The Dr. Mary Louder Show
Tune into The Dr. Mary Louder Show, where Mary Louder, DO and her distinguished guests explore a range of topics, from emerging healthcare challenges to groundbreaking concepts, all designed to ignite transformative "aha" moments and reshape your perspective on wellness. Don't miss an episode—subscribe now to embark on a journey that redefines what you know about health and invites you to think, "Why haven't I seen it this way before?"
The Dr. Mary Louder Show
The Gentle Path to Wellness: How Walking Can Save Your Life
This week on the podcast, I sat down with Laura Boulay, founder of One Million Women Walking, to explore:
1. How walking became her sanctuary through divorce, mold illness, and isolation
2. Why walking is mental health medicine (and how the science backs it up)
3. The healing power of nature + movement for the midlife nervous system
4. And what happens when women reclaim their rhythm—one step at a time
Plus: In our Gadgets, Gimmicks & Gotchas segment, I get real about smartwatches and step counters: Are they helpful—or hype?
Tune in, take a walk, and download our free Start Walking Toolkit—it’s full of practical tips, soulful prompts, and the gentle push you didn’t know you needed.
Our guest today on the Dr Mary louder podcast is Laura Boulay. Laura is a speaker, a writer and a Wellness Advocate who believes that walking is one of the most underrated paths to whole self health. Laura is the founder of 1 million women walking and the walking women community, these are two powerful spaces that help women reclaim their health, joy and vitality, one step at a time, Laura is also the voice behind Letters from Laura and Daily Steps on substack, where she shares soulful reflections and walking prompts to help readers reconnect with their bodies, with nature and with purpose. As America's walking woman, Laura speaks about walking as a transformational tool for physical, emotional and spiritual well being. So welcome Laura to our podcast. Well, welcome Laura, welcome to our podcast, the Dr. Mary Louder Show, I'm your host, the intrepid Dr. Mary Louder, I'm actually not intrepid at all. I'm quite trepid-forward, so. Well, welcome and tell us about yourself and and what we want to, and not only want to know, but what we need to know about you.
Laura Boulay:Wonderful, wonderful to be here. And thank you so much a deep bow to you. Thank you for the work you do in the world, and thank you for the invitation. I, I just love sharing my passion for walking. So starting with your question, what do you need to know? I will tell you the most important and fabulous, life changing, wonderful thing that I think everyone needs to know. Everyone needs to know this one. I became a grandmother last November, so it's just--Yes! I am so over the moon in love, I don't know what to do. And so it's a whole new role for me. And I am fierce for the future, Mary, and I'm so--I don't know how to express it. I'm hopeful, I'm passionate, I'm in love even more, and that's kind of the way I am all the
Mary Louder:Right? Well, congratulations. time anyway. But now it's like fuel, so that's the most important thing.
Laura Boulay:Oh, thank you. Thank you. I really, really appreciate that. Underneath that I am a mom, yes, this is my daughter's daughter who just came into the world, and the back story of how I became America's walking woman. Just shrinking it down into a short version, because there are long versions, so let's shrink it to a short one. Walking has literally saved my life three times. And so I like to always take a pause and let that land. What do I mean by literally saved my life? This is the back story, if you will.
Mary Louder:Many years ago, I was going through a big life change that so many women go through, and many of us do go through it in midlife, and that is, I was going through divorce. and it really changed my self concept, like, who am I now? What does, you know, what does this mean? How, how do I move forward? So, lots of unknowns, fiscal unknowns. I've always teetered. I like that word,"teetered" on the edge of clinical depression as an adult, and so I could feel that coming at me, and lots of overwhelm, uncertainty, grief, deep grief. And one day, I found myself sitting in my office chair, much like the one I'm in right now, and it was one that swiveled like I'm, you know, swivel all the way around. So Mary, I was literally spinning in my office chair right, spinning. That's not a metaphor. You're actually doing it.
Laura Boulay:It was, yeah, there I was literal, Laura, doing it. I was doing it also spinning in my head and in my heart. And I'm going to be very honest and say that my habits at the time were not supporting health. I was eating too much chocolate during the day, was drinking way too much wine at night, and I was trying to think my way out of my situation. And a moment of grace came to me, and a little voice inside said, You're not going to think your way out of this. You need to do something. Do something. So I did. I put on my shoes and I walked out the door. And I lived in Minnesota at the time, in a very small river town, lots of hills. Up and down these hills I went, and it was an autumn day. It was rather cold outside, and I walked until I had, jello legs. You know that feeling?
Mary Louder:I pretty sure I do.
Laura Boulay:Jello legs.
Mary Louder:Right.
Laura Boulay:And I walked until I had this sweat, cold sweat dripping down my side and tears and snot, I was a mess. And I stopped because I was exhausted, and I stopped in this little park way up high, overlooking the river, and all of a sudden it hit me, all of this beauty is here, but I've taken myself out of it. I could smell a wood fire. Someone had started a wood fire. You know, that--probably the first one of the season. And you know that, that--
Mary Louder:I do.
Laura Boulay:Oh, it smells like coming home almost, doesn't it? And you know those autumn leaves, and I could see the river below me, and sunlight was coming through the clouds, and that silver on the river.
Mary Louder:Yeah.
Laura Boulay:And I just realized, wait a minute, I'm here. I'm a mess, but I'm here. I'm I'm in my body, not in my head. I'm in my body. I'm feeling all I'm going to walk anytime I don't like the way I feel. And that was the start. Interesting, starting. And I walked, lady. I walked a lot during those years. I walked inside if, if the weather was terrible. But you mean, in Minnesota, you know, we can get some things. Walked inside. Walked outside. If I found myself going down the wormhole of despair during the day, I would get up and go for a 10 minute walk. It was my self prescription. I walked my way to part time employment, which I really needed. I walked my way to a much more stable relationship with myself. My self concept started to build back. Now this, this is just huge for me too. And I did not become clinically depressed, which was my deepest fear. I put down the chocolate, I stopped drinking all the wine. I got healthy. So that was a huge thing for me. And then I began pursuing Why did this work? And I am kind of a data geek, and I geeked out and found out all the science behind the transformational power of walking. And now we're going to fast forward a few more years, and I was having some health issues that I know you and your listeners can so relate to, because my my team was saying, Oh menopause, woo hoo. Here we go. Oh, menopause, you know. And I thought, wow, right, menopause, if this is menopause, why, why are--how are we here, ladies? I mean, it was really--
Mary Louder:Mm-hmm, right.
