This audio is the copyright of Catherine G Lucas.
It is for personal use only.
Mindful walking.
Welcome.
Today we're going to take a walk together.
Do join me.
I'm actually on the south coast.
A place called Highcliff in Dorset.
And you can probably hear the waves in the background.
But you can do this walk anywhere.
I like to get out in nature,
But equally an urban setting is fine too.
So before we start,
Just take a moment,
Kind of standing on the spot.
Feel your contact with the ground through your feet.
Maybe bend your knees a little bit.
Flex your knees,
Your legs.
Bounce up and down a little bit.
Just to feel your weight,
Your body.
That contact with the earth.
This sacred earth that Thich Nhat Hanh writes so beautifully about.
I hope you can hear me above the sound of the waves.
So we're just going to start taking a few slow gentle steps.
And as you do so,
Bringing your attention to your feet.
To the soles of your feet.
And just notice the motion on the ball of your foot.
So as you put your heel down and then you roll forwards onto the ball of your foot.
And then your toes kind of push off again.
So just noticing that.
Slowing your pace down so that you can really feel the separate bits of each step.
And notice when one foot takes over from the other.
Kind of the transition point.
And maybe notice the texture of the ground underneath.
How much give is there in the earth,
In the ground that you're walking on?
The sand here today on the beach is actually quite firm and quite close to the water's edge.
And you can feel the water.
The sand here today on the beach is actually quite firm and quite close to the water's edge.
So the sand is quite wet.
And then you might like to start to notice what's happening with some of the bones,
The little bones in your feet,
In your toes,
Some of the muscles.
Notice the movement in your ankle with each step.
And you can either kind of really keep your focus on your feet,
The soles of your feet.
Or you might like to start gradually working your way further up the legs,
Further up the body.
So noticing the ankle and movement in the ankle.
Noticing what's happening in the shins and the calves.
You can maybe feel your clothing against your skin.
If you're walking uphill or downhill,
Notice the difference,
How that feels different in your calf muscles.
Where I am today it's actually pretty flat.
And then noticing the knees,
The role that the knees play in each step.
The point at which the leg seems to almost straighten out.
And then the knee bends more with each forward step.
And then coming up to the thighs,
Big muscles,
Big bones in the thighs.
And feeling that.
Then we can take our attention on up to the hips.
And with the hips there isn't just a movement kind of forwards and backwards as we walk.
Notice also the side to side motion that takes place.
So as you're walking along at a fairly even pace,
You can just kind of get into the flow,
Into the swing of each step following the one before.
And you might like to experiment with varying the speed,
Kind of going slower or faster.
Oops,
I'm just about to get wet feet here.
And notice the arms as well.
Notice this lovely natural rhythm of the arms just swinging,
Hanging freely by your sides,
Just swinging backwards and forwards.
So you can get into a really nice rhythm.
Just following the body and following the breath,
Noticing what's happening with the breath as well.
Sometimes in traditional walking meditation,
The steps are done in sync with the breath.
And you can just carry on as long as you'd like to.
Five,
Ten,
Fifteen minutes.
The trick is to always bring your mind back.
If your mind starts to wander off,
Which it naturally will do,
Then you just bring it back to the body.
Bring it back to the senses,
The sensations,
The movement in the body.
And that has the wonderful effect of bringing us into the present moment,
Rather than the mind dragging us here,
There and everywhere.
We gently bring the mind into the here and now through the body and through the movement of the body.
So have fun with this.
Try it in different environments,
Different places,
Different speeds.
I would recommend that you do it as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests,
Without eating,
Without talking,
Just simply focusing on one step at a time.
So thanks for joining me today.
I've got plenty more mindfulness practices coming up for you,
So do join me again.
Bye for now.
