Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Going off track
We went walking on Sunday as usual but chose a location nearer to London, to be back in reasonable time in order to attend an evening concert without rushing. Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire is a large and ancient woodland with many very old beeches and oaks. Indeed this woodland is so characterful it was used as one location for the film 'Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves' with Kevin Kostner. You can identify one of the settings if you know where to look. This place has a magical atmosphere.
Anyway, we went for our walk, taking an approximate circular route on tracks with various ups and downs, through glades and around lakes.....lots of variety. The distance was much less than we would normally cover in a day and on arriving back at the car it almost felt that we had only just started. .......So we set out again.
This time we didn't follow any route or path and went off track not knowing really where we would end up. We walked and walked rather at random and I began to wonder why this felt so good. It was an extremely pleasurable experience to not be following any path whatsoever, to zigzag through the trees, electing to go this way, then that way without any plan as to a route or destination. It occurred to us that we have not walked so haphazardly for many a long time. Most other walks we do follow tracks, ridgeways, paths of some sort or other, so this was completely different. If you ever go off track, you'll know what I mean.
I wondered why it felt so good and it came to mind that in almost everything we do in our lives we follow a 'track' of sorts; we have a schedule, a diary with meetings to attend, we have city pavements and paths to follow. We cross the road at the traffic lights or zebra crossing, we take a bus, train or underground, we walk along corridors, up stairs, through landings. We enter and exit rooms through doorways (unless you are a spirit), we swim in 'lanes' at the swimming pool, we wait in in a queue or in line to be served, we eat at certain meal times rather than when we're hungry, we sleep 'at bed-time' rather than just when we are tired, we are conscious of doing or saying the right thing to not offend, or worse, get fired from our job. All through our lives, we are following routes, schedules, doctrines or patterns of habit that channel or funnel us through life.
Our random walk through the woods where we did not follow any path or route and only the tip of our nose, seemed like being released from a prison, set free. I'm trying to think of similar experiences one could have, but even in sailing we have to tack, and in piloting a small aircraft we take certain routes. But to choose to go off course, intentionally to wander gives such an exhilarating and freeing sensation. Walking 'off track' and going at random represented spaciousness and lateral thinking. I felt free and our discussion too took a different form. We were more expansive. Gone were some restrictions in life, imposed or self-imposed.
If you live in a city or town where you have 'things to do' it's likely that you also follow a routine of the type I've described. If however, you do go off track and please yourself in what direction you go both physically and metaphorically, you'll know what I mean and I'm sure you appreciate it to the full. For me as a city dweller it's a revelation.
I shall remember to wander off track again....get lost and not care about direction. If you are wondering what I would do if I did get truly lost in a large wood or forest then I have to admit that I had a safety net. In the bottom of my backpack there is a pocket GPS navigation device that would lead us back to the car. :-) So while not being completely stupid, I'm sure if I were more brave to trust my instincts, even that could be left behind.
:-)
Have a good day.
[Photograph by Noel Kingsley, taken on a Hasselblad with 80mm lens with yellow filter. Tripod mouted and exposed for 30 seconds with 50ASA monochrome film.]