Laura Boulay:So terrible cognitive problems and problems with my vision, um, a--
Mary Louder:That doesn't sound menopausal.
Laura Boulay:Right? So some weird stuff starting to happen, and unfortunately, much too late, we got a correct diagnosis, Mary, which was black mold poisoning.
Mary Louder:Oh, yuck. Yeah. I treat folks with that all the time.
Laura Boulay:I figured that you would. And so there I was, and it was a result of the home I was living in at the time, which was an historic home that had not been maintained well, and I had to get out. So fortunately for me, and this is a count your blessings moment, I was able to go and live with my sister and her wonderful family and I found a functional medicine doctor who could take me through a detox protocol long distance and so--
Mary Louder:Nice.
Laura Boulay:Hello, activated coconut charcoal there. There are a few things that can pull that pull the mycotoxins out, and that is one of them. Yeah. Great. So that was my that was my six months of detox. Of course, my business crashed, everything, I mean, everything comes to a screeching halt, right? When your health is on the line. And I walked. Now, my sister lived on an out island off the coast of Florida, the furthermost out island off Tampa Bay. And so I had, I couldn't get lost, which is one thing we were worried about. No, I couldn't drive, zero brain function. Seriously, just nothing made sense. But I could walk down her block and back, which I did, and then I would take my shoes off and Mary, I would walk right in the ocean and lie on my back and cry because it hurts so badly. Everything hurt. My head hurt. I was terrified. Was I ever going to get better? Was I mean, what was this place I was in? It was just bizarre to me. And then, about a month into it, I realized, Hey, I'm walking a little bit further. And then a month after that, now I'm kind of walking all the way across the island and back. So thank heavens for my team doctors, just like you, who were able to get in there, diagnose and treat and I just kept that walking going, kept that walking going, Yeah, and what we know about that, especially blue exercise, exercise by a body of water, is it lowers anxiety, right? Lowers that cortisol load. And being in nature is one of the most healing things we can do. This is what the data----is showing us now. So wasn't I blessed to be
Mary Louder:It is. Right?
Laura Boulay:Right? And I'm sure that you've taken many able to go to a place like that and heal, and also that I did heal. patients through that journey where it has not been as smooth as mine. So deeply grateful for that.
Mary Louder:Good.
Laura Boulay:And that's--thank you. Thank you. It's a huge win. As I was recovering and my health care team said, Okay, sounds like you know, you've got your feet back underneath you. Let's you know, start to build your business back up. Start to go again. I had rented a mold free home from a friend, and was starting to get some momentum going, and we slammed into covid 19.
Mary Louder:Oh yeah, I remember that. Oh, that.
Laura Boulay:Oh that.
Mary Louder:Yes.
Laura Boulay:Oh, that. And my team said, you are on lockdown. You are still immunocompromised. You need to be by yourself, taking great care of yourself until we know what's going on. And if you--you know, the early days, we didn't know what was going on.
Mary Louder:We didn't. It was very fearful, and I actually think rightfully so, because we did--we didn't know. You know, as a physician, what I recall, first of all, I got Covid before the lockdown.
Laura Boulay:Oh, wow.
Mary Louder:From a patient who had--what does this have to do with walking? I walked into covid. There we go. Let's transition that I walked right into covid. Yeah, I walked. So I walked into covid because a patient came back from Italy that had the weirdest bronchitis I'd ever seen. So she had that Italian strain that took out so many people, and she ended up in the hospital. I ended up in the hospital. I was up trying to
Laura Boulay:No, of course not.
Mary Louder:So when I did go to the ER, the next morning, you give a lecture at 9200 feet, because we lived in Colorado, and I couldn't breathe. And so the logical thing was to go home to 5000 feet, because I could breathe there. I couldn't breathe at 5000 feet. know, I arrived with an oxygen level of 76 and so, of which the doctor said, Did you know? And I said, No, had I known that, I would have led with that, right? I didn't know. So, right? But to that point, you know, in that situation, walking at any altitude was out of the question, because I just couldn't function.
Laura Boulay:Oh my gosh.
Mary Louder:So in the lockdown, did you then continue your walking? And that was, like, the third thing that really, the third time that the walking really saved you?
Laura Boulay:Yes, absolutely. And again, walking in nature.
Mary Louder:Yes.
Laura Boulay:I was out in the country, and there was this beautiful road that went through some cattle farms, and it was lined with old growth, oaks on one side and evergreens on the other side, and they touched overhead like, you know, a canopy. So it's this long==and I just called it my pathway of hope. And I named those trees. I mean, I just will tell you, I mean, the truth, it's just those trees became my friends. Every step was okay, I'm going to get through this. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. And I literally feel, how do I want--I'll just say it. It was a deeply spiritual time for me, Mary. I was alone. I had my trees, obviously, cellphone, great, you can, you know you can be in touch that way. But there was so much fear and so much overwhelm, and I just knew that if I would get outside, go see my trees, go for a nice long walk, breathe some fresh air. I would feel better when I got back.
Mary Louder:Yeah.
