A Step by Step Guide to Starting Your Morning Walk Practice

By Libby DeLana, Author of Do Walk

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. — Lao Tzu

Small rituals can be a joyous way to kickstart the day and at the same time provide powerful comfort. A walk, a cup of tea, breath work, making the bed, morning pages. I knew a daily ritual had the potential to be a tool to engage my mind, a way to clear the trash out of my head, a daily dose of beauty and physical satisfaction, an ongoing source of humility and a generous wellspring of contentment in the certainty of it; but I didn’t realize until years into this practice how essential it would become.

Photo Credit: Michael Piazza

MorningWalk is essential for many reasons: it starts the day off right, builds momentum and gives structure to the day. It helps me recognize the power of prioritising, builds confidence, reminds me that success comes step by step, and ensures I do something well. MorningWalk is my fuel source. It does not deplete or drain the momentum I have for the day; rather it creates, builds and magnifies energy. Doing something you love, even physical activity, generates more energy rather than depleting it.

Walking is the ultimate navigational tool. It helps us to navigate the earth, and our life, ultimately helping us see who we are and where we want to go. Here are a few things to consider when buiding your own daily walking practice:

TIP 1: Find a point of motivation

Ask yourself why you are adding this to your life. Self-care? Exercise? A time to recharge? A place to problem-solve or create? You may need to remind yourself on the more challenging days.

TIP 2: Start simply

Start with something doable in terms of time and distance. Ask yourself: How much time can I commit over the course of the next month? Can I carve out 15, 20, 30 minutes each day? This will help determine your route. A walk around the neighbourhood is a wonderful way to begin. Start small; take the first steps. Repeat for 5 days. Repeat again.

TIP 3: Stick to it for a month, without fail

It takes three to four weeks for something to become essential, for something to become a habit.

TIP 4: Do it without judgement, just walk

Try it. See how you feel. I decided initially to commit to every damn day, because for me it was helpful to not give myself an out: too cold, too rainy, too tired. But that might not work for you, and that’s OK. The pace doesn’t matter, the distance doesn’t matter. Just walk.

Photo Credit: Little Outdoor Giants

TIP 5: Prepare thoughtfully

Set a wake-up time. Get your things ready the night before. Ask yourself, what will help me get from waking to walking? Is there one thing that feels like a barrier — cold toes and hands? How can I eliminate that barrier? For me it was double socks and toe warmers.

TIP 6: Keep a routine

It takes a splash of perseverance to make a habit stick, so honouring the routine — same time, same place — will help build your walking practice. “Once it’s a habit, exercise feels easier and doesn’t take as much willpower when you don’t feel like it,” says Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit.

TIP 7: Invite others to join you

Having a walking partner can be a wonderful way to keep you motivated — that sense of someone counting on you can help get you out of bed. (Also, for me, during the COVID-19 pandemic, walking became a vital source of community.) Ask yourself, who might be willing to join me? Even if it isn’t every day.

TIP 8: Acknowledge the time

Accept that you may have to give something up to create the time and space for this new practice. I believe we don’t just find time for things that matter — we make time. Ask yourself, what am I willing to do (or stop doing) to make this happen?

TIP 9: Record your walks

Keep track of your walks. Ask yourself, how can I build in a bit of accountability and record-keeping so that when I look back I am reminded of the walk? Make a note, tell a friend, take a picture. Note how you feel at the end of each walk. A walk brings its own lessons, challenges and rewards. I have never been on a walk where I didn’t feel better after. Never. Keep track and enjoy looking back.

TIP 10: Observe the times when it isn’t fun

There is a lot to learn from the hard walks. Ask yourself, what on earth was that? What just happened? What was hard about it? What did I take away from it?

Your MorningWalk may not look like my MorningWalk, and that is wonderful. It may be in an urban neighbourhood or a rural community; it may include wheels; it may include a furry companion, or not. No matter where or how you go, there you are: committed to a practice, open to the moment and embracing the ever-changing circumstances. Come, join me on a MorningWalk.

