Guidance for mindful walking For this practice we'll leave our eyes open and begin by simply standing with our knees soft and arms resting comfortably by your sides If you like you can hold your hands folded into each other in front of your chest or belly.
We'll let our focus be soft resting on the ground a few feet in front of us and begin by taking the awareness to the soles of the feet If at any point during this practice you feel dizzy or feel you might lose your balance,
Feel free to stop and sit down So we'll sense the physical pressure of our feet contacting the floor the weight of our body supported by the legs and the soles of the feet As you breathe out,
Allowing the weight to shift gently over to the left foot so that your right foot becomes empty of weight noticing the moment by moment transition as you do this and as you breathe in raising the rear foot and slowly moving it forward resting it on the ground in front of you about a foot's length ahead of you.
Sinking the weight now into the right foot as we breathe out raising the heel of the back foot,
Moving the left foot forward about a foot's length in front of you and placing your weight on this foot and then in your own time either at a slow pace initially or maybe slightly faster if you find that you can't keep your balance but just using a pace that's right for you slow enough to be mindful,
Alternating between shifting the weight into the left foot and moving the right foot forward and shifting the weight into the right foot moving the left foot forward.
In time with your breathing if this helps you or letting go of the breath if this makes more sense not trying to get anywhere just being in the moment noticing any urge is to get somewhere in this exercise just coming back to stepping one foot at a time you might like to walk up and down along a single lane turning a hundred and eighty degrees as you get to the end and then going back along the other way walking backwards and forwards or walk around in a circle whatever suits the space you're in.
Just taking your time to pace mindfully shifting the weight from one leg to the other and paying close attention to the moment by moment transitions in the body as it moves forward and as with other mindfulness practices your attention may wander to thoughts to plans or to memories.
As we notice this just allowing these thoughts to be released and bring the attention back to the present sensations involved in walking when walking mindfully you can notice a number of things the weight in the soles of the feet shifting pressure as you walk or you might pay attention to the air moving over the skin of your hands and face you can pay attention to the sounds around you as you walk or the colours that move past your eyes as you move forward or the colours that move past your eyes as you move forward or the colours that move past your eyes as you move forward it's usually best to stick to one area of focus for a particular predefined period before moving on to the next initially this exercise can be done formally or informally indoors or outdoors it's often a good idea to start off this practice indoors where you might feel more comfortable to move in a slow pace where you won't necessarily be seen and when you're a little more practiced you might practice walking outdoors at a normal walking pace no one need know that you're practicing a present mindfulness as you walk just practicing paying attention to one area one focus for a particular period maybe focusing on the soles of the feet between here and the next landmark as we walk along and then switching to the movement of air over the skin between this landmark and the next and then switching to the movement of air over the skin between this landmark and the next and then changing to focus on sound as we move to the next landmark and then switching to the movement of air over the skin between this landmark and the next and then switching to the movement of air over the skin between this landmark and the next and then sight and then sight and and and and and and and and and and and