Laura Boulay:Very simple. Didn't, didn't cure anything. In the moment, in the present moment, though, right, that day I would feel. Better, right? And if the anxiety, if the fear, if the what ifs, you know, all the what the 3am what-ifs are just evil, yeah. But if they started coming back, get up and go for a walk, you know, go hug a tree. Like, literally, go hug a tree. So that was the third time, and again, that was a terrifying time, and I walked through it. And so those are the those are the times that I really credit walking with, saving my life and reuniting me with myself. And I love that word, reuniting. You know, we connect with body, mind, spirit when we walk. We connect with nature, if we're fortunate enough to be walking in nature, and there is a reunification that, that I think we experience when we can get out there and and be present and be with it all, right?
Mary Louder:Right.
Laura Boulay:Yeah, so that's the backstory.
Mary Louder:It's interesting how you mentioned that, because what you described in those three different events were obviously traumatic events.
Laura Boulay:Yes, yeah.
Mary Louder:So what we know about the body's wisdom is that all trauma causes us to disconnect. Yes, we have to in order to survive. That's right. And so that level of disconnect could be this much, or it could be this much, or it could be--
Laura Boulay:All the way out.
Mary Louder:Yeah, and what tethers us, what keeps us connected at that point, even though we're dissociated, our behaviors and sometimes addictions and things that allow us to stay and connected enough to be on the planet still. Otherwise, it's too painful, and we would leave the planet.
Laura Boulay:That's right, that's right.
Mary Louder:And so in that situation, you had changed some behaviors, you know, with respect to some eating and drinking and things like that. So what did you find in the wisdom of your body that your body was telling you when you were walking? There's that connection to nature, which is lovely. But then where did you find wisdom in your body? I mean, because I would imagine sore feet, blisters, knee pain, back pain, I would think of some of those things that would go on if you're walking till your legs turn into jello, right? I mean, stop me where I'm wrong on that one. But, well, no,
Laura Boulay:you bring up a very, very good point. And the first thing I want to say is, despite bodily aches and pains, maybe even, you know, despite several nights of insomnia, just from, you know, stress, just from, oh, my God, what's going to happen? Despite all of that, and this is an interesting thing, but the best way I can can verbalize this is my body craved the walk.
Mary Louder:Oh, interesting.
Laura Boulay:Didn't crave the chocolate, didn't crave the wine, right? Didn't crave the binge-watching television, my body literally craved the walking. I would heed that call. Like, yeah. And so to me, that was the most important self dialog. To honor that. Okay, we need to go for a walk.
Mary Louder:So when you were out there walking, what did did you find yourself in conversation? With yourself? In conversation--
Laura Boulay:Yes.
Mary Louder:Okay.
Laura Boulay:Yes, yeah, lots of conversation.
Mary Louder:Yes, yes, okay. Did you find that when you were walking, things tended to resolve?
Laura Boulay:Answers bubble up, answers bubble up. Believe it was Socrates who said, salvatore ambilando, it is solved by walking. And then Stanford University came in and did the study on that and said, well, walking is proven now to increase creativity 60%. Aha. Walking is a problem solver.
Mary Louder:Yeah.
Laura Boulay:When I was going through divorce and I had worked in my then-husband's company, that was my financial stability, and that was not going to be anymore. And I needed, I needed to work, and I had no idea, you know, again, a midlife woman going back to work outside of--the whole thing that I'm, you know, we all know that story. I was on a walk one day, and that inner wisdom sort of popped up and said, Well, what--you know, you know your interests, what would your ideal job be? What would your ideal--and so it was a question that bubbled up out of that wisdom, that problem solving place that walking takes us to. Bubbled up, and I thought, you know, I would genuinely love--now this, this is a while ago. I. I would love to learn more about social media, and I'm very, very good at organizing things. I would love. I would love to be a personal assistant to an author who's about to publish, and learn more about that. Two weeks later, I had that job.
Mary Louder:Wow.
Laura Boulay:Two weeks later I had that job.
Mary Louder:Nice.
Laura Boulay:So that was, that was a powerful moment. And also, with the mold poisoning, you know, not, not dismissing the initial diagnosis, my team was doing their very best to figure out what the heck was going on. But on my walks, I kept hearing that inner voice saying, we're not, we're not there yet. We've, you know, we've tried the black, is it black cohosh, the, all the good things that should, you know, the--the evening primrose oil, I mean, all the things, right? But that underlying, really feeling bad, was still there. And so I kept going and saying, we're not there yet. Let's do another blood panel. We're not there yet. So again, that wisdom rising up, rising up. And--
Mary Louder:Yeah, well it's interesting, because physicians can't diagnose that which they don't entertain.
Laura Boulay:Yes.
Mary Louder:And so, and by and large, people in general, and I'll throw physicians under the bus, since I'm one of them, are down on what they're not up on. So no, it can't be that. You must be okay, you know? And if our head was so big that it carried everything that we supposedly had, our head would be falling off our shoulders. It's all in your head. You're just imagining this. I mean, those things are so dismissive to a patient, so dismissive to humanity, so dismissive to the human condition. And I, you know, I always said things like, and so how is this--wait, I'm going to pause for a minute in our pause-cast here. How is this relating to walking? Well, I was walking down the hall the other day thinking.
Laura Boulay:That was very good.
Mary Louder:Yeah, there you go.
Laura Boulay:Yeah, you looped that right back in, that was like, boom.