I document every MorningWalk @parkhere and invite you to do the same. Post your own MorningWalk photos with the hashtag #ThisMorningWalk. Let’s walk together.

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Libby DeLana is an award-winning executive creative director, designer/art director by trade, who has spent her career in the ad world. This article is based off an excerpt from Libby’s first published book, Do Walk: Navigate Earth, Mind and Body. Step by Step. Click here to get your copy of Do Walk.

HOKA VOICE: Walking the Earth

Originally published by HOKA.

HOKA: What are the origins of your walking practice? Tell us why and how you started it .

Libby Delana: I started walking 10 years ago, every morning, rain or shine, snow or sweltering heat. Every. Damn. Day. Walking has been a way back to the core of who I am, a practice that grounds me. This simple act, a morning walk, has become a daily ritual that has transformed my life. It began with a conscious decision to get outdoors every day. At the time my days had become filled with to do list, sitting in meetings, running errands, dialing in to conference calls, working towards deadlines, and I began to realize that what made me me was no longer an essential part of my day. The outdoors is where I am most at home, it is where I find ideas, comfort, awe, creativity, challenges, wisdom, community — all of the elements that remind me of who I am beyond societal labels and titles. So I decided that no matter what I was going to get outside and go for a walk. My MorningWalk isn’t about pace or milage it is about being intentional, taking a deep breath, appreciating the seasons, watching the sun come up, and committing time to the thing that inspires and nourishes me.

HOKA: How does your walking practice empower you?

Libby Delana: It has turned out that my MorningWalk is my most valuable processing time. It is a moving meditation, a key to my operating system, a radical act of self care. Walking has forced me to slow down, to go step by step, to really see not just look and to tune in more intimately with the natural world. I have now walked 25,000 miles, the circumference of the earth, and while MorningWalk isn’t about distance or PR’s this is a meaningful milestone that marks the power of a daily practice, a habit and commitment to myself.

HOKA: What inspires you to get outside and walk each day?

Libby Delana: Good things always happen on a walk. I have never finished a walk and not felt better, cleared my head or seen something beautiful. Interestingly I find that the days that I really don’t want to go are the days that are most important to go.

The time I spend walking is a powerful tool for building space into my day for reflection, problem solving, and pure pleasure. I have learned a lot over the years:

1. Making a commitment to yourself and following through with it is what love looks like.

2. Meaningful habits happen daily, step by step, not all at once.

3. Habits are powerful because they create neurological cravings.

4. You can do what you set your mind to.

Suggestions for building a practice:

• Begin with something doable.

• Repeat for 5 days. Repeat again. The next thing you know 10 years will have passed.

• Find the places where there are obstacles and work to minimize them. For me, putting my walking shoes (Bondi) in front of the door was a simple reminder to put on the shoes and get going.

• Stay curious about what is possible. Starting a practice and staying with it deepens what you observe about yourself and others. There is a lot to be learned about yourself, about your community, about the natural world outside your door if you put on your shoes and head out the door.

HOKA: Tell us about your book

Libby Delana: The book is called DoWalk / Navigate earth, mind and body. Step by Step. and is published by a wonderful company The Do Book Company / Inspirational Pocket Guides for Doers. This publisher is part of the Do Lectures and organization that has inspired me for over a decade. “The idea is a simple one: To gather together the world’s DOers, disruptors and change makers, experts and pioneers, to share their stories, and encourage others to go and DO.” I feel very fortunate to be asked to write for them.

The book is includes journal entries, lessons learned along the way and photos. Yes, photos. One of the things I would do each walk was to take a picture and post it to @parkhere. These photos were my way of keeping myself accountable to my commitment and also to create a visual diary. The photos were for me, no one else. If I were a runner this would have been my training log, a way to document each walk. As a visual person taking a picture was also a way to inspire seeing things in a new way. Often I would take the same route past the same barn, around the same curvy lane with the same headwind on the way home and stopping to take a picture of that one barn was a practice in really seeing it not just simply looking. Each day the barn was different. Different light, different season, different mood, different weather and I was different each day, therefore seeing it differently.

