Then he decided to walk the Golden Gate Bridge for exercise. The last time he had tried he had barely even made it to the edge of the bridge.
There is a man who is using the Golden Gate Bridge to say alive. Many people in desperate situations go to the Golden Gate to jump. The only thing this man is jumping for is joy. In the past twenty-one months, he has walked across the bridge and back three hundred and twenty-six times. It takes him around one hour to complete the hike, a distance of three and one-half miles from the service area on the San Francisco side to the service area on the Marin County side.
Seven years he was on oxygen 24/7, having gotten COPD from smoking three packs of cigarettes for forty years. The journey back to health started seven years ago, after he asked friends to pray for him. They put him on three prayer lists. Then while he was at the doctor’s office, he noticed a sign to enroll for a breathing course. He had thought he knew how to breathe already, since he had been doing it since he was a kid, but then he thought that maybe there was something he could learn there, and what did he have to lose? So he enrolled in a course called pulmonary rehabilitation at a local hospital. There he learned simple – but very important – things, like breathing from his diaphragm near his abdomen, and pursed lips breathing, where every exhale was like blowing out a candle (where you put your lips together). There were a series of simple exercises, only as much as you could do, but he pushed himself to the limit, using the pursed lips technique to go even farther.
He learned the rationale of using the pursed lips technique is because the automatic breathing system is controlled by a chemical reaction involving carbon dioxide, produced by the normal person when exhaling from the oxygen that was inhaled. When someone has COPD, however, they have trouble producing carbon dioxide. They are inhaling oxygen, and exhaling mostly oxygen as well, because the lungs are so injured that the oxygen doesn’t turn into carbon dioxide. This means that there is little chemical reaction turning carbon dioxide into carbonic acid, thus little stimuli to the vagus nerve, which controls the automatic breathing system, and as well as activates stem cells to renew tissues and organs. Pursed lips breathing keeps the oxygen in the lungs long enough for more of the oxygen to turn into carbon dioxide, thus helping the person breathe better and easier.
He also enrolled in a biofeedback course, where he was taught better breathing techniques. When he later developed panic attacks as a result of breathing in and out too fast for the lungs to create carbon dioxide, this course proved invaluable.
He wanted to regain his health. He had previously been able to walk only from doorway to doorway, hoping someone would find him if he was unable to go any further. After some time on these breathing courses, he decided to start walking. The first day he walked five blocks, which “almost killed” him. Then he took the bus back home. The second day, he walked a mile, then took the bus back. The next day – and every day after that for two months, he walked a mile each way, which took a couple of hours. Then he discovered the exercise bicycle at the senior center, and learned that he could ride the bike five miles in just one-half hour, so after a couple of months – and in just a month’s time – he was able to ride that exercise bike five hundred miles by using the pursed lips technique, and in addition, walking another two hundred miles.
Then he decided to walk the Golden Gate Bridge for exercise. The last time he had tried he had barely even made it to the edge of the bridge. Every day he challenged himself, one step at a time, knowing he would eventually make it to the other side. He no longer has a need for oxygen equipment, and – seven years after starting his recovery – he walks across the bridge and back without any trouble. He no longer has to carry an oxygen tank. And with help from his weight doctor, his weight has gone from 255 pounds to 143 pounds.
He describes walking the bridge as being half way between heaven and earth, and halfway between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. He told me “Walking across the bridge gives feels like you are in the twilight zone.” He added, “Even if I am very tired when I start across the bridge, after I’ve walked across, I feel better”.
He explained that walking the bridge rather than a treadmill or hiking path keeps things interesting. Each day he can’t wait to see what new fascinating adventure awaits him. The scenery changes daily, and sometimes in minutes, if it is foggy, it is a whole different environment than when it is sunny. You never know how the clouds, the sun, and the fog are going to mix to create a unique pattern. He has walked in heavy winds. His determination to walk every day does not even lessen on those windy days. “You just lean down and put one foot in front of the other,” he explained.
As you walk, you can watch the ships crossing under the bridge. He has waved back at people below on passing ships. He has heard tales from other bridge walkers about people on the bridge jumping. He has seen one person who may have survived the jump and was swimming in the shipping lane in the water below. If it was a jumper, it seems odd how that person could have gone from trying to end his life to struggling for his survival.
Once The Golden Gate Bridge Walker was walking across with a friend who was suicidal and he felt he’d better do something. He told his friend he was tired and needed to go back. He may have saved his friend’s life that day by listening to his intuition. Walking across the bridge gives you the time to listen to your inner thoughts and to trust your instinct.
As you walk for exercise, you can watch the seals and sea lions. You can observe the seagulls and pigeons, floating in the drafts over the bridge. You can see San Francisco and Marin Counties, with all their majestic beauty, along with the mountains and forests, The Transamerica pyramid and Coit Tower, the hills and cities of Berkeley and Oakland across the Bay, Alcatraz Island and Angel Islands, all kinds of boats, and sometimes seals and sea lions, and even on some days the Farallon Islands thirty miles out to sea.
His walks combined with a nutritious diet have improved his health so much, he has impressed his doctors.
The Golden Gate Bridge – a walk to better health, and finding your inner peace. It may just become the craze of 2015. See you on the bridge.