Walking in an unwalkable city taught me more about self-care than a gym workout

If you live in Mumbai, you learn quickly that walking is rarely romantic. The footpaths are often uneven, traffic doesn’t stop and the heat presses down until even a two-minute stroll feels like a battle. The city moves fast and fiercely, but it rarely makes space for those on foot. It will teach you to run, but delete the concept of “walk” from your internal storage.

One evening after work, with no taxi or rickshaw in sight, I did the unthinkable: I walked. What should have been frustrating became strangely calming. The next day, the same thing happened. No ride, another walk, the same sense of release. What began as an accident soon turned into the simplest ritual I’ve ever kept.

I realised self-care, especially in a city like Mumbai, has to be active and improvised, not a scented-candle moment slotted between meetings. For me it became walking: unplanned, unscheduled, but non-negotiable.

At first, the idea felt exhausting; I’d hype myself up just to cross a few lanes. But by the time I reached home, the mood shift was real. Tired but clear-headed, I started to look forward to those commutes. Soon the walks weren’t just for getting home: I picked up groceries, met friends, ran errands. Small, everyday detours turned into micro rituals.

My school mathematics teacher once made us copy formulas for 21 days. By the end, they stuck — my first lesson in habit-building. The science behind the 21-day rule may be contested, but the principle is this: do something often enough and it takes root. That’s exactly what happened with walking.

These short walks broke the spiral of stress. I’d reach home calmer, not in a yoga-class way but in the raw way anger drains after it’s walked out of you.

Experts say the benefits go well beyond mood. Dr Prarthana Shah, an integrative health coach, notes that five short casual walks of 7–10 minutes can boost heart health, lower blood pressure and help control blood sugar. For those with time, a 50-minute walk offers even greater cardiovascular gains, but, as she says, “Exercise should be easy to fit into your daily life and adapt to your schedule.”

The impact is psychological too. “Movement can absolutely bring us into a meditative state,” says yoga instructor Amy Kim. “In yoga, we often move to help us eventually sit still. Presence, awareness and mindfulness all begin with movement.” Walking also reduces stress hormones while raising dopamine and serotonin, and the neurochemical shift that makes you feel lighter. Even the physical act of moving forward can create the illusion of progress on days you feel stuck.