Mary Louder:I did do, you know, a lot of walking as a resident, because it was just, you know, floor after floor after floor of the hospital, and you're on your feet for 12 to 14 hours a day. And so it did give a lot of time to think, you know, and I found that I did some of my best thinking when I was between cases or between floors or between--I had the notes from the ER having to go up to the floor to admit the patient, and then it was like, oh, yeah, I gotta do that. Oh, I need to think of that. And so the in that situation directly, you know, and thinking about mold and mycotoxins, you know, I remember, in 2006 I took care of a patient in Colorado who was intoxicated, as it were, from the mold in the Eisenhower tunnel, which, for people, you know, the Eisenhower tunnel goes through the mountain, right? It's up at 10,000 feet. And his office was there, and the walls were dripping with black mold. And he had all the symptoms that I came up with as micro-mycotoxins, and like he had the microscopic colitis, he had eosinophil esophagitis, he had chronic sinusitis, he had fibromyalgia, and and, you know, I even presented a case in court for him to get disability. And the judge said, and the the opposing doctor for the other expert witness, said, This just doesn't exist. And I have a stack of articles. And I just remember saying, I don't know how you can say it doesn't exist just because you haven't heard of it. I said, when we have a stack of articles and we have a patient here that has exactly what all of this says. And so, you know, when, when we enter, you know what patients--what happens with patients, when they're challenged with something like this, is very much a part of what your journey was. They keep walking until they find the answers. Whether they're walking in their soul, whether they're walking in their head, whether they're walking in their relationships, because they just--whether they're walking in, you know, online information, they're just really trying to find. And it would be interesting to see the information from Stanford if they did not only walking, but if they did, like swimming. Yes, they did, you know, other things that were aerobic in nature, you know, and then you take that walking, maybe you take it to an extreme, extreme walking I would call running, or marathon running, right? Or ultra marathon training, or ultra bicycle training. And there's now a lot of women in our age group that are ending up with cardiac disease and osteoporosis, who were elite athletes. Because they did too much. And so, but what I'm hearing in your story, in your understanding, is, you know, we're not walking for the Fitbit. We're not walking for the, you know, pure exertion of it, although that's part of it, because it brings us to where the endorphins kick in. It brings us to that release where sometimes we can just give in and give up in a good way, because we just don't have it in us to fight anymore. So it's like we're punching at the air. We're walking on the, the terra firma, until we just, like you said, we're jello. And so we go, Okay, now what? Alright, I surrender to whatever I need to surrender to, which is totally different than giving up.
Laura Boulay:Oh, absolutely. Surrender is frequently the next step. But because of our culture, because of what we've been told we need to do and we should do, you know, shoulda, woulda, coulda, get in there and, you know, gut it out. Grind harder, do all these things that, that ultimately wear us down to the bone, right? And, I mean, we could go down a wormhole on that, so let's don't, but I think we all know where we're headed with that.
Mary Louder:Yeah.
Laura Boulay:So there's one path, and then there is another path, which is take that next step, and maybe it's just a step of grace. Maybe it's just a step of and I believe in this very deeply, because of my own experience and the experience of women that have shared their stories with me, maybe it is literally a step of faith that something will arise, that some answer will come, right? So there is a deeply spiritual side to this very basic activity that's really good for you, but when I see it, I see whole self help, body, mind and spirit and connection, you know, connection to neighborhood, connection to where you're walking. Those things are so important in the midst of our loneliness epidemic, especially so, yeah.
Mary Louder:Yes. So how did you go then to create this million--I had a hard time saying it, 1 million women walking. Am I saying that right?
Laura Boulay:Yes, you've got it.
Mary Louder:Okay. So, and, you know, developing that, creating that, and then, you know, tell me the story behind how that all fell into--tell me the steps in that. How's that for our walking analogy?
Laura Boulay:I'm really happy with that. I love, I love that, and I love all the bad puns. I'm hoping we can come up with some really good doozies here.
Mary Louder:I'm sure we can. We're trying not to trip. Keep going. Is this something two left feet can do? I don't know. I'm just saying.
Laura Boulay:Oh, you're on a roll.
Mary Louder:Typically, I am.
Laura Boulay:I love that. That makes me really happy. To answer your question, yes. So after I recovered and was getting some--my feet back underneath me from the divorce, I really did geek out. I geeked out on walking. And, I mean, I started reading white papers and some studies, I went down the wormhole of data. Which was massively satisfying, by the way. I'm just kind of a data geek. Because it it did a couple of things for me. It validated my personal experience. And because I had been in such a fragile place, it was nice to have some data validating my experience, and it also inspired me. I started thinking about, well, now wait a minute, if walking has done this for me--wow, what could it do for other women? And I looked, and this is, this is a few years ago now, and I looked at what we were saying to ourselves and what the culture was telling us about. This is what a workout looks like. This is what healthy looks like. Duh, duh, duh. You've gotta do this. Ooh, you gotta do that. Shoulda, woulda, coulda over here, and I looked at all that noise and the pressure. The pressure, which has only gotten worse, let's just call it, wow, it has only gotten worse. And I looked at that and I thought, no, no, no. Time out. Time out. Get a decent pair of shoes and walk out your door. That's it. And so I was very inspired to share not only, you know, what I had learned, but my own experience. Because we are a storytelling species, you know, we love those stories. So, that is where it came from. And I was literally and once again, my cute mom and I had gone to Florida to visit my sister, and the three of us were walking down the beach talking about, it was a low tide, you know, those beautiful, elegant low tides that just are magic. And we're walking down the beach. And I was, you know, sharing this urge. I said, I really want to do something with this. I want to do something with this. And, and I think my mom said, well, how many women do you want to get walking? And I said, 1 million women walking. Boom. And there it was.
Mary Louder:There it is. Nice, nice. So how many do you have? Can I ask for a head count?
Laura Boulay:You can absolutely ask for a head count. And I appreciate that question, because what has happened since the birth of that idea--I have gone through, I think five iterations of community, also went through mold poisoning and quarantine. So there's been some real stop-start right now I can proudly say that I have impacted well over 1000 lives, which is wonderful, and yes, and I am now looking at the next iteration of consolidating my virtual walking community with all of the information that I've put together, and kind of put it all under one roof so that it's more organized. So yeah, yeah. It's, it is my purpose work. It is the journey of a lifetime. I feel like walking is phenomenally underrated, you know. And I have had people say, well, that's not very sexy, walking. I'm like, wow, exercise needs to be sexy now.
Mary Louder:Apparently, apparently.
Laura Boulay:Where did this happen? I am floored sometimes.
