“Especially in the past few weeks, I started my day walking, clearing my mind and leaving my phone,” he says. “Sometimes I get a little woo woo and touch the plants.”
Mendes says that walking about 25 minutes a day is not just a meditation practice, but also a way of “letting the noise out of my ears”, so that he is more present around the people he loves. When he remembers the pressures of being in the studio, a photo appears on my Mendes Apple Watch holding a guitar.
New episodes of Time to Walk, which was released on Monday, will appear on the Workout app every Monday through the end of April. (The time for potential future episodes after “this season” has not been announced.) For Apple Watch users who use a wheelchair, Walking Time becomes Push Time, which tracks “rolling” goals instead of steps.
It’s Apple’s latest move to add exclusive content to attract new users to its fitness products and compete with companies like Peloton.
For me, walking has always been my favorite way of moving: low impact and free. Having some familiar voices walking around at the same time feels like a personalized version of a podcast (although Apple never uses the p-word). I can even hear Mendes taking a deep breath, just like me.
In Parton’s sessions, I hear the background noise of birds as she talks about her farm in Tennessee. “During that time, Covid and everything, I know that many of you can’t get out and walk like you normally do, and I’m sure many of you feel confined,” says Parton. “But I know how important it is to be able to walk. So, although we can’t go out and walk everywhere we would like today and hour. … I can still take you down on a walk on the road of memory Hopefully, with us walking together, we will feel a little more freedom. “
She told me that she writes a lot while walking and tells the story of her famous song “9 to 5”; I listen to it carefully tapping its own acrylic nails so that it sounds like a typewriter for the rhythm in the background, something I didn’t know until today.
When NBA player Draymond Green remembers how the Golden State Warriors celebrated their championship victory, it is Drake’s “Big Rings” that takes him back to the locker room. It is one of three songs that he introduces and plays in his episode, which also includes a beautiful story about a walk he took after failing a class and getting into an argument with his mother. He talks about the sounds of Malibu waves in the distance and the cars on the nearby road.
While Walking Time is no substitute for a walk with a good friend, its intimate narrative is a welcome change to walking alone.