"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. "


Posts tagged with 'walking'

Exercise 4: pedometers can help us walk more

25th January 2010

This blog post is downloadable as a Word format handout Earlier this month, I blogged about exercise safety in "Exercise 1: checking it's safe to start" , about the helpful GPPAQ - General Practice Physical Activity Questionnaire - described in "Exercise 2: UK Department of Health, resources for assessment & …

Exercise 2: UK Department of Health, resources for assessment & advice

11th January 2010

Last week I wrote a blog post "Exercise 1: checking it's safe to start". In today's post I talk about resources provided by the Department of Health (for England & Wales). They have an excellent webpage on Physical Activity with links to a series of important initiatives including its publication …

The Ben Lui group (second post): how to know when to change direction on a walk or in treatment for psychological difficulties!

16th June 2009

A couple of lines from the Bruce Springsteen song "Hungry heart" kept going through my head - "Like a river that don't know where it's flowing, I took a wrong turn and I just kept going." Something was wrong. I couldn't work out where I'd got to on my map. …

The Ben Lui group (first post): the challenge of balancing planning & savouring

15th June 2009

Tomorrow I hope to head North and West up past Stirling, Lochearnhead and Crianlarich to Strath Fillan. I should be able to park at a little village called Dalrigh just before Tyndrum. From there I can walk in by the River Cononish for about 7 km to get to Ben …

Walking in Glen Affric: reflection & “stress management” courses (sixth post)

26th April 2009

Home. Catching up. Acting on some of the thinking/planning I did while I was away. The most obvious new initiative has been reviewing my intention to train in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). When I got back from walking in the Sahara at the end of March, I wrote in …

Walking in Glen Affric: heading home & different patterns of thought (fifth post)

24th April 2009

Heading home. Up quite early this morning. Eventually left the hostel about 9.00am. I drove up to Inverness before looping round to head down the A9. I've just stopped in Aviemore at the Mountain Cafe for old time's sake. I came here a year ago on the way back from …

Walking in Glen Affric: rumination, reflection & creativity (fourth post)

23rd April 2009

Last night I slept in a hostel rather than a tent. In fact the predicted gales and lashing rain never materialised. Some rain, some wind, but I woke in a comfortable bed feeling a little foolish, and very much recharged. Last night, good pub food, a shower, and a mattress …

Walking in Glen Affric: emotions, anxiety & risk (third post)

22nd April 2009

Today was huge. I woke early, cold. It had been such a clear, starlit night. My socks, that I'd washed through in the stream and tried to dry a bit yesterday, had frozen solid. So too my walking boots with hard frozen laces. Rub and mould the socks till I …

Walking in Glen Affric: lifestyle & aging (second post)

21st April 2009

Well here I am, eight or so miles up Glen Affric, lying in a little one man tent in the rain. I'm 59 today. I woke at 2.30am wanting a pee and murmured a quiet "Happy birthday" to myself before choosing a moment between showers to stumble out to relieve …

Walking in Glen Affric: adventure and connection (first post)

19th April 2009

I'm at my friend Larry's flat in Glasgow. We're doing one of our three-to-four monthly check-ins - reviewing and planning how our lives are going. I arrived here from Edinburgh yesterday evening and we spent time catching up and looking ahead. This morning though, when I woke, I found it …