Mary Louder:I think it happened in the wellness revolution, the self help revolution, that was taken to an extreme on the pendulum. Because I think we've got, you know, if we look at longevity instead of just healthy living, now they're trying to biohack, right? I do not biohack as a physician, I refuse to. And I work with genomics, and we literally work with the blueprint of who the patient is. And so the guessing goes away. And when we come to the section in that lifestyle report of genomics about what type of activity you're meant to do. It shows if you're endurance, power, how much recovery, how well you might do, your VO2 Max, which is your training capacity. And so we literally can create for that individual a plan that fits their genes.
Laura Boulay:I love that. Absolutely tailored to them, yeah, yeah. And maximizes their health and, and, if I'm hearing you correctly, their potential for success.
Mary Louder:Right.
Laura Boulay:As they define it, you know, in their own--yes, I love that. I absolutely love that. We aren't all going to be great swimmers. We aren't all going--I do not run. I absolutely--
Mary Louder:Yeah, I don't run either.
Laura Boulay:It is not my thing.
Mary Louder:If I need to, if I need to run from a bear, that's not going to happen.
Laura Boulay:I have to say that's a very funny thing, because just two weeks ago, there was a bear in the backyard, uh huh, but it was headed for the apiary where the bees are. So I actually went down and chased it off. Reverse psychology there, when I realized, Laura, you're in the backyard, barefoot, chasing a bear. You might want to think about this, you know,
Mary Louder:Right. Exactly. Yes. Was it Winnie the Pooh looking for honey?
Laura Boulay:It was Winnie the Pooh looking for honey. It really was. I was like, Nope, you can't do that here.
Mary Louder:Oh, my goodness.
Laura Boulay:I love what you've just mentioned, though, about how specific it can be, and, and then for someone to know, and that's what that capital K, you know that, that's the Knowing this is for me. So that feeling from the inside out of, okay, yes, this is my past. This is my next step, right? I love that. Thank you, that's great.
Mary Louder:And I think, you know, I wonder in one of my inspiration questions here, thinking something powerful in doing something so simple as walking, and it's really quite radical. And I we talked my sister and I, she is a instructor out at one of our local universities, and she has developed fitness courses and a variety of things that--and we always chuckle about the college students who say they can't get their steps in. It's like, how old are you and what are you doing? You know, so we chuckle about that, right? And so, and she is a big walker. My brother's a big walker. My mother, our mother was a big walker. My dad, not so much, me, I always wanted to ride my bike, because you can coast even uphill. You could coast. You know, and so, and you get there faster, and they're like, don't you want to walk? I'm like, No, is there a shortcut? And so I confess, walking, I'm like, you know, I'd rather do something else. But, you know, bowing to peer pressure of my younger sibling, my sister, I said, Okay, fine. I'll get out and walk one to two miles every day, no matter what, you know. And so then just kind of doing that, but, you know, and I find, what I find in the, in the walking is because we always take our dog, Lucy, who's a Labradoodle, and I always find I like the the lower heart rate zone, you know, it'd be zone two, because I can get in just a nice walk, that nice rhythm. Lucy is a good walker in that rhythm. And she's also a sniffer as a Labradoodle. And so she stops, and, you know, that's part of her routine, which is actually a lot of invigor--that's very invigorating for dog to do that. To a 20 minute sniff is like an hour walk at a fast pace for a dog. So it's very interesting how she has--that's kind of her idea of coasting, I would say, would be to sniff.
Laura Boulay:I love that.
Mary Louder:So, but I think about that, that you know, instead of having to have that big workout in the gym. You know, the class after class after class, walking could be a way that not only would you find your form, but it could be, you know, if you wanted to be a little cheeky about it, could be rebellion against everything that's going on, yes, because you can find your sweet spot. And there's somewhere in the middle of working out that, I think, is where we should arrive at, where we get the physical benefits, but we're also getting these other benefits. Because I know if I do a bike ride that's too long and too hard, I have difficulty sleeping. Why? Because there's cortisol pumping around.
Laura Boulay:There's so much cortisol, yep.
Mary Louder:And in my genomic report, if I do a little bit, I get really inflamed really quickly. That's just that's my genes. And so I have to really do something, but then really recover. And so that would speak to the logic of walking. That would speak to the logic of being able to, you know, just go out the door, put your shoes on, and, number one, be in nature. Number two, connect with nature. Number three, connect with yourself. You know. And then, you know, then the gadgets can come in, in terms of, you know, how am I doing? What am I clocking? What's happening? Yes, and I do have to manage folks that bring me data from their aura ring and their data from their their iWatches, and they want to, you know, I would say, go down into the nth degree of fixing something. And so then I--what I do is I say, what if you were to not measure, how would that make you feel?
Laura Boulay:This is a really interesting and I think a key point, a key point that I would love to just take a moment to really shine a spotlight on, and maybe even focus on--what happens when we put down the device. What happens when we put down the device and maybe just get crazy and leave it behind and walk out the door and kind of go into just some basic structure about, okay, I'm going to walk four blocks that way, and then I'm going to come back. And a brisk walk. Well, a brisk walk is a pace. It's it's, again, we're not measuring, but a brisk walk is loosely a pace where you could still talk, but you can't sing. Okay, all right. So you know you're not killing yourself out there. You are not speed walking. This is not the Olympics. You're just--and what would it be like if I really listened for birds? Okay, so those are the criteria. Here we go. Devices at home, four blocks that way, four blocks back, right, brisk pace, right? And I'm going to listen for birds. What would happen? You'd hear birds.
Mary Louder:You would.
Laura Boulay:You would hear birds, and then the cascade of all the goodness would start inside of your body, mind and spirit, right? And this is just this thing about, can we use the devices to support us, but not to tell us, not to rely on them. They have become false gods, if you will. They're great if you've got the Merlin app and you want to know what bird is that that's singing. Oh, it's so much fun, so much stinking fun. But hear the bird first. Do you know what I mean?
Mary Louder:I do.
