Welcome to the Swalking Meditation.
This Swalking Meditation guides you through six conscious steps into your new beginning.
You will choose an inner quality to accompany you on your path,
Explore it with all your senses and anchor it in your body.
At the end you will carry your heart compass as a living orientation within you.
Before starting on this walking meditation,
Find a quiet place in nature or somewhere where you feel comfortable.
Take time before you start walking to tune yourself to this practice.
Find a stable stance,
Feet hip-width apart,
Your knees soft.
Close your eyes,
Breathe in and out and with each exhale release uncertainty,
Worries and confusion.
With each inhale strengthen your curiosity,
Your confidence,
Your trust.
With each inhale your roots grow stronger,
You feel firmly anchored in the ground,
Held and strong.
With each exhale let go,
Let it happen,
Surrender.
Feel how your body is present,
How your breath flows naturally.
Become aware that you stand at a new beginning.
Then set your very personal intention in the form of a prayer or affirmation.
For example,
I open myself to this new beginning with trust and clarity or I walk this path with an open heart and an awakened mind.
So how do you want to feel?
Then place your hands on your heart space and give thanks for this opportunity to begin anew,
To allow change and for the courage you bring to take this first step.
Now come to the beginning of your path.
Maybe there's something that marks the starting point,
Like a tree,
A branch,
A bench or a stone.
With a loving gesture greet your surroundings and embark on the path of your new beginning.
Fully aware that change is allowed to happen now.
Before you cross your threshold ask yourself,
What do you want to walk for?
What quality do you want to invite?
Let a word or a feeling arise.
Name it internally.
Can you feel an inner yes for it?
Notice which feeling creates inner spaciousness,
Relief or quiet yes.
Perhaps presence,
Calm,
Connection,
Clarity,
Lightness,
Joy,
Trust,
Courage,
Openness or something completely your own.
When you have felt your yes,
Now consciously cross this threshold,
The first step into your new beginning.
Start slowly.
Place one foot in front of the other and let it come alive to enter your desired feeling state for your new beginning.
Find a pace that feels right for you in this moment.
The word or the feeling,
This is the beginning of your heart compass.
This is the quality you are inviting,
A quality that may accompany you even more through your daily life.
With each step repeat internally,
I walk for,
Say your quality,
Or I walk to be,
Say your quality.
Invite your heart quality as an inner quality.
Let your gaze soften and with each step become more present with your yes to your quality,
With a connection to nature.
Becoming aware that you walk in relationship with nature,
Not through nature.
Now allow your gaze to wander.
Notice the nature around you and explore your quality in nature.
Where does nature mirror your quality?
Where does it already live?
In a leaf dancing in the wind?
In the stable trunk of a tree?
In flowing water?
In the vast sky?
Observe and discover,
Begin to wander,
Enter into contact with the living world and recognize that this quality is already there.
It is within you and around you.
Let your movements be in harmony with this feeling.
If your quality is calm,
Walk calmly.
If it's joy,
Then let lightness into your steps.
The path you walk becomes a direct experience of your heart compass.
Feel how your chosen quality feels physically.
Maybe a spaciousness in your chest,
Relaxation in your shoulders,
Warmth in your belly.
Notice how it changes you to dwell completely in this quality.
Allow yourself to be exactly like this,
To feel exactly like this.
I allow myself to be my quality,
Now,
With every step.
Even when doubts come,
Acknowledge them,
But don't engage with them.
Use your breath to bring yourself back to the feeling,
To your steps.
This is how you practice self-compassion and acceptance.
If you wish,
Speak to nature,
Ask her to gently guide you on the right path.
Now come more and more into your body.
Breathe in for four steps and out for four steps.
You may need to adjust your walking pace.
You may also become somewhat faster and more dynamic,
As long as you stay connected.
Walk in the rhythm of your breath,
With nature as your companion.
Let your head become clearer,
Emptier,
And at the same time more awake.
You leave your thinking and enter pure sensing.
And maybe you can let your quality flow in.
With your breath,
With your steps,
Rhythmically.
Inhaling,
Receive the quality.
Exhaling,
Embodying the quality.
Take your time and stay connected with your breath and your movements.
Feel how your heart quality spreads throughout your whole body.
With each step,
This quality,
It is now,
Here,
In this step.
Slowly come back to the natural rhythm of your breath.
Stand still or sit down and become quiet.
Stay here for at least three or five minutes,
Or as long as it feels right.
First feel your heartbeat or other physical sensations,
And then become truly still.
Simply be there.
Listen in the silence.
Let this walking meditation work within you.
Feel connection with yourself and nature.
If you wish,
Repeat your heart compass,
Internally or aloud.
Return slowly,
And maybe you will find an object in nature that reminds you of this walking meditation today.
A leaf,
A stone,
Or a twig.
Place your hands on your heart and feel.
All of this is already within you.
You can write down your heart compass,
Your experiences and insights from this walking meditation.
And maybe you also want to express them creatively,
Like paint,
Write a poem,
Create an image from natural materials or whatever comes to your mind.
You can use the following questions for reflection.
When do you feel closest to this quality?
What helps me to be in this state more often?
What small decisions would move me a bit towards this feeling today?
What could bring me closer to these inner qualities in daily life?
Anchor my heart compass visibly in my life.
Your heart compass now accompanies you on your path of new beginnings.
It reminds you of who you want to be,
Not what you want to achieve.
Return to this practice again and again when you seek orientation or start anew with a different quality.
Namaste.
Peace.
