[One Day Ten Thousand Steps, One Day Thousand Characters] No Exercise Like Walking... Pain Disappears with 'Aha' Breathing

Walking Enthusiast Godowon, Director of Deep Mountain Ongdalsem
"Walking Leads to Facing Unconscious Wounds"
'Aha' Breathing Technique Effective for Walking Pain

Godowon, the director of the meditation center ‘Gipeunsansok Ongdalsam,’ who sends the ‘Morning Letter’ to over 4 million subscribers, is an advocate of walking. His philosophy is that “there is no exercise better than walking.” Walking during his childhood, when he had to walk 50 ri (20 km) to school every day because he couldn’t afford bus fare, was seen as a product of poverty, but now he embraces that hardship. Whenever time permits, he strolls along the forest paths within ‘Gipeunsansok Ongdalsam,’ located in the mountainous area of Chungju. He emphasizes that these moments of ‘pausing briefly’ help one walk the long journey of life longer and better.

Godowon, Director of Deep Mountain Ongdalsam, conducting a walking meditation program
[Photo by Deep Mountain Ongdalsam]

One of the benefits of walking is emotional release and healing of wounds. On a pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago, confident in his walking ability, he encountered a clay road that reminded him of the clay roads from his childhood. As a young boy, he had to endure hunger, cold, heat, and loneliness on that dusty, clay road stirred up by buses he couldn’t afford to ride. There was no shelter from the scorching summer sun or the biting winter wind. Even after returning home, he hid his struggles so as not to worry his mother. In front of the image of that boy, middle-aged Godowon wept as if the dam holding back his suppressed pain had broken. He realized that the things he thought he could live with buried in his busy daily life were not so. He says, “Besides diligently and habitually walking in busy daily life, when you walk outside the boundaries of your routine, things submerged deep in your unconsciousness come up one by one. On the road, you meet your past and encounter the pain and wounds hidden there, and you cry your heart out.” He confesses, “Only then did I realize that my father’s taciturnity was actually his own way of expressing love, though he was ignorant about showing it.”

The journey doesn’t have to be as long as the Camino de Santiago. He emphasizes that if you allow about 30 minutes?enough to calm the busyness of daily life?you can have this experience anywhere.

Director Godowon is walking along the forest trail around Deep Mountain Ongdalsam with participants of the walking meditation.
[Photo by Deep Mountain Ongdalsam]

The ‘walking meditation’ introduced by this walking enthusiast is not difficult. You simply walk slowly at a pace that doesn’t leave you breathless and declare a ‘brief pause.’ Even if your emotions are overwhelming, walking naturally calms you down. At this time, the ‘Aha breathing method’ helps to steady the mind. This breathing technique is one he personally experienced as effective for pain relief on the Spanish pilgrimage route. He explains, “Making the ‘Ah’ sound when in pain, combined with deep breathing, helps soothe the pain. The ‘Ha’ sound made when laughing brings feelings of joy and recovery.” He adds, “When I walked repeating ‘Ah’ and ‘Ha,’ the pain disappeared as if by magic. There is a clear difference in fatigue and energy levels between just walking and walking with Aha breathing.”

Once your body and mind are well strengthened through walking, it’s time to sow good seeds. He says, “The key is to walk holding the reins of stillness and peace when your mind has calmed down,” emphasizing forgiveness, reconciliation, gratitude, and love. He believes these four are the master keys to human relationships. “Whether it’s the key to forgiveness or reconciliation, once you unlock it, you encounter all of them,” he says. “Through walking, you can restore forgiveness, reconciliation, gratitude, and love. Then your expression improves, blood pressure lowers, productivity increases, and relationships shift from conflict to harmony.” Though it may sound clich?, he stresses that once you try it, you will understand. About 100,000 people visit Gipeunsansok Ongdalsam annually, and most of them testify to having found healing there.

This is also why ‘Gipeunsansok Ongdalsam’ has established the ▲Path of Forgiveness ▲Path of Reconciliation ▲Path of Gratitude ▲Path of Love. It is true that being away from the city and exposed to the sounds of nature makes it easier to achieve the purpose of these paths. When asked about his physical and mental condition as he paves these paths and walks with many people, Director Godowon replies with a question, “How do I look?” When told he looks healthy and has a warm, smiling face, he says, “Just as you see. At over 70 years old, I take no medicine except vitamins.”