DoWalk is a quick read. I hope you like it.

Thank you HOKA.

I have worn the Bondi for most of the 25,000.00, they are the best walking buddies.

HOKA: Feel free to share an excerpt from your book that you think will resonate with our readers

Libby Delana:

“Saturday , 2 January 2021

Good morning, New Year. Just returned from a very, very

long and beautiful walk. Twelve miles, about three hours.

It was gorgeous. Bright. Calm. Cold. It all felt so hopeful

and nourishing. I didn’t want to come in. I wanted to

breathe in the sunlight and the birdsong. I used the space

around me to discard the negative voices in my head from

last year. Left along the side of the road are all those

distracting unhelpful thoughts that worked their way

into my mind: ‘You aren’t — enough.’ ‘You are too –.’

‘Why did you say –?’ Blah, blah, blah. As I walk it is

easier and easier to leave these stories behind and

what remains? A brilliant, sparkly day, abundant

with accompanying gratitude.

Walk. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Notice everything. Notice this day.

Halfway through today’s walk I came upon a snowy owl

— a rare sight and a pure pleasure. In the past, I would

have missed it. Life can be so busy we overlook what is

right in front of us. Today is different. Years of practice

have taught me to slow down and look up. As I walked

past the snowy owl, she took off, circled around and landed

just up the road, almost as if to say, ‘Come on, keep going.’

QUOTE:

Above all, do not lose your desire to walk:

Every day I walk myself into a state of

wellbeing and walk away from every illness;

I have walked myself into my best thoughts,

and I know of no thought so burdensome

that one cannot walk away from it.

Soren Kierkegaard”

Pre-order Libby’s book, out later this month, here.

Libby is featured wearing the Anacapa.

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Libby Park DeLana is an award-winning executive creative director, designer/art director by trade, who has spent her 30+ year career in the ad world. She started walking in 2011 and hasn’t missed a day since; as a result, she has walked the circumference of the earth… She documents every walk @parkhere (Park is her middle name). Do Walk is her first published book.

Do Walk Audiobook Trailer

Originally published by Do Book Co.

One morning in 2011, Libby DeLana stepped outside her New England home for a walk. She did the same thing the next day, and the next. It became a daily habit that has culminated in her walking over 25,000 miles – the equivalent of the earth’s circumference.

In Do Walk, Libby shares the transformative nature of this simple yet powerful practice. She reveals how walking each day provides the time and space to reconnect with the world around us; process thoughts; improve our physical wellbeing; and unlock creativity. It is the ultimate navigational tool that helps us to see who we are – beyond titles and labels, and where we want to go.

This inspiring and reflective guide is an invitation to step outside, and see where the path takes us.

Do Book Company · Do Walk by Libby DeLana - Audiobook Trailer

Released by: Do Books Audio

P-line: ℗ 2021 Do Books Audio

What’s Beyond the Bend?

Originally published by Define.

Do/Walk by Libby DeLana

Meet Libby. For nearly a decade, we worked for the same advertising agency. For nearly another decade, we worked across the street from each other. She specializes in pictures, me in words. Pals for a long time, she jumps out of airplanes while I keep my feet firmly on the ground. But we share a common path when it comes to the love of walking.

Libby Delana

Somewhere between Cheryl Strayed and Thich Nhat Hanh stands Libby, the wonder witch of Plum Island. Six feet tall and full of grace, she’s been walking every single day for nearly a decade – in all kinds of weather. It’s true. I’ve witnessed it… scrolling her Instagram account from under the covers of my warm bed or drinking tea in my kitchen. Sometimes I have the urge to jump in my car and go pick her up. But that would be missing the point. It’s the wind, rain, and cold her spirit longs for. She stands up to the weather and dares it to spit in her face, only for it to yield to her – a baptism of wild and tame, captured in her debut book, Do/Walk.

