whY WALKING COACHING WORKS - THE SCIENCE
Walking coaching isn’t just to enjoy the outdoors - there’s good reason why you’ll see greater results…
what is WALKING COACHING?
Walking coaching is enhanced coaching because of the effects of walking in company:
With Wildfire walking coaching there are 2 options -
1. Walking with Clare as she coaches you.
2. Walking wherever you are, whilst Clare coaches you by phone, as she’s walking where she is.
And the reason why it’s effective, when we’re even not walking together, is because of the superior brain activity and rapport-building capacity of humans whilst simply walking and talking!
So, it benefits us in 3 clear categories:
It meets the human basic need to be social
It’s a key health contributor
It switches on creativity - and has been studied as such for centuries!
And that’s how you gain clarity, momentum and direction where you need it!
Walking coaching sessions can be:
3 x 90 minutes programme on a specific topic
A half or full day tackling one issue
Fortnightly or monthly sounding-board and sounding out sessions
what are the benefits of walking and coaching?
Professor of Experimental Brain Research at Trinity College, Dublin, Shane O’Mara, author of In Praise of Walking, explains that there are significant overlaps between movement and mental and cognitive health.
Our senses are sharper when we get up and walk whilst we create a cognitive map of our surroundings.
When walking with someone else, we fall into a rhythm together - which alerts brain activity.
Theta brain waves (one such rhythm) - which assist learning and memory - fire up when we move around because they’re needed for spatial learning. O’Mara suspects walking is the best movement for these.
Brain-nourishing molecules BDNF (Brain-derived Neurotropic Factor), considered as a brain ‘fertiliser,’ are produced during aerobic activity. This increases resilience to ageing, and damage caused by infection or trauma.
Plus, there’s Vascular Endothlial Growth Factor (VEGF) which helps to grow the network of blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to brain cells.
To walk and navigate, we reset our map constantly based on the new sensory cues. Meanwhile our social brains are calculating where surrounding people might turn next, for us to avoid collision.
We have to flicker between regions to navigate just how we (in waking moments) flicker between life planning, from work tasks, to holiday plans, to family responsibilities. This flickering is key to creativity, by making associations. This flickering seems boosted by walking.
The brain systems supporting memory, learning and cognition, also supporting cognitive mapping (our internal GPS), are the same affected by stress and depression!! Stimulated in walking, it boosts mood enduringly - way beyond the walk!
And that’s not it….
how else can walking boast benefits to coaching?
Having richer experiences
Just deciding to walk and getting up triggers physical and mental activations, in creating a map of the event and a richer experience than being sedentary.
Producing energy
The body is designed to preserve and source energy, and our modern environment is designed against movement (e.g. using lifts or escalators, not stairs) with coffee and a fridge in easy reach. Just calibrating our walking speed to the terrain, all unconsciously, presents small challenges which stop the conserving of energy and help us actually produce it.
Getting into nature
Walking is best in nature, which reduces the stress hormone Cortisol.
Mood boosting in minutes
Even for walk-haters, get one in only a 10-15 minute stroll. The likelihood of depression is reduced by walking.
Relaxation
The optic flow is the pattern created by our eyes with our feeling of movement when things are passing either side of us, coupled with our feet touching the floor. We interpret that it is seemingly only us moving through space and when this happens it quietens the stress circuits, causing us to relax.
Beating the unnecessary decline
In only 2 minutes of activity we’re less susceptible to the unnecessary and negative changes in the brain occuring when we’re sedentary….
Keeping a positive personality
Compared to people who are sedentary, walking leads to a personality open to new experiences and with less negativity.
Creating new fitness habits
On average we need to walk 5,000 steps more than we take already, says Professor O’Mara. Toddlers learning to walk take 12,000 steps in an hour, whereas the average American adult takes 4,000 steps a day. Walking Coaching can set you into a new habit, with a moderate pace using around 6,000 steps an hour.
Mindfulness
If you struggle with finding your version of mindfulness, walking calms the mind’s chatter. No wonder creative flow is twice that of when we’re seated!
Getting ideas thick and fast
In addition to creativity and mindfulness, walking is great for (and best before attempting) problem-solving, because the mind runs free when we move.
It’s been a winning formula through human history..
Professor O’Mara says ‘Populations who don’t move get eaten’ ..when we were nomadic we moved in groups, walking thousands of miles across continents to survive. The modern-day examples are in non-mechanised countries such as Africa or where we drive less (e.g. Japan) where metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cardio-vascular disease are almost non-existent.
Feeling connected and united
Uniquely to only the human species, Effervescent or Collective Assembly is when we feel connected, belonging and a greater sense of meaning in the world when we do things together (think viral excitement a concert or sports match or in a large spiritual/religious meeting.) No wonder it works so well for teams too!