Laura Boulay:And this is something I really encourage women to do, and it's interesting. I cannot recall right now who published this study, but it's a very recent study, Mary. And the results were that midlife women who take that moment to go outside and walk feel like it is the only time they can--wait for it--breathe in their day. That's so powerful.
Mary Louder:It is.
Laura Boulay:Oh, my god. It is free. It is waiting for you. Your walk will meet you. It will rise up and meet you wherever you are. There's tremendous freedom and empowerment in that. But the device can pull you out of it. The device, I feel like, can pull you out of the magic, right? And if we are hyper, measuring everything to tell us whether we did well or not, then we are taking away the joy and the magic of hearing that bird, feeling the sun hit our face right, literally smelling, you know, the fresh tilled garden. We're taking that away, and those are the things that benefit us the most.
Mary Louder:Yes, I would agree.
Laura Boulay:Don't I sound like an old dinosaur here?
Mary Louder:No, you actually sound like an old, an old soul who's who's found something that we could all probably connect in with is really what that sounds like. And you know, I was, I'm wondering if--I lost my train of thought here. If the, oh, well, I forgot, it will come back to me.
Laura Boulay:It'll circle back around.
Mary Louder:Yeah. So then the other part that's interesting is you're saying with the walking, women do this that will help them with their creativity, with their business.
Laura Boulay:Yeah, yes. Mm, hmm, yes. I'm a huge proponent.
Mary Louder:Yeah. So have you done consulting with women regarding their careers and things like that, or do you do any coaching that people talk about?
Laura Boulay:Yeah, I do. I do. Yes, yeah. And you know, I've been an entrepreneur for many, many years. I'm an author, I am a speaker, and I know what it takes to continue believing in yourself. I also know what it takes to make sure that you refill every day. It is so easy, it is so--I'm preaching to the choir here, and I know that, but it is so easy to empty, empty the tank and then keep running on empty. Because, guess what? There is one more thing to do. I've gotta do that. I've gotta do that. I've gotta do that. Years ago, I was in Nashville--this is my favorite example of this at Vanderbilt University, which is a National Arboretum. It is the one of the most stunning university campuses, beautiful walking campus. And the head of Oncology and Hematology and I had struck up a friendship, and I was asking her, okay, now, are you walking? Beautiful campus--are you walking? And she said, I know, I know, I know, I know, but there's always one more thing to do. And I said, Yes, there will always be one more thing to do. Make sure that thing is you. Make sure that thing is that, just even if it's a 12-minute walk from building to building outside, make sure that thing is you. So yes, I do have within my virtual women's walking community, we really look at that. Are we refilling every day? And I also have some VIP walking journeys that I do one-on-one to make sure that self care is sacrosanct, which is one of my favorite things to say. And the steps, the steps can be it, there's the self care. Also, if you can weave walking into the fabric of your business, can you do a walk and talk meeting with a colleague,right? Can you do some habit stacking between, if your day is packed, and so many of us have those packed days, can you do some habit stack? And say, Okay, on these packed days, right after my 10am meeting, I'm going to go for a 12 minute walk. 12 minutes has been proven to be effective.
Mary Louder:Really?
Laura Boulay:Yes, yeah. So like mini walks. I call them mini walks.
Mary Louder:Okay, so you've got, so you've got the So, okay, so what I'm hearing is, in between a meeting, you could schedule a 15 minute break.
Laura Boulay:Absolutely.
Mary Louder:And you could do a 12 minute walk, three minutes to the restroom.
Laura Boulay:Yes, absolutely.
Mary Louder:On either end of that, right? But then that walk could look like where you're just carrying on a conversation, but not singing, right? So your heart rate's up a little bit. And then you could also then target something to listen to outside.
Laura Boulay:Yes, yes.
Mary Louder:Birds. Sometimes you can really hear trees rustling, the leaves. And you know, something like that would be something I would enjoy, you know, the wind. And yeah, and then also I often aim to focus in on a plant or two. So that means stopping and smelling or looking at the hydrangeas, or the lilacs, you know, or, gosh, we've got six raspberries on our new bushes, you know, those types of things, you know. And then also--
Laura Boulay:Do you stop and touch them?
Mary Louder:I do.
Laura Boulay:I do too. I love that moment of, ooh, how does that feel?
Mary Louder:Yeah.
Laura Boulay:Also proven to be so good to lower that.
Mary Louder:Yeah, I do that with our planters, because there's petunias and marigolds and different things so different textures and smells and, you know, things like that. So, okay, so we've, we've, we've established it how healthy that that can be.
Laura Boulay:Absolutely.
Mary Louder:Some people may be, may be intimidated by how do you start? So some practics of this, because it's like, oh gosh, I don't even know if I've got the right shoes. I know. Okay, so fine. I won't do an iWatch. Okay, fine. I won't do or, okay, fine, fine. I'll stay away from technology. But don't. I need to have a good pair of shoes, don't I need to have some practics? So what are some practics that our listeners can use to start their journey?
Laura Boulay:I love this question. Thank you so much. So to start your journey. First, first thing is, yes, you need good shoes. Good shoes are just foundational for walking, good shoes are foundational for walking, I would highly recommend speaking to--I mean, you could start with a podiatrist, but you could also go to one of your local sports stores that typically have someone who understand the different you know, you've got ASICs, you've got new balance, you've got Nike. These are running shoes. These are tennis shoes. These are court shoes, these are walking shoes. They can look at your foot, you know, and they can actually help you, right, to create a foundational piece that really works for you. It's going to make it so much more fun. So, so, so much more fun. Another piece that sometimes we overlook is good socks, wicking socks, you know, that give you some support in there too. Many years ago, I interviewed a wonderful woman who walks every day. She is a university professor, and she said, I was asking her for her advice, you know, to women who are just starting their walking journey. And she said, and I love these words, Mary, she said, treat your feet like the Goddesses they are. Like, yes, do that. Yeah, yes, shoes are important. And then we need to look at context. Is it hot out? Is it cold out? Comfortable clothing, sun block, a hat. Here's one that I think too many of us just think, Oh, I'll do that when I get back. Hydrate. Let's hydrate before we walk out the door, right? Hydrate, and then I like to have a go-to route. A go-to route for my longer walk in the morning and for my short walks, go-to is a comfort. You would know this, and I can't pull this data right now. But how many decisions do we make during a day?
