- Richard A. Haster, a Presbyterian minister and author, makes a good case for walking as a spiritual practice that adds richness and depth to our lives. He has helpful suggestions for designing your own walking program in Surprises Around the Bend.
- Walking the prairie land he owns is a way for J. Brent Bill, Quaker writer and retreat leader, to familiarize himself with the territory, to increase his love of the place he calls home, and to see himself as a pilgrim open to God's continuing revelations to him. The author shares his experiences in Sacred Compass.
- Linda Hogan, an award-winning Native-American writer, presents "a doorway into the mythical world, a reality known by my ancestors, one that takes the daily into the dimensions both sacred and present." In Dwellings she celebrates the arts of walking and watching in the wonder-inducing natural world.
- Emilie Buchwald has put together a top-drawer collection of essays in Toward the Livable City on what makes for a flourishing life in the city. In a selection on Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sara St. Antoine shares her delight in walking in this place.
- Robert Fulghum loves to savor ordinary moments in everyday life when we are fully alive. In From Beginning to End, he marvels at the ritual of a neighbor walking his dog and finding great pleasure in the task which is performed again and again.
- In The Sound of Paper, bestselling author Julia Cameron contends that walking is a spur to creativity and a way to jump-start the imagination. She suggests that creative individuals take 20-minute walks regularly.
- Rabbi Rami Shapiro and his son Aaron have discovered many ways to sustain creativity. In Writing – The Sacred Art, they affirm sauntering, a leisurely form of walking, as the best way to go for writers.
- Jeffrey Smith in Where the Roots Reach for Water finds many examples of the devotional aspects of walking. To name a few: the aboriginal walkabout, the walking meditations of Tibetan Buddhists, and the Eastern Orthodox pilgrim on a holy journey.
- When does walking become a meditation? Buddhist writer and teacher Jack Kornfield discusses what makes this spiritual practice a pathway to centeredness and peace in Buddha's Little Instruction Book.
- While attending a retreat given by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village, Jean-Pierre and Rachel Carter talk about trying walking meditation in the city and while walking up a flight of stairs. If they chose to do the second, their teacher suggests they make an agreement with the stairs in Thich Nhat Hanh: The Joy of Full Consciousness.
- Walking is very important to Jains since their great leader was enlightened while walking. They have a special way of doing it given their duty not to step on any living creatures. William Dalrympie profiles Prasannamati Mataji and his distinctive views on walking in Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India.
- Picture yourself as an elderly Hindu person in India who has given up all earthly possessions and is now preparing to seek enlightenment each and every minute of the day. This means walking to shrines, temples, and other holy places. In India: A Sacred Geography, Diana Eck looks at the wanderings of these sannyasis.
- When two million Hindus a month go on long pilgrimages, there is plenty of walking and climbing involved. They go for darsan — to see the image of the deity — explains Diana Eck in Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. She explores this spiritual practice which compels devotional Hindus to trek high in the Himalayas for the darsan of Visnu at Badrinath or climb a local hill for the darsan of a goddess.
- In his spiritual memoir At Hell's Gate, Claude Anshin Thomas recounts his journey from the violence of Vietnam to his vocation as a wandering Zen monk; he makes pilgrimages around the world to speak out for peace and nonviolence. Many other spiritual people have in different places have also walked for the causes in solidarity with kindred spirits.
- "Walking the labyrinth is a prayer form symbolizing our walk with God and our walk toward God," writes Jane Vennard in Praying with Body and Soul. She describes her experience on this devotional path.
More Book Excerpts on Walking