Suspended between coming and going, walking is where the journey never ends. It asks the perpetual question, “What’s beyond the bend?” and encourages us to be open to any possibility. Take a look at my photo from the Newburyport Rail Trail. I've walked it countless times, but I always pause in this one spot wondering, "What's around the bend?" The continuation of the path, you might say. But to a storyteller, the possibilities are endless. A giant Blue Heron could grab me in its talons and fly away. Wood nymphs might enchant me. Or there could be pirates. Most definitely, pirates.

The Newburyport Rail Trail

Like meditation, Libby's "MorningWalk" is a daily practice. Yet, it involves the act of moving, not stillness, and as Libby writes, "Movement prevents the challenging times from getting stuck..."

This particular notion of challenging times resonated with me. Libby encourages us to record when the daily walk is far from fun. Maybe it’s the soaking New England spring rain or the blister starting to scream under the sock that keeps slipping under your heel. Or maybe you become distracted by all the shit in your life, and you trip over your toes, landing with a middle-aged thud that has you limping the rest of the way home. It is during these challenging walks that, as Libby puts it, “Endorphins explode.” Shit thoughts are expelled. Clarity and peace ensue. Solvitur ambulando – Latin for “It is solved by walking.”

In Do/Walk, Libby outlines the process of starting this daily practice for ourselves, the benefits of walking, and reflections from famous figures – decorated with her journal entries, self-deprecating humor, and her breathtaking photography.

Read this book. Give this book. Live this book. Watch out for pirates.

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Libby DeLana is an award-winning executive creative director, designer/art director by trade, who has spent her career in the ad world. This article is based off an excerpt from Libby’s first published book, Do Walk: Navigate Earth, Mind and Body. Step by Step. Click here to get your copy of Do Walk.

How My Morning Walk Became a Radical Act of Self-Care

Originally published by Do Book Company.

“Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have the time to observe the details.”

— Edward Abbey

Saturday, 13 February

What a glorious morning. Cold, bright, hopeful. I started this practice because I needed to get back to a bigger sense of purpose and clarity, one that began with a fundamental intimacy with the earth. On this morning, I have seen the sun come up, a coyote, several blue jays, an eagle, and the start to my 54th year. I have come to realise that making a commitment and following through with it is what love looks like. This hasn’t been an easy path these last few years, but I haven’t missed a day. Some walks have felt impossible. Yet every walk has been a gift. An opportunity to add energy, focus and space to the day. Space to hold overwhelming thoughts, to hear essential intuition, to toss around silly ideas, to look at gut reactions, to play with messy concepts, to feel grateful and to celebrate another pass around the sun. Happy birthday to me.

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I had no idea the impact a simple, gentle walk would have on my life. The impact comes not only from the actual physical walking but also from the discipline, the practice, the commitment. This MorningWalk — I refer to my daily practice of walking as ‘MorningWalk’ — has ignited my sense of curiosity, satiated my everlasting wanderlust and been the most powerful tool for inspiration in my life.

I walk roughly the same loop most days. Out the front door, 5am, 8.2 miles, 17,740 steps. I walk past the same barn. On the same path. Along the same river. With the same headwind around that last turn. This conscious repetition is a form of meditation, designed for intentional familiarity. It’s almost as if I could do this route blindfolded, I have travelled it so often. Some days, on the backstretch, I close my eyes while walking for 10, 20, 30, 40 steps.

This creates a powerful silence. In this silence, I can hear what my body — my gut, my heart — is telling me in this moment. The mindlessness of the route itself brings mindfulness to the moment.

It seems so obvious now but my initial intention was simple: to be outside and to be mindful. Every day. To create space. To find time for creativity. To dedicate an hour of my day to something nourishing and satisfying. As my days had become more about tasks to complete, it became increasingly obvious that I needed to get outdoors, move and play a little.

This is not a story about mileage or pace. In fact, it is the opposite. This is a story about listening, seeing, hearing, feeling and understanding. It is also a story of radical self care. At the start, I wouldn’t have been able to identify it that way, but as time has passed the discipline of doing something physically and emotionally nourishing every day has been the most profound outcome of this daily practice.