Mary Louder:I don't know. More than one.
Laura Boulay:Exactly, right? And so decision fatigue is a real thing. It has a go-to route and have your go-to clothing. You don't have to make a decision. You're good to go.
Mary Louder:That's a really good that's a really good point, because you could even, you know, have a couple designated outfits as it works. So absolutely, they call them fits. Now you can have your fit. And so then you can have that ready to go, and then you have and you can lay that out if you need to change. And then get your shoes ready, have them by the door, by the couch or wherever, and then your socks. And then, you know, have your water ready. And then just put it in your calendar. I have found in building businesses and being an entrepreneur that you have to literally block your time.
Laura Boulay:Yes, you do, I agree.
Mary Louder:Yeah, you can't just, like, I'm just have a day of work. Well, your day of distractions, you know, you just, you need to have, you know, block three hours for, you know, charting, or three hours for business planning or meetings, and then you have to, like, not look at email, you have to not answer the phone, you have to let things go to voicemail. You have to not get distracted, because you literally need to block your time.
Laura Boulay:I agree.
Mary Louder:And we've always said that about fitness too, you need to block your time. So if you're working from home or working in an office, you block your time 15 minutes for a 12 minute walk.
Laura Boulay:That's right, yep. And that is perfect. And for some people, the way they, they the way that block of time is named. If it says walk, okay, not quite as inspiring as self care, refill, right?
Mary Louder:Yeah, that's a good point.
Laura Boulay:Self-care break, right? Like, give it. Give it some give it a heart tug. Give it. Give it something that--
Mary Louder:skinny dipping in nature. Oh, wait. We can't-- It might take longer. Or forest bathing, you know, they talk about forest bathing, yeah.
Laura Boulay:Forest bathing, yes. But something that that sparks you, something that makes you say, oh, yeah, I want that feeling. So name it as a feeling, right? Give it. Give it that. Oh, yummy. Give it that thing where you go. Oh, I'm looking forward to that. I get to do this right? And then again, the go-to route and and look at, is it, is it tree lined? Is it shaded? Are you going to be in the sun? And think about when is your best time, right? I love a morning--
Mary Louder:That's a good point.
Laura Boulay:--walk, right? I love a morning walk. But there is some fabulous data that's been coming out recently about the power of an after dinner walk, which you can do with your family.
Mary Louder:Huge. It's a huge that's a huge thing.
Laura Boulay:That's a huge thing.
Mary Louder:Yeah, that, that, that helps with digestion. The research I've seen helps with digestion, helps with blood sugar and metabolism, and it helps with sleep. And so, yeah, and it helps. And so I think it also helps with that 3am cortisol surge.
Laura Boulay:Thank you.
Mary Louder:Because I think what's happening is there's a reset there in the evening, and then that cortisol surged, isn't--if you don't have as much built up to surge.
Laura Boulay:Yes, there's not as much.
Mary Louder:Yeah. Because you've used some things.
Laura Boulay:Volcano.
Mary Louder:You've gone through, you've used some energy, you've used a burst of energy, you've digested some food, and it tends to settle more that circadian rhythm.
Laura Boulay:Yes, huge thing for women.
Mary Louder:And yet, the other thing is safety. okay, so if you're walking at different times of the day where the light could be compromised, meaning dusk and dawn, please reflective vests, absolutely please, know the traffic patterns. Please, walk against traffic. You ride with traffic, if you're on a bicycle. You walk against traffic, please. And that is so important. You need to see the traffic coming at you.
Laura Boulay:You need to see the traffic. And the traffic needs to see you. We do not want to see any more pedestrian deaths there. It's just ridiculous. Several years ago, I sat down with Dan Buettner, who is the was the founder of Blue Zones, and we were talking about walking, and we were talking about, okay, what are the basics? And he says, You need three things. And this is, I have been preaching this ever since, you need it to be accessible. So, in other words, here we go. It's, it's not, I have to get in my car and drive an hour to get there. You will not do it. You're not going to do that. That's and don't put that load on yourself. Accessible. I love this next one. Beautiful. Mm, hmm. And safe. Boom. Beautiful is something that is very subjective. Downtown Chicago, you know, Manhattan, these are beautiful places for some people, they are they are. For me. Our national parks and wilderness areas, also beautiful places. But if you can find some beauty that is more immediate and accessible for you, you are much more likely to go there, but make sure it's safe. Make sure it's safe. And I've also spoken to women about two other issues in safety that I think is worthwhile going to here. Other people, like if you're a solo walker, which I am, other people and wildlife. Okay, so, and these are things, I mean--
Mary Louder:Yeah, yeah.
Laura Boulay:Right? I am a solo walker. And so the things that I do to ensure a sense of safety is I do understand where I'm walking and when I am walking, and I make sure that there are other walkers there. This is an interesting thing, because we start to connect. You had mentioned earlier, walking your dog. Dogs are one of the most connected things that we have right now, you know, and you start to recognize the dogs and the humans, and so even though I'm a solo walker, I am walking with other people in well populated, well lit areas that are designed for walking and cycling. They are multi use trails, right? In, in the national parks and the wilderness areas, where I have done quite a bit of camping and hiking and yes, walking, I am very respectful of wildlife. I am aware there is wildlife there. If there is something going on that the rangers have spoken about. I respect that. Then guess what? We're not going to go on that trail. And, and so what I've told women, because not all of us are comfortable, you know, with the snake slithering across the path. And not, not all of us would recognize the poison ivy we just stepped into. So learn that environment, if it's a new environment, approach it with curiosity instead of fear. If you can approach approach it with curiosity and what would I like to learn here? Just me personally, what would I like to learn here that would make me feel safer?
