Take a moment to find a standing posture that feels comfortable for you,
Where your feet rest just wider than hip distance apart.
For this practice,
I'll invite you to feel free to experiment with your eyes open or closed knowing that balance will come more easily if your eyes are open.
You might consider focusing your gaze on the spot on the ground a few feet in front of you.
You might just check out the room that you're in,
The space that's around you,
And just check to see that you have enough room to take about four steps in one direction and then to turn around and take four steps back.
And then once you're situated,
You can invite your attention inward now,
Bringing an awareness to the felt sense of your body,
Allowing your awareness to drop down to the bottoms of your feet.
You might notice how they feel against the floor.
There might be a sense of pressure or heaviness,
The texture of your footwear or the flooring.
Notice and gently label what you feel there.
As you're standing,
You might notice that your body sways gently from side to side.
It might be barely noticeable at times.
Once your feet planted firmly on the ground,
Imagining that you could send down deep,
Stable roots.
As your awareness travels upward,
You might notice if your knees are locked or pressed back,
And if they are,
See what happens when you bend them slightly.
What do you notice in your legs?
Labeling any sensation that's there.
You might encourage your tailbone to tuck slightly,
Your spine to lengthen up.
You might be able to get a sense of the experience of your whole body standing here.
Again feeling the constant recalibrations of muscles from head to toe as you sway slightly and your body works to keep you upright and standing.
As we prepare to move into a walking practice,
We'll be taking a few steps,
Maybe three or four,
And then we'll pause in standing just as we have now,
Then making a slow rotation so we're facing the direction we came from,
Taking three or four more mindful steps,
And repeating.
So as you're ready,
We can begin together,
Slowly lifting,
Moving,
And placing the first foot.
And the next,
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
Using each step as an anchor to your present moment experience,
An anchor to your body.
Once you have traveled a short distance,
Feel yourself pausing,
Feet side by side,
No rush to go anywhere.
And as your whole body standing,
And then slowly turn one step at a time,
Pausing again,
And then beginning again to slowly walk.
You might find it helpful to establish this anchor of walking by labeling each foot as it moves,
Left foot,
Right foot,
Or counting each step.
Feel free to experiment with the pace,
Finding a pace that feels supportive of your paying attention to the movement,
But not so slow that you're losing your balance.
Back and forth,
One step at a time.
If you're noticing a lot of thinking,
Or distracting sounds,
Or big emotions,
Feel free to pause and stand,
And just allow those experiences to be here,
To befriend them.
And then when they're less compelling,
You can proceed again with your walking.
Pausing the bottoms of your feet,
One step at a time.
In the next couple of breaths,
Please take a pause wherever you are.
Steadying yourself once again in a standing posture.
Sensing your posture from the bottoms of your feet,
All the way up to the crown of your head.
Alive and awake.
Evidence.
