A Mindfulness Walk

Take a walk with me. When we "go for a walk" we often are not present and stuck in our minds. Use this beautiful meditation to focus the mind on the present moment of now, I show you how to use the senses to bring awareness to the world around you, wonderful tools to enrich your experiences of life.

Transcript

I'd like us all to just take a moment to just stop wherever we are out here in the outdoors and I just would like you to bring awareness to everything that's happening in the now, In this moment. Just take a look around you and just take it all in. And perhaps maybe bringing some awareness to how amazing some of the things that you're witnessing right now, All the miracles that you can see, Even in the most simplest things. You may be looking at the clouds and perhaps bringing some acknowledgement to the clouds are created from the sea, From water, That is evaporated up into the sky that then forms clouds, That then brings the rain down onto the land to water the crops and bring us food and fill the rivers and the lakes and the stream. And this simple action that happens every day that we don't even notice is basically what brings life to this planet. It may be that you're looking at a tree that has been in the same place since it was a seed and found its way to this exact spot. This tree, Maybe 50 years old or whatever it is, Changes or doesn't change with the season, Depending on its type. A tree doesn't need to go anywhere, It doesn't need to be anything else than what it already is. Just here and it's pure magnificent and it's alive, Breathes, Produces oxygen for us. Maybe the birds in the sky that can fly because they have the exact skeleton that's needed and muscle and feathers and all of these things that we just completely take for granted and often just expect them to be there. But these tiny miracles around us, Which if we could just stop to really notice the beauty in which we live in, Perhaps we could appreciate our lives so much more. And often we don't. There's an old Indian saying that says, May you walk in beauty. But I would like to change it to say, May you recognise the beauty in which you walk. We're going to carry on walking for a little bit longer. When we find a nice place, We're going to just stop again. And I would like you all to find five things that you wouldn't normally notice. Five things. You can perhaps walk around a little bit and find things that you would normally just walk straight past. And when you feel the group is ready, You may just ask, Would anyone like to share something that they wouldn't normally notice? And perhaps it might be just a little flower that was growing between the crack of the floor or whatever it is. And then maybe just take a moment to appreciate what you've found or what your guests have found. And perhaps just really kind of getting through to people that often we are walking straight past beauty or amazing things and we're just stuck in our head. We're just stuck in the perhaps prison of our minds with the overthinking, Repetitive thinking, Going over problems, Trying to solve things, Trying to calculate things. When we're really missing out. Missing out and being in the present moment of now and what's happening around us, Which allows us to fully live and breathe and respect the fact that we're here on this planet. So when we're able to go for a walk, Rather than being trapped in our minds, Perhaps noticing things that we wouldn't normally notice and thus helping us be in the present moment of now. Carry on walking. And then we're going to ask the group. Can you find four different things for different textures for different items that have different textures? So allow the group to go and find perhaps a pebble or a leaf or some bark or whatever it is. And then when your group is ready, Just maybe ask someone to share a different texture. Perhaps it is a leaf. And then ask them to really connect. Is it smooth? Is it rugged? Is it sharp? And really bringing awareness to how much we can find out about an object just by the sense of touch. And then when we're focusing the mind on the sense of touch, We're really focusing the mind, We're coming out of that repetitive thinking and we're focusing in the present moment and now using an object and using the sense of touch. And this can be very, Very helpful if we suffer from anxiety and have panic attacks or generally just find it hard to be in the present moment, We can we can use an item, The sense of touch to ground us and bring us into the present moment of now. So it can be a very powerful tool. Ask your group to carry on walking. And then stop them when you feel intuitively that they're ready. And ask them three things that they can hear. So there may be, Oh, I can hear a bird sing and that's lovely. You ask them to share. Yeah, Lovely listening to birds singing. And then another person might say, Well, I can hear the traffic or a plane. And then you can introduce. Yes, Indeed, We can hear the traffic and a plane. And what's really important about this part of the exercise is we're not seeking for the most beautiful sound. We're just acknowledging whatever sounds there are. And we're accepting these sounds with non judgment. So when we're being mindful and we're being in the present moment, We're actually being aware of everything that's happening, But not judging it, But just letting it be. With pure acceptance in the present moment of now. We're not attaching to the sounds, We're not evaluating them, Not saying if they're good or bad. We're just being with whatever sounds there are. And then we can carry on walking. And then when you feel your group is ready, You can ask them what sense can they smell? Often this is a tricky one when we're outdoors and people feel like there's not a lot to smell. But you can say perhaps you could smell your hair or your jacket or. You know, The outdoors or whatever it is, Or maybe there's not much to smell. That's OK, Too. But what is it we can smell? And maybe perhaps bringing up how this scent, The sense of the scent can be more powerful in certain settings. So, For example, When you walked into the retreat venue today, The scent would have would have helped you identify a lot of things about the room. You knew you were in a sacred space. You could tell that there was incense burning or perhaps oils. Perhaps when you go to work and as soon as you smell work, It can send messages to your mind to act a certain way or be a certain place. Or perhaps there are scents of a loved one's home. So scent can really play quite a major part in different settings in our lives. And again, Very good for bringing us into the present moment of now. You carry on walking. And when your guests are ready. Maybe ask them to take a blueberry. So we just drop the blueberry in their hands. They don't pick them out one by one. And we just say, Please don't eat the blueberries because very often people pop them in their mouth straight away. So it's always good to say this as soon as you can or remember. What's quite funny when they do. And then some people can feel incredibly guilty. But it's all part of it. And then just ask them to just take a moment to just look at the blueberry. What colour is the blueberry? I mean, It's it's not black. It's not blue. It's kind of a velvety purple. Just really drinking in what the blueberry looks like from the outside. And then maybe just just feeling it, Just feeling how soft and delicate it is. It's kind of hard. If you squished it a little bit, You'd probably break it. So just kind of sensing all of those things while holding this blueberry between your fingers. And maybe bringing an acknowledgement to just where the blueberry was attached to the blueberry bush. And perhaps even acknowledging that the blueberry came from a blueberry bush that was a seed. And that seed had to be cultivated and watered and nurtured and received the right sunlight and water in order for it to grow and to flower. And to be kissed by the sun to the point where the fruit ripened and then it was picked, Packaged, Brought to you, To your guest right here, Right now, In this moment. The abundance that we receive on a daily basis just often completely ignored. That seed, That blueberry, That all went through a process that's led us to this moment right now. Now we're going to take the blueberry and very, Very slowly just feel it between the fingers, Bring it to the lips, But don't bite it. Just hold it in the lips and just notice now what's going on inside. The mind is preparing to taste. You're already salivating. Your whole body is preparing for this experience. How beautiful is that? So just acknowledging that before we do it. Again, Another thing we completely ignore, But so magnificent in the ways our body can do these simple tasks. And then slowly biting in and just feeling the tasting, Noticing the taste buds sending signals to the mind and how you're experiencing this whole experience with all of your senses. And perhaps taking a moment to think how these very basic and possibly mundane experiences really are extraordinary. So the ordinary becoming so extraordinary if we bring mindfulness and pure awareness and attention to the present moment of now.

Reviews

After waking up and feeling very stressed, I decided to listen to this as I walked to work. I was able to slow down and take in my surroundings which made me instantly calmer. I picked up a leaf, it's been cold and the weather had made it so fragile but noticing the texture and how it made me feel was quite beautiful. Thank you.