Hello and thank you for joining me for today's guided mindful walk.
This practice is primarily intended to be done while walking outdoors,
Although it could be done indoors if you have a bit of space in which to walk.
And it could also be done as a seated meditation practice,
As you imagine yourself walking through a place that's beautiful.
If you do choose to walk outside,
Try to choose the location where you will be mostly free of obstacles,
Street crossings,
Traffic,
Things that might take away from your relaxation and being present in the moment.
And just being mindful as you walk of any place where you may need to exercise caution.
This is part of our mindfulness practice as well.
I encourage you now,
Before we begin walking,
To simply stand in place,
Taking a moment to just arrive here now and creating some boundaries around this time together.
Remembering that this time there's no destination,
There's no expectations,
There's no urgency at all.
There's just you taking time for yourself,
Time that you need.
So perhaps imagining a big bubble that surrounds yourself and your walking area,
And you're protected from all of your to do's,
Anything challenging.
It's all on the outside of this bubble,
Just have to be here and float along with these few moments together.
Taking a few deep breaths before we start breathing in through the nose and sigh it out.
I'd even choose to raise the arms above the head as you inhale again,
Stretching the body long.
Exhale as you let the arms come back down to the sides.
Repeating one more time,
Inhaling,
Exhaling.
As you begin walking,
Move at a pace that feels comfortable to you.
A pace that is both relaxing,
Perhaps a bit energizing,
But remembering that the goal here is not to exercise.
It's simply to be and to and to breathe.
Feeling your cadence now and what feels right.
Feeling your feet on the ground,
Noticing what surface you're walking on,
The texture,
Whether it's changing from one texture to another.
Noticing the information you're receiving through your feet.
Moving up the body bit by bit to the ankles,
Calves,
And shins.
Noticing how these parts of your body feel and shifting upwards to our knees,
Our quadriceps,
Our hamstrings,
Our thighs.
How does it feel to walk today?
Checking in on our hips,
Our pelvis,
Our abdomen,
Middle and lower back,
Scanning up to our arms and noticing their swing,
Or if they're not swinging,
Maybe they're in our pockets.
Scanning the tops of our shoulders,
Our collarbone,
Our upper back.
And notice if you're holding more than you need to here.
With this next exhale,
Is there something you can release in any of these parts of your body?
Feeling our rib cage and taking a few breaths that are big enough to feel your rib cage widening,
Really expanding and letting the breath in.
Feeling what it's like when your rib cage closes,
Squeezing the air out,
Moving up to the neck,
The back of the head,
The face,
And you relax your jaw and you smooth your forehead a bit and you release the muscles around the eyes.
Feeling your body long as you continue to walk,
Feeling your weight both sinking down into the earth and growing up from the earth,
Energy moving down and up through the crown of your head.
Again,
Just feeling what it's like to walk in this moment,
Right here,
Right now.
Turning our attention outward,
Noticing what sensations you might be feeling from the environment.
Is there sun?
Is there cool?
Is there dampness,
Snow,
Rain,
Wind?
Whatever you notice,
Take a moment to feel it feeding you through your skin,
Almost as if it's giving you some kind of nourishment that you need right now.
Attuning ourselves now to any sounds we might hear,
Starting with what's closest to us,
Noises you might be making,
Your footfall,
The swish of your arms,
Any noises from your clothing,
Rippling out our attention to what is near us and what is a bit farther and what's in the background.
And seeing as you notice,
If you can simply let it just be noticing,
Trying not to judge or classify sounds as good or bad,
Things you like or don't like,
Just observing what you hear.
Are there any smells?
Is there an absence of scent?
What can you see?
So much of our day,
We're rushing from one thing to the next,
And information comes in through our eyes.
But how much are we really seeing and noticing?
Can you notice more right now?
Even if you've done this walk 300 times,
Is there something new you can spot?
Is there something beautiful?
Can you find one thing that brings you joy?
Taking a moment now to bring our attention to our breath,
Noticing our inhales and our exhales,
How your breath feels today,
Where you feel it.
Can you breathe more deeply into the belly?
Perhaps calling to mind now one small intention as you move forward with your day and begin to wrap up this practice.
While we practiced in a bubble of just these few minutes,
Just for yourselves,
Apart from the rest of your day,
Is there something you choose to bring with you into what follows?
An awareness of breath,
A feeling,
A peace,
Whatever this is for you,
Taking a moment to just breathe this in,
Let it sink into yourselves now.
As we begin to conclude the spoken portion of this mindful walk,
I invite you to continue walking on your own,
Practicing the mindfulness that we've been working on,
If you have more time,
Or you can finish this practice and continue with your day,
Remembering that you can come back to this to this exercise anytime you wish.
Taking one last deep breath in together,
Breathing deep,
Deep down into the belly,
Feeling the breath expanding your chest,
Ribs,
And exhale with a big sigh.
Thank you for mindfully walking with me today.
I look forward to seeing you again soon.
