by Monika Korb, Health Practitioner, Byron Bay NSW
We started to do the Byron Bay Lighthouse walk every morning.
At different stages I’ve had the awesome opportunity to feel my body and where I am at with myself in my life, which is reflected in the quality I am and the vitality I feel, climbing to the Lighthouse each morning.
I noticed when I started with my friend, who is very fit and extremely strong in her body, that I was trying to catch up with her. She was always ahead of me and I felt I had to show no weakness: I took her as my measure for where I should be at in my body too.
I used to be very fit and a regular gym person, but after years of doing no exercise or gym my body was not prepared for this ‘full-on’ walk up the Lighthouse steps, which is 7 km up and down from the bottom car park.
As I walked it felt like I was pushing to keep up with my friend, so I felt to allow my body to be my guide.
When feeling out of breath I take a moment and come back to my rhythm with me, with my body aligned.
I don’t look ahead to the stairs I have to climb – I take one step a time. I look at my feet and to the ground and feel my entire body.
Since I am focused only on that, I have no disturbing thoughts coming in that want me to look ahead, how hard it will be, how bad my body will feel, how annoying it is to watch others doing it easily.
I allow myself to climb the Lighthouse stairs in my own way and notice how it still feels enjoyable. I let others overtake if they want.
There are moments I feel that it is too much, that I don’t want to go any further and that I want to quit – so I look and ask, have I pushed myself too much again? Did I lose the joy of the connection to the earth with each step I take?
My walk should be neither struggle, nor hardness or pushing, but a good feeling within my body; a feeling of inner strength, a foundation in my body.
It is absolutely great to feel my body and this aliveness and to re-build my core strength, which is feeding me back during my day. My body feels fit and toned and vital. Doing the walk is a great start to an awesome day being with my body.
And it feels sexy even being over 50 now!
Inspired by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
As we connect to our body one of the most amazing feelings is to become fit to walk for at-least 15 to 30 minutes build a rhythm that supports for the whole day.
Monika this is a great read at a time when my body has given me a big stop moment. It will not allow me to walk in drive or any pushing. Reading this has reminded me that there is no need to compete or keep up with anyone any more.
I will honour what my body is presenting to me, so if it requires gentle return to exercise, then that’s what it will be. It is that simple.
Thanks for the confirmation Monika…
When working with the body and to its capacity, there is an enjoyment and an ease. But when we push beyond the capacity and make it about a goal, the enjoyment is lost and we get stuck in the achievement rather than the quality of the process and the movement.
I love reading this. The joy is not in the pushing of the body, but to work with it. The body will be the guide to say what is ok and what is not ok. Something years ago I would not have taken heed of. However, today is a different story.
The body constantly communicates. So I listen to it earlier or listen to it when it speaks the loudest. Then there is only one choice…
We can get so used to a goal and a mission of what we must do and where we must get to that we can forget the how we get there which really is the most important part in actual fact.
Monika – what you have shared about being in the body and feeling the body and not letting things get to a point that feel like we have pushed ourselves or made something hard…is a recipe for life in general 😉 Thank you!
What’s inspiring reading this is that we can regain our fitness and do so in an enjoyable and self respecting way honouring how the body feels – and at any age. I am just about to begin a new exercise program with support of an exercise professional so perfect timing to read this, and remember to let my body lead the way as I begin. Thanks Monika.
Building a foundation of consistency, taking one step at a time whilst staying connected with your body, ‘I don’t look ahead to the stairs I have to climb – I take one step a time. I look at my feet and to the ground and feel my entire body.’
What a wondrous journey walking can be as we explore what it is to stay Soul-full-connected as we glide through the day.
It’s very clear how easy it is for us to get affected by how people around us are moving if we observe a crowd of people in the rush hour for example. It’s a beautiful process learning to stay with myself and walk my walk while others are rushing to work head first, and the space that I feel in and around my body starts to make more sense than what my eyes see.
It’s surprising isn’t it that we have a body our whole lives but we don’t really have a relationship with it. Reading your blog today highlighted the depths we can go in being with our body and respecting it, and having a relationship that is honouring of our physicality and what is needed moment to moment.
It is never about how far we can walk but about the quality that we walk in.
Always bringing it back to the quality in which we choose to move, and live.
Exercise based on what another is doing or tells us to do is hard to sustain, it feels like a lot of effort! Going to the gym or exercising based on how my body feels is far more enjoyable and it’s easier to remain consistent.
When we walk or exercise in honor of ourselves, of our connection to our body and being, our movements are confirming who we are within and it is a joy to build a body of love that reflects and sustains strength, vitality and well-being.
Beautifully said Carola – and this confirmation and joy is such that it feeds us back or increases our energy and vitality. Amazing to feel.
I have to ask the question that is begging to be asked
” At what point did you stop and take in the sheer beauty around you?”
From what you describe it sounds more like a route march and I’m not sure how anyone can do this considering it has got to be a most beautiful walk with the added bonus of seeing whales and Dolphins depending on the time of year.
No matter what is before us if we do not go into any story around it such as comparison, feeling bad about ourselves etc then we can deal with it with grace and a sense of solidness in who we are and what we are capable of.
It’s beautiful how you brought your mind back to your body and each step or movement as you made it rather than comparing with others and getting negative or stressing about the steps ahead.
Exercising and staying connected to our body, means we can really listen to and honour our body, and what it is communicating to us.
Walking this Lighthouse walk this way, feels like living: you know you are going somewhere, but you are not constantly thinking about it, and you just take the step, the thing to do, that is ahead of you.
Great point Willem – you know you are going somewhere and yet that is not the focus, as the focus is simply on the moment itself.
We select (filter) what we allow in. We also select what we leave out. The problem is that often what is left out is not only outside of us but ourselves. When we do so, we walk someone else’s walk.
‘My walk should be neither struggle, nor hardness or pushing, but a good feeling within my body; a feeling of inner strength, a foundation in my body.’ A foundation for a day without effort, every step we take can be effortless whenwe choose the simplicity of what our body presents in any moment.
I have experimented with my walk in this way many times too. Lately I find that a change in my attitude or focus can have an instant effect on my body. I might be feeling tired and with heavy legs in one moment, then light and effortless. This leads me to conclude there is a lot more to the way we feel in our walk than just fitness.
“My walk should be neither struggle, nor hardness or pushing, but a good feeling within my body; a feeling of inner strength, a foundation in my body.” When we establish this in our walk then it establishes a foundation of consistency in everything else we do.
“I don’t look ahead to the stairs I have to climb – I take one step a time.” Dealing with what is in front of us is the only way to stay present in our bodies as well as a great way to be in life.
Taking one step at a time helps to build consistency, which is fundamental if we are to keep moving forward.