Mary Louder:Nice.
Laura Boulay:Right?
Mary Louder:Yeah, the anxiety should just drop right there, when you do that.
Laura Boulay:Right there. Yeah, right there. Just, what would I like to know? And then the thing is, and I share this, there's always something beautiful and magical waiting for you out there. Always, always, always.
Mary Louder:Yes.
Laura Boulay:Always.
Mary Louder:Cool. That is really cool. Exactly.
Laura Boulay:There you go. Okay.
Mary Louder:Alright, so tell us how the women can get--and I'm sure you'll take men too. But how the women can get involved in the 1 million women walking? How can they reach out? How can they find you? What do they need to know?
Laura Boulay:Thank you so much. onemillionwomenwalking.com. It's spelled out, O, N, E, million women walking. That is the primary website. You will find four free reports. They are tailored to specific stages in life, specific needs. One of my favorite ones is My Top Benefits of Walking for Women and go grab a free report and download it and prepare to have your mind blown. It's really, I mean, yes, it's my geekiness too, Mary, but there's that, yeah. Then if you would like to walk with me on a daily basis, join my Virtual Walking community, which is The Walking Women.
Mary Louder:Okay.
Laura Boulay:And it's a great place for solo walkers. And we have all age ranges from mid 80s down to probably 30s. We are actually all over the country and all over the world. We have a wonderful lady who is a day ahead of us in Australia. So that's really fun.
Mary Louder:Very nice, yeah.
Laura Boulay:And then I am also an author on Substack. On Substack, Letters from Laura is my publication on sub stack. You can look for Laura Boulay, dot sub stack.com, I think, is how you'd look it up. Letters from Laura and I have a section on there called Daily Steps. And I drop a walking prompt into your inbox, men or women, every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, little data, little inspiration, quotes from great walkers. You know, we have so many men and women who have walked this path before us, who have just dropped some beautiful words of inspiration. And so that is another way to connect with me and with this work that I am doing that is just a low level point of entry. It's just like, get your toe in the water, take that next step, Daily Steps. So those are the ways to connect. Yeah.
Mary Louder:Wonderful. Well, this has been very inspiring.
Laura Boulay:Thank you.
Mary Louder:Because, as mentioned,
Laura Boulay:As previously mentioned.
Mary Louder:As previously mentioned, I would rather jump on my bike, but I'm actually kind of now intrigued to change my walking pattern. And, and I mean, I swim in the fall and winter three or four times a week, and I do other things, you know. And right now, you know, and then I'm not, all of a sudden, I feel like, what am I doing? I'm justifying. I'm not justifying anything. I mean, I do other activities. But I recognize the simplicity and the wisdom and the value in the walk, and I think that's one thing that it's kind of smack dab in front of you, in you a person might just overlook it as being too simple.
Laura Boulay:It's so easy. How can it be effective? I've been ask so many times, is walking enough?
Mary Louder:It is. The answer is yes.
Laura Boulay:Yeah.
Mary Louder:And, and I would say if, if, if anybody could take anything from this podcast today, that would be what they could take. Walking is enough. Thank you. And then to follow that up, you are enough. You absolutely are enough as a human.
Laura Boulay:That is the deepest message ever. That's the one to bring home.
Mary Louder:Yeah, and so on, those two things, I just don't think we can take another step. So I want to thank you again, Laura, for being our guest. And I look forward to following your journey and look forward to connecting, and hopefully our readers will too, and, and I wish you well getting all the way to a million. I think that'd be wonderful.
Laura Boulay:Thank you so very much. It has been an absolute joy to have this time together. I deeply appreciate you. Thank you.
Mary Louder:You're welcome. All right, take good care.
Laura Boulay:All right, bye.
Mary Louder:Hi friends. Dr Mary Louder here, here's another episode of our Gadgets, Gimmicks and Gotchas. It's where we're separating the science from the snake oil in this wellness
world. Today's topic:walking technology, or technology used for walking. It's the smart watches, the step counters and the walking apps, they all promise to keep us on track, right? Let me be clear, though, those aren't the enemy, and I do love a good heart rate check after a brisk walk. And smart watches can track our steps, our distance and even the variability of our heart rate, that can be valuable information if it's in service. This information is in service to our goals, but not our guilt.
So here's the gotcha:it's when your self worth is tied to a 10,000 step streak or whatever you're wearing around your wrist or your finger. You've probably crossed into the gimmick territory. In our podcast today, we talked with Laura Boulay about walking for transformation healing as well as fitness, but we often end up hustling for approval just because of a silicone band on our wrist. So here's a soulful prescription about the walking technology. Take at least one walk a week without your tech. No app, no tracking, no pressure. Just your body, your breath, and the sound of your own rhythm, and look around and absorb your environment. Hopefully you're in the trees and nature, plants, rocks, water, simply being on a gentle trail, because sometimes the most powerful walks are the ones we don't measure at all, but rather they simply bring us into the awe and the wonder that is around us. So see you next time on our next episode of Gadgets, Gimmicks and Gotchas, and remember, walk with your senses, not just your smart watch. Be well. See you soon. Well, that's it for today's episode of The Dr Mary Louder podcast, where our guest today was Laura Boulay, and we were learning how to walk, putting one foot in front of the other, and sometimes that's the most important thing to do, and knowing that we can just start by taking the first step. So why don't you take that step and share this podcast with others and rate and review it and give us some feedback. That always helps us do better and helps other people find us as well. And we look forward to you being here next time. If you have any questions at all, reach out through our website, drmarylouder.com, and we look forward to, to helping you and serving you. And we look forward to helping you just transform and regain and maintain health all the way through your life. Be well and enjoy your day.
