ERICKSON ALUMNI WRITES A NEW BOOK ON WALKING AS A MINDFUL PRACTICE
Read it to find out how you can create a mindful walking practice in your neighborhood and beyond.
CLAREMONT, CA, May 14, 2024— California resident and Erickson Certified Professional Coach, Lea Appleton, just published a book about creating a mindful practice when walking. Walking & Wayfinding: Create Your Own Mindful Practice, One Step at a Time draws from her experiences walking along the coast of Southern California along the boardwalk, PCH, and trails near the coast, as well as her regular walks in the local Claremont Hills Wilderness Park and her neighborhood.
Recently recovering from knee surgery herself, Ms. Appleton recognizes that not everyone will love a day-long adventure or a hilly hike, so she devotes some of her books to the regular walking one can do in neighborhoods along the sidewalks, across driveways, through parks, and even in areas of commerce. Readers are encouraged to find their way, whether it is through movement or more sedentary, quiet reflection.
Ms. Appleton also uses Walking and Wayfinding to help readers better understand how creating a mindful practice out of walking (or other types of focused activity) can benefit personal awareness, help us be present in the moment, and connect us with ourselves and the environments around us. When working with her coaching clients, she finds that mindful practices are important for leadership development, career and vocational decisions, and decision-making in our personal lives. She writes, “A lot of my coaching clients talk about needing to pause, to collect their thoughts, to connect with what they are feeling, and to calm their nerves. They pause in presentations, conversations, and meetings. This pause is empowering. It helps them get back their nerves and their confidence. It helps them communicate better. It helps them notice what is going on inside and around them.” Pausing is just one mindful practice among many.
In addition to the healthful benefits of physical activity (she always recommends consulting with a medical provider before starting something new), mindful practices have been shown to reduce stress, increase focus, and improve well-being at work and in other parts of our lives. Numerous studies from the National Institute of Health demonstrate that walking mindfully helps many people, from college students to older adults, improve cognition, sleep, and mood.
Ms. Appleton’s book includes thoughtful questions for reflection while you walk or for a meaningful journal experience upon your return. The slim volume will even fit in your backpack while you walk so you can refer to the question prompts in the field. To get a feel for what’s included, here is an excerpt from the foreword by Sharon Rae Graff, author of the forthcoming Haiku Gratitude, and avid walker herself: “This book is consistently interactive and its information exceptionally accessible. Lea offers insights from her own experiences to complement a variety of important prisms in wayfinding, including practice, noticing, awareness, being present and curious, reading the signs and taking a rest. Each chapter provides helpful questions and moments to pause and reflect. You’ll want to carry this journal along with you on your wayfinding experiences, whether those experiences take you around the block, around the globe or around the patterns of your own brain.”
Others have endorsed the book, as well. Frank Rogers, Jr., professor of spiritual formation at the Claremont School of Theology (now located in Los Angeles) said of the book, “Walking and Wayfinding cannot help but make you walk. Which is a good thing. As Lea Appleton so invitingly lays out, walking mindfully can be a contemplative practice. It settles us within; it connects us to ourselves and to our surroundings; it invites wonder and clarity; and it leads us back home. This book is a star in the night sky of our lives’ sea journey. It orients us; and helps us find our way.”
Erickson graduates who were part of Ms. Appleton’s cohort and later became coaching colleagues, are included in the acknowledgements, demonstrating the ongoing support Erickson graduates create for each other.
For those who prefer digital reading, the Kindle e-book is also available and has already been an Amazon #1 New Release. The paperback was released on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, on amazon.com. For more information on participating in a local, in-person Wayfinding Day near you, or for questions about the book’s content, please contact Lea Appleton at lea@appletoncoaching.com.