Walking the Earth’s Spine

Some books take you on a journey,

Some remind you of the journeys you have already taken,

This book does both.

Title: Into the Heart of the Himalayas

Author: Jono Lineen

Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books 2020 (India edition)

First published as Walking the Earth’s Spine in Canada by Pottersfield Press 2012. Also published in Australia by Melbourne University Press 2014.

ISBN: 978-81-944468-2-8

Price: 499/-

More on the book at The New Indian Express and Mumbai Mirror.

Some lines - from the book - I read and re-read.

After the silence of the plateau the water’s constant roar was intrusive. Slowly, over a day of walking beside it, the river’s hum absorbed me. Everything else became peripheral. I lost track of time; the sun moved overhead. I focused on the single footstep ahead of me and gradually, from behind the rush, a rhythm evolved. It was not water or wind; it was a thumping pulse.

^^

I was alone. I had walked for 8 hours that day. I had been walking for 3 months, 8 hours everyday. My body was tune to the rhythm of my steps. Every part of me wanted to walk. I hummed in time with my steps, up and down, passes and valleys, rivers and peaks.

^^

I played with the words (Om Mani Padme Hum), quickened my pace and the mantra sped up. I slowed and the prayer lingered, working its way like a bass tone into my chest, sound and movement working together.

^^

I felt a symbiosis between my breath and steps. At the start of the climb I had been taking one strong breath for every 2 steps, then it was one breath for every single step. Eventually, with the altitude, I was breathing during the step and then breathing again before initiating the next motion. I was moving slower and slower but the pace didn’t bother me; it was meditation.

^^

I realized the only rhythm that agrees with high altitude is slow and contemplative. I was drifting into the true nature of walking: the absolute focus on each step, a subconscious awareness of my physiology.

^^

I focused on the steps. My body, which over the months had rebuilt itself, had adapted well to its new environment. I had a stronger, harder body. To walk hard at that altitude, to feel my muscles and mind moving smoothly, sliding together as well-oiled elements, was meditative, something simultaneously physically challenging and mentally relaxing.

^^

Focusing on my steps was the best way to reconnect with the reason why I was walking alone through the greatest mountains on earth.

Other books on similar lines – which touched somewhere deep.

Altai Himalaya ~ Nicholas Roerich

Tracks ~ Robyn Davidson

From the Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet ~ Vikram Seth

Flame Trees of Thika ~ Espleth Huxley