Walk while you work! Work the body and mind simultaneously!

Every morning I spend an hour on my stationary bike.  I read as I pedal.  I get my best thinking during that time.  I am convinced that it is due to the movement of the blood throughout my body and brain.

A few years ago, on the TV program 60 Minutes, they featured a Mayo clinic doctor – Dr. James Levine – who rigged a treadmill with a keyboard and monitor.  He sets the treadmill to a very slow pace, 1 mile per hour, and walks while he works on his computer!  Recently he was productized this idea, into a product called a Walkstation.

When I have a lot of reading to do for work, I hop on my stationary bike for hours, sometimes up to 5 hours.  Unfortunately, that gives me a very sore read-end.  It’s time to buy a treadmill and rig it with my keyboard and monitor!

Walk your Blues Away

Recently I received a fabulous book called, Walking Your Blues Away, by Thom Hartmann.

As you know, the brain has two hemispheres. The left hemisphere controls the right side of your body. The right hemisphere controls the left side of your body. Walking is a rhythmic, alternating movement of the left and right sides of your body. Thus, there is a rhythmic, alternating movement between the left and right hemisphere. Psychologists call this “bilaterality”.

“Bilaterality is the ability to have the left and right hemispheres of the brain fully functional and communicating with each other. It represents an optimal way of functioning for the brain.”

The technique is to focus on a problem while walking. Soon the problem will loose its emotional impact on you. Thus, this is a simple practice of alternately stimulating the two hemispheres of the brain while thinking of a problem or issue.

Got a problem that’s bugging you? Walk it away!

Got a technical problem that you’re trying to solve? Engage the full mind on the problem by walking!

Some good quotes:

“Never trust a thought that didn’t come by walking.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

“Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.”

— Thomas Jefferson