Walking Meditation

In this walking meditation, you will practice inward stillness and noticing with gentle movement of the body forward. You may practice on a yoga mat or in any area suitable for inward practice. Allow each foot as it arrives to anchor you into this moment.

Transcript

And as you arrive here to start your walking meditation,

Coming to the top of your yoga mat or perhaps you're practicing this outside in your yard or perhaps on a walk in nature,

Ensuring that wherever you are you have enough space to take yourself forward for about five strides and then making your way back.

Now if you are out on a walk,

Continuing that forward movement is okay here,

But we do want to make sure that we are taking our attention inward and inviting in that slowness,

Slowness,

Ensuring that it's not a space where we're engaging with others,

But really this intentionality to practice and connect in.

So wherever you find yourself here for the walking meditation practice,

Taking this moment with eyes open at the top of your yoga mat or wherever you may be and just starting with the breath here as we breathe in,

We're going to reach our arms up overhead for a stretch.

So doing so now,

Breathing in and arms up overhead,

Stretching out the body here and exhale,

Allowing the arms to flutter down the sides of the body and taking as many as you need here,

Arms with the breath or just taking in the breath on its own.

And starting to notice posture,

We're going to stand tall here,

Firmly planting our feet down into the ground,

Rooting into the earth beneath us and perhaps rolling the shoulders up,

Back,

And down as we sense into this openness across the chest,

Standing tall and standing planted,

Grounded here.

Inviting in that breath intentionally if you haven't done so already and taking that breath down deep all the way down to your toes.

Full exhale out.

As you breathe here,

Noticing your surroundings and the environment that you're currently in,

Maybe noticing colors or textures,

Objects in the environment and as you notice this space around you,

We will be practicing with our eyes open but we will be taking the attention inward here.

And so as we start our walking meditation practice,

We'll start with our left foot here,

So shifting weight into the right foot which remains firmly planted on the ground and starting to lift one section at a time,

Our left foot up off the ground here,

Slowly moving it,

Noticing the body as you move the foot forward,

Landing with the heel first,

Moving through the arch into the ball of the foot and the toes and then lifting off with the right with the right foot,

Slowly moving it up off of the ground,

Taking that forward step,

Really noticing as you place this foot one section at a time onto the ground and continuing here for five strides of your own,

Really noticing this slowness as you move here and as you slowly lift the foot up off of the ground,

Placing it down,

Feeling into each part of the foot,

Into the nuances of the muscles around the rest of your body that move to make this happen,

Just really starting to notice what is here and as you get to the top of your mat or finishing your five strides,

Arriving here,

Allowing both feet to come together and as you take this moment to pause and continuing to breathe,

Perhaps taking in aspects of your surroundings or environment,

Engaging in the senses here as you notice sight,

Notice sight,

Sound,

Perhaps smell,

Texture,

Feeling yourself deeply rooted as we now turn our body very slowly and intentionally around to face the area that we started and we're going to resume our walking here by lifting up that left foot very slowly,

Lifting it forward and placing it intentionally onto the ground,

Feeling into the foot as you do so and continuing with your own strides here,

Allowing the landing of each foot to really ground you to be your anchor during this walking meditation and continuing with each step here and as you're slowly moving in the walking meditation,

We're also just noticing anything that's coming up,

Whether that be thoughts,

Emotions,

Sensations in the body or anything we might experience from our environment,

Perhaps sound or sight,

We're just noticing and coming back to this step we're taking.

Arriving at the top of the mat once again or the end of your strides,

Pausing here,

Noticing anything coming up,

Breathing here and slowly turning around,

Lifting that next foot up off of the ground,

Gently moving forward and placing it here,

Continuing with our strides,

Continuing with that forward momentum and inward noticing.

Diving into this current step of the current foot,

Noticing what's here and continuing at your own pace until you complete the length of your mat or your five strides and taking that pause and then making your way back.

This invitation to land and come back to the present moment with each step that you take and opportunity to notice what is here with this new step.

Gentle still movement here as we move forward in this moving meditation,

This inner stillness despite gentle movement of the body,

Allowing each step to really ground you and anchor you back into this moment and coming back to the noticing of any thoughts,

Emotions,

Sensations in the body or anything else that may be here and pausing once you finish the strides and then turning the body and we'll,

Wherever you find yourself,

We'll carry on for five more strides here or one more length of your mat,

Really allowing the foot as it lands to ground you and anchor you,

Allowing that inner stillness to continue here,

Perhaps to grow,

Just noticing anything coming up,

Continuing to breathe.

And when you arrive at the end of the next five strides,

Just landing here,

Placing both feet back together firmly planted.

And if you would like,

Placing a hand at the chest over the heart here,

Really connecting into yourself,

Grounding in deeply and taking this moment just to appreciate yourself,

The time that you have intentionally taken for yourself today and closing down the eyes during this if it's helpful,

Really noticing and allowing yourself to be here.

And if you would like,

You can take a moment to just close your eyes during this if it's helpful,

Really noticing anything that came up during your practice,

Knowing that this gentle moving meditation is always available for you.

I'm taking the arms up overhead when you're ready,

I'm taking that breath in,

Stretching out and with that exhale,

Allowing the arms to flutter back down,

Allowing them to rest at the sides of the body here as you let the eyes flutter open if they were closed,

Taking back in your surroundings and allowing this inner stillness and the noticing to move forward with you in the rest of your forward movements over the course of the day.