Team Franciscan Center: Social Walking!

Dr. Jack Harless,

Manager of The Franciscan Center

What a winter we’ve had so far! Hopefully this warm weather will continue through February. When was the last time you can remember doing as many outdoor activities in January?

I know my family has taken more walks this past month than in any recent winter I can remember. Walking with friends and loved ones not only is good for you physically, but also helps tend to the emotional and spiritual aspects of our relationships.

Physiologists have long known that humans were not designed to be stationary. Unfortunately, our modern lifestyle makes it extremely easy to be sedentary, with disastrous consequences.

Our Vital Life Social Walking Program is one antidote to this sedentary menace! Find a friend or loved one to get active with. Not only does it pass the time, but it helps keep you motivated and consistent with your exercise program.

If you look around the St. Leonard campus you will find white walking tickets. Close by you will find mile estimation sheets which help you determine how much you are moving during the course of a month.

When you fill these sheets out and turn them in, this information gets entered into a computer database which allows you to plot your walking from St. Leonard to Disneyland in California and back. When you have completed that journey you then can move onto charting your way to Assisi, Italy and back

Our members and residents have found this to be a fun way to get motivated to walk, and more importantly, to stay motivated with their long-term exercise commitments. It also helps teach and implement a valuable lesson for life, which is goal setting. Exercise can be a very nebulous endeavor if you don't have specific goals. It can also be very hard to maintain over a long period of time if you aren't focused and secure in the reasons why you have chosen to set out on this exercise path.

Our Vital Life Social Walking Program helps you connect with your wellness goals in a real and tangible way. When you feel connected to your personal exercise goals your probability of achieving those goals rises exponentially! Further, the likelihood of you setting new and higher goals increases as well

So look around campus for the white Vital Life Social Walking tickets and begin your journey today!