Redefining success

When I think about life before the covid pandemic of 2020–2021, it felt as if the world defined success as someone who was busy. The cult of busy was overwhelming. MorningWalk became an act of rebellion that challenged the cultural norm. Success became more about going out even when it was −28°C (−18°F), when it was pouring with rain, when I ‘didn’t have time’ or when I just plain old didn’t want to go. Success was going because I’d promised myself I would, not because anyone else noticed or cared. It was a wildly selfish pursuit. I was able to redefine success in terms that were profoundly simple — to have walked every day — and to recognise that there wasn’t one walk where I didn’t feel better. And what do I mean by ‘feel better’? Well, everything. As it turns out, persistence, focus and determination can stretch limits and push boundaries. That is a powerful feeling of freedom and love. Commitment is intoxicating. There is nothing more generous than sticking to a promise you have made to yourself.

I dare say that is why pilgrims, protestors, monks, hikers, wanderers, activists, explorers, adventurers and poets often walk. There is a freedom when we walk. We strip away all the unnecessary noise and details in our mind and in the world and step into a place of profound sense of agency and focused attention. This is my experience with the ritual of a MorningWalk. Silence and celebration. Freedom and love. Quiet, intimate, daily acknowledgements of strength, commitment and resilience. This is why I feel better after a walk. It is a personal triumph.

There are many other benefits of a good walk. Walking is said to provide some powerful health benefits, such as:

• Improves circulation

• Strengthens bones

• Improves sleep

• Boosts energy for the day

• Maintains weight / burns calories

• Improves mood

• Strengthens your heart

• Boosts immune function

• Can help lower blood sugar

• Supports joints

• Lowers Alzheimer risks

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“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: Every day I walk myself into a state of wellbeing and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”

— Søren Kierkegaard

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One morning, late in the autumn of 2011, I struggled to get out of bed. I hadn’t slept well. I wanted to stay put. I hadn’t been doing my MorningWalk for long, but had come to know that walking was my best bet. There is always something that happens on a MorningWalk that improves the upcoming day. I’ve since learned that the days I don’t want to go are in fact the days I most ‘need’ to go.

The morning before, I thought I had seen two coyotes at the end of the street. So, driven by curiosity, not commitment or joy, I meandered downstairs to get my gear on and headed out the door. It was just after 5am and was pitch-black out, with a cold sliver of a moon and a cloud layer that made it feel as if there was no light in the world. I waited until I got to the end of the street before I turned on my headlamp, because there is something about gently, very gently, easing into the silent darkness of a walk. By keeping my headlamp off it felt as if I was quietly entering the morning. The stillness of the dark felt like a hug. It’s interesting, there is a quiet, determined community up at this hour. I saw a familiar runner at the top of the street. We all recognise each other but don’t really know anything about one another. We nod and wave, it feels like a secret handshake when our paths cross.

Later, after passing my familiar morning squad, I saw the quick-moving shadow of something larger than a dog … It was the coyote. The discreet nature of how this animal exists in the world is fascinating. It made me pause. Humans are so loud, so dominant, so obvious. We exist in our ecosystems flamboyantly and overtly. The coyote, however, is intimately integrated into its private world. Quietly powerful, discreet in its movement and impact.

There were lessons to be learned from this morning visitor. My MorningWalk offers up many a teacher. I was glad curiosity got the better of me that morning.

“All walking is discovery. On foot, we take the time to see things whole.”

— Hal Borland

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This is an edited extract from Do Walk: Navigate earth, mind and body. Step by step. Text copyright © 2021 

Libby DeLana. Published by Do Books. Order your copy from: Do Books (includes ebook) | Bookshop.org (UK) | Bookshop.org (US)

Libby DeLana is an award-winning executive creative director, designer/art director by trade, who has spent her career in the ad world. This article is based off an excerpt from Libby’s first published book, Do Walk: Navigate Earth, Mind and Body. Step by Step. Click here to get your copy of Do Walk.