The Art of Creative Walking Tours

Creative Walking Tours

If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen me post about my Creative Walking Tours. If you have gone through Inner Pause, my mini at-home retreat, you may have even gone on your own Creative Walking Tour!

What exactly is a Creative Walking Tour?

Essentially it’s a different way of going for a walk. Instead of clocking up a certain number of steps or kilometres – or just mulling things over in your head as you walk and stare at the ground – it’s a mindful approach to getting outside.

It starts by taking the time to get present and really notice everything around you. What can you feel, hear, see, smell or taste?

The creative part comes through writing some details down in a notebook and taking photos of various things along the way.

3 Steps To Doing A Creative Walking Tour

Step 1: The Senses

Each Creative Walking Tour starts through tuning into all of your senses, one at a time: feeling, hearing, seeing, smelling and tasting.

Feeling

questions: What can I feel in this moment? What’s the temperature? Is there a breeze? What can I feel on my skin (clothes, air, warmth, rain…)? What is the surface I’m walking on? How can I feel it through my shoes?

Tune into all the things you can feel and then set about putting the details on paper, using descriptive words. If it makes sense, take pictures of the things you’re feeling.

Hearing

questions: What can I hear in this moment? What are the various layers of the soundscape that I can tune into? How do these sounds relate to where I am? What sounds are closest and which are furthest away?

Tune in and listen to all the sounds and then put the details down on paper, using as many descriptive words as possible. If it makes sense, take pictures of the things you’re hearing.

Seeing

questions: What can I see around me in this moment? What are the colours, textures, shapes, light and shadows I can see? What is catching my eye in particular?

Open your eyes and see everying around you. Try to put descriptive words to each object you can see and then write those words down. Take photos of everything you’re seeing.

Smelling

questions: What can I smell right now? What are the layers of smells, odours, perfumes and aromas that I am noticing? How can I pick those layers apart?

Take a moment to really breathe in and notice all that you’re smelling and write those things down. If you can find the source of those smells, take a picture of it.

Tasting

This is usually an optional one (because we’re not usually eating as we walk), but tune in anyway. What can I taste right now? Maybe there is a lingering taste or maybe there is an aroma that I can taste!

Write down anything you detect and take a photo, if appropriate, and then move on.

Step 2: See The Beauty

If you think about it, we must see hundreds and thousands of objects every day, but how many things do we actually see and pay attention to? I like to really open my eyes and specifically notice things that I would generally never even bother looking at.

Unseen beauty

Make a point of really analyzing your surroundings and paying close attention to things you would normally not even notice. It could be moss growing on the concrete, chipped paint, garbage on the street, a doorknob, a graffiti tag or anything else you would otherwise walk past.

Look at the textures, colours and shapes, and take it all in. Take photos of as many of these things as possible and try to find the beauty in the ordinary.

Beauty in my eyes

Search out the things that you find inherently beautiful and take photos of them.

Once again, it may be something that might go unnoticed, but when taking the time to look at what’s before your eyes, you may see that there is something gorgeous right in front of you that you may have missed!

Step 3: Synthesis and a Poem

If I’m in the city, I search out 3 words that stand out in the mass of words surrounding me. And when I’m in nature, I assign words to 3 objects that are catching my eye. I write those words down.

Haiku

Take a moment to look back on your three words, plus everything else you’ve written down and come up with a quick haiku, a three-line Japanese poem with a specific number of syllables per line: 5, 7, 5. There is no need to spend more than a couple of minutes on this, and, if you feel stuck, simply concentrate on the syllable count.

It’s a bit of a brainteaser to come up with the number of syllables, and it’s also a creative exercise in condensing the experience of the walk into a small number of words.

The result is like a poetic snapshot of the experience, which enhances all the memories and details of that particular walk.

The Logistics & Benefits

A full Creative Walking Tour can take a bit of time to complete (I’d say an hour is enough time to get everything in) but it also doesn’t need to include all the steps.

Just heading out for 5 to 10 minutes and going through a couple of the senses can be enough. Or deciding to go outside for a few minutes and take photos of unseen beauty can also be an idea that can help get things flowing.

There are a few things that happen when I go out on a Creative Walking Tour:

•  I get out of my head, my worries and my problems, and I get into the present moment.
•  The creative act of writing and photographing gets my creative juices flowing and I feel inspired to do more creative things afterwards.
•  I clearly remember this walk and its details, as opposed to when I go for walks and stay stuck in my head without noticing a thing.
•  I get excited about going out for future walks, because I find the activity fun and I know I will come back refreshed and motivated to get on with my day.

From Action Into Inspiration

In the cycle of Inspiration, Motivation and Action, we sometimes mistakenly think that we need to feel inspired or motivated before taking action. But the reality is that it’s a cycle into which we can jump at any stage, meaning that we can start with action.

Any action.

Just the act of doing something will create motivation or inspiration to do something else. This means that getting out for a quick walk can be a catalyst to getting unstuck and feeling inspired!

Are you convinced? Try it out for yourself and let me know how it goes!

I’d love it if you tagged me on Instagram @mariannedekleer #creativewalkingtour  with any photos, videos or haiku that you produce. Another place to share is in the supportive environment of my private Facebook group, called Holistic Vibrant Living.