Looking after your training area
Although I love to drive out to the woods or to visit a lake or other large natural places there’s not time to do that every day; it would be quite a waste of energy too. We do live in a medium town in Germany at the moment so I spend a lot of time in smaller wood- and marsh areas or down by the river Rhein, just the natural places that are round the outskirts of our town and are easy to reach.
These are the places where I go to switch off,to spend outdoor time with my son, and of course these are the places where I do a lot of barefoot running, scramble through the undergrowth and enjoy being physical.
One disadvantage of roaming nature right near towns and citys is of course the amount of rubbish that people throw into the bushes during the warm summer months. If you drive right out of the city and really get out in the sticks you get to places where most of the littering people never go, but when it’s warm they swarm out to the city outskirts to barbeque and party, and not few tend to be fully unconcerned about what they leave behind.
Not only does this look a mess and spoil the natural picture, for barefooters and scramblers like myself especially thrown away glass bottles can be a real hazard if they break and stay lying around. So what I do is spend a bit of time during the winter months walking along the paths while vegetation is low and looking out for all these bottles. They are usually easy to find as they are close to the paths because most litterers stay on them. I stand them by the side of the path on the way there and collect them in a bag on the way back. This way my favourite places stay pretty clean and not only I can enjoy safely barefooting.
The side effects are great awareness training while you stalk along focussed on discovering bottles in the fallen leaves, and of course the fact that you become so concentrated that you forget to think about all the things that may usually occupy your mind.
there is one more aspect that I find very healing and important. these places that I’m talking about are places that do me so much good; they have a great deal to do with my healing as I go regularly and draw a lot of energy for my everyday life by becoming engaged there. So when I clean up a bit I am giving a little something back, then it doesn’t matter who threw whatever there, I can do this in a caring attitiude, soing myself good at the same time.
Get outside and move to your roots!
wild-horse 01/2015
