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The Trail to Productivity and Well-Being

The trail just above
New Mexico State University at Alamogordo, NM.
Image from My Track app,
on Google Maps satellite image.
My most productive and enjoyable days at work include a hike. My workplace, located in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico, affords me the opportunity to hike a trail just above my workplace. It's the closest trail and makes for a reasonable 30-35 minute work out.

The Benefits of Hiking During My Work Day


Hiking during a break in my work day has benefits for my work goals and my personal well being. Here are a few of them...

  • Improved Focus. 

This particular trail has a few stretches of unstable rocks that will roll under the feet of a distracted hiker. I've actually sprained my ankle on this trail once, and I've taken a hard, headfirst fall while hiking there on another occasion. The rough trail conditions force me to practice focus (or suffer the consequences I just described). I focus, especially on those rolling rock stretches, on balance and the placement of my feet.
This focused state of mind, once I get back to the office, not only helps me, personally, but it improves my focus related to my work. I note that I focus much better in the office once the trail has helped me synch my body and mind.

  • Getting close to nature.

The half hour that I hike on this trail gets me out of the square and compartmentalized building. It gets me back in touch with my relatives in nature. 
Just this morning I saw a red-tailed hawk flying steadily along the slope to a destiny somewhere to the north. A small bird harassed the hawk as it flew, striking its back from above. As I reflected on this vision, and it reminded me of my own tasks ahead. I used the vision to focus, the rest of the morning, on tasks that I've been setting aside each time a little bird would distract me. I used the vision to keep flying despite distractions on my path. 

  • Excercise. 

Most of my work involves sitting at a desk, in front of a computer. That's pretty unhealthy during so many hours a day. A half an hour of hiking during my morning break gets me some of the exercise I need to keep my mind and body healthy and sharp.
That good feeling from a hike is much more than an illusion. Physical activity promotes physiological changes in the body, like the release of endorphins that make us feel good, and hiking may also contribute to ... 
    • lower levels of stress,
    • reduced anxiety and feelings of depression,
    • improved self-esteem,
    • improved sleep,
    • cardiovascular health,
    • energy balance,
    • muscle tone,
    • strength.
    • bone health, 
    • regulation of body fat, and
    • your overall feeling of fitness and health.

  • Rhythm. 

A hiker endures difficult stretches of the trail by keeping a rhythm. I often sing, inside my head or even aloud, while I hike. Today I sang a song I learned from the Temazcal de los Osos:
The Song of the Bear
(La Cancion del Oso)

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey!
Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya Hey!
Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey!
Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya! Hey! Ya Hey!

repeats four times

This song, when we sing it in the temazcal, would always help us feel animated when the steam was hot. It works on the trail too, and it boosts my rhtym on and off the trail.

  • Perspective. 

As I climb the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains, I sometimes stop and look down on the trail upon which I walked. I look back to my workplace, from which I'm taking a break. I see it as a tiny place on a huge landscape: the Tularosa Basin...below an endless sky. 
I see how tiny it looks and, sometimes think about the problems I faced one day or another in my tiny office. From there, they seem tiny as I see the buildings basking there in the heat of the sun above the basin. That puts perspective on my day at work and reminds me, to think about them from the point of perspective of the Red-tailed Hawk that I saw earlier.
Those problems ... my problems, the problems of my co-workers, those of our students ... are a tiny part of a big universe. Some we can fix. Some will always be problems. We can live with them. 

  • Solitude. 

Sometimes I hike with co-workers on the trail. Usually, though, I hike it alone. The solitude I find gives me time to think. It also gives me time to not think. Not thinking, but just experiencing, is sometimes difficult at work, with phone calls, emails, and a growing task list on my monitor. Out on the trail, though, I have time myself, time to observe, time to listen, time to be.

  • Inspiration. 

Today's hike, like many of my solitary hikes, inspired me. I used an app to map the trail for a co-worker, Robynn, and I thought about the many qualities of the trail. I thought of photos I'd take on other treks, when I was not focused on mapping. I thought of my brothers and sisters that live along the trail. I thought of co-workers and students who might hike the trail. 
I make hiking a regular part of my weekly routine, and it has been an important tool my entire life. I've hiked myself through some of the most difficult and some of the most enjoyable moments that I've lived.

If you hike, or do some other rigorous activity, how has it affected your life and those of those around you?

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