner’s year-long running log, Poverty Creek Journal. It was also inspired by my failed plan in 2017 to train for, research and write about, then run in my first marathon (I did the writing but was injured and didn’t make it to the start line). Mine is a blog, but you can document your movement in a notebook, a word document, on a video or recording. It’s up to you. The important thing to remember is to establish a structure for your log and then consistently use that structure as you write in it.
the structure: This is what you regularly want to include in your log entries. For this class, we will start with something simple. Over time and experience, you can fine-tune your structure to include things you want to consistently document. After you add in the required details, the rest of the entry will be about noticing the world, and noticing your whole self (body/mind/spirit) in the world. And it will be about wonder (and wondering). Some days you might notice a lot of things, have deep thoughts, find something delightful, or enter a daydream. Other days you might just move. That’s okay. Just keep showing up and try to be open to whatever happens.
where/when to write your entry: typically, you should do this immediately following your walk or run, once you return home, although you can experiment with developing ways to document/write it while moving. Together, we can brainstorm strategies for taking notes while moving, or ways to remember what you’ve noticed while moving. The most important thing is not to wait too long to write about it. Even though you think you’ll remember what just happened to you, it’s easy to forget!