Sandi Sacco stepped out from the shelter of the Lloyd Center overhang to follow Marcia and Stephen Rath into the pouring rain this morning.

The three steadied themselves with wooden walking sticks as they headed down the Chaypee Woods Trail for a meditation walk, but not before pausing at a stone-studded walkway to practice their technique.

“You want to bring quiet energy from the earth up and in,” said Marcia as the trio practiced stepping only one foot at a time, silently, in the rain. The meditation technique—based on movement, breathing, and focus—is called qigong, and the Raths paired it with the Lloyd Center trails for a walking meditation.

The idea is to release what the Chinese call “monkey brain,” excessive energy in the brain that makes it difficult to turn off thought. The Raths suggest learning to let thoughts pass instead of fixating on them and becoming detached from the present moment.

“To combine walking meditation with the Lloyd Center is perfect for thinking about stagnation in our lives and unblocking that stagnation,” said Marcia.

Once the three felt comfortable walking mindfully, they headed down the steps towards the new pavilion while rain beat down on their hoods. Marcia skirted around mud puddles in her Vibram shoes (imagine toe socks, but with soles) which she said helps her feel the ground beneath her even more so.

Upon reaching the pavilion, the group stretched, extending their hands above their heads, twisting at the torso from side to side, and rising up on their toes.

Throughout the walk, Marcia insisted attendees keep their gaze wandering from side to side with widened eyes, but to not let their focus settle on any one thing. Ideally, participants heard the mosquitos buzzing by their ears, but weren’t bothered by it; they saw two loons floating in the still river, but didn’t comment on its serenity; they noticed the bench—empty in the downpour—on the hill across the river, and just let the observation flow through them.

“Nature just sits there waiting for us to take advantage of it,” she said. Walking deliberately, taking everything in, and deep breaths are a way to do that, she added.

Sacco said the flow she felt during the walk caught her attention. “I said, ‘I could get into this,’” she relayed to the others.

Stephen is a board member at the Lloyd Center and helped build the house that is now the visitors’ center when he was a teenager, he said, pointing out a picture of his grandmother on the wall.

Both he and Marcia got into qigong after practicing traditional T'ai Chi forms, and recently published a book—titled "Qigong for Wellbeing in Dementia and Aging"—about their observations in the field.

Visit the Lloyd Center for a copy of their book, or go to lloydcenter.org to register for their qigong classes.