Walking Outdoors for Exercise, Relaxation, or Fun

Walking is an ideal way to improve physical and emotional health safely. It can help you with many things, including:

• Fitness and weight loss

• Anxiety and depression

• Cardio health

• Relaxation

• Relationships

Whether you walk on streets or on hiking trails, this course will help you become a more confident and engaged walker.  You will learn how to walk correctly, how to use your walking time productively (if that matters to you), how to observe things as you walk so that you enjoy yourself more, and how to challenge yourself more if you want that.

Topics of this class include:

• Walking technique

• Breathing while walking

• Bathroom breaks in nature

• Walking faster to increase your fitness

• Selecting shoes--whether traditional supportive shoes or minimalist/barefoot shoes

• Walking safely

• Dealing with weather, including rain and heat

• Avoiding pain and injury

• Entertaining yourself as you walk various ways

• Increasing the challenge as desired

• Accomplishing things or doing good as you walk

• Walking with kids and keeping them engaged

I am a Mom and Grandma, Hiker and Walker, Artist, and Statistician and hope you will find walking as engaging as I do!  My approach is to provide you with as many ideas as possible so that you can choose among them to create for yourself the ideal walking experience. 

This class is ideal for both new walkers and experienced walkers who want to improve their form or have more fun as they walk.  While the techniques are targeted at walking outdoors on the streets or on trails, most of the course is applicable to treadmill walkers as well.