Walking Meditation: Build Neural Networks To Be Present Life

In this recording, we learn how to be awake and conscious while in life. Not unlike a walking zen practice, we slow down to build conscious attention to how we're engaging in the present moment. As we do so, we learn how to be regulated, be available to hear wisdom, and be present at any time while participating in our lives.

As with any of my recordings, listen often to build new neural networks to the present moment (actual factual). As with all recordings, please push pause on the recording at any time to explore more deeply.

Transcript

We're going to start this walking meditation standing and just to really get our bearings, So to speak. And by bearings, I literally mean our space, Our place in space. So we stand up and we feel our feet on the ground. And we are governed by gravity, So we are not floating as we stand. We are grounded as we stand due to this field of gravity that keeps us grounded. And so we can feel our groundedness through our feet. We can feel the weight collecting vertically and our feet pressing into whatever we're pressing into. I'm pressing into carpet. You might be pressing into some other substance. And I can move my body a little bit to really feel the gravity that I'm taking care of within. And I can feel the weight on my heels. I can feel the weight on the front pads. I can feel the weight a little bit on the sides of my feet, But mostly kind of just between the pads and the heels. I feel the contact there. We want to just let ourself feel the contact that we have in space and place and let our brains orient to that stability under our feet. Now, This can be hard because our thoughts can be so loud and magnetizing. So it can be challenging to pry our attention away from mentalling and direct our attention to our feet. And so I'm going to invite you to remember to keep bringing attention back to the feet this whole time, But especially right now. And bringing our brains, Our thoughts, Our attention to the feet, To the experience, The direct experience of the feet. And then we're connecting to the actual factual here. It might be temperatures. It might be textures. Other actual factuals might come above the feet. Like I can feel, For example, I can feel my butt muscles, My glutes. I can feel my calves in an actual factual way because it's connected to my, Because my body is connected all throughout. So when I feel the groundedness under my feet, I can feel the solidity or the groundedness up through my legs. And the engagement might be a different word. I'm engaged in my feet. I'm engaged in other places in my body in a very, Very simple, Actual factual way, Not right or wrong or good or bad, Just simple. Being kind here with ourselves, We can have like, Let the knees be a little bent, Let ourselves sway a little bit if we need to. We don't need to be stoic and hard. We can be soft in our bodies as we're standing here, Letting the knees even bounce a little bit. So as we feel our groundedness here, Standing relatively still, Not in walking yet, I can just notice that, What that's like for the nervous system, For our brains to be regulating to solid ground, So to speak. Well, Literally, Actually. And as we start to, We will, We, In a moment, We will start to move into movement and to stay connected to feet. So we'll do that now. We'll start to slowly move. And there is a whole Zen walking meditation that's very slow and purposeful. You can do that. You can walk quickly, However you want to walk. There's no rules here. The invitation is to notice your upright body in movement and in gravity. Right. So I'm, For whatever reason, My body is choosing to move fairly slowly. And I'm just really feeling the feet pry off the ground and then fall onto the ground as my steps happen. So my attention is still mainly in my feet. I'm really noticing my feet lift and how the toes lift off last. And then the heel comes down first. That's my study in this moment. Your study might be completely different, But we're really inviting our attention to be here in this moment, Not somewhere else. Give yourself compassion. The habitual is to be somewhere else, So it may require effort to be in your walking body. And there's a lot going on in a walking body, And that might make it easier for your attention to really be here or make it harder. So have compassion for yourself, Whatever your experience is. The body is still breathing. If by chance the body holds breath, Because we do that habitually, If you notice the breath is being held, Just remind yourself to breathe. You might start to notice the upper body. I was just noticing a little bit of the holding in my shoulders, And it's like with that exhalation, My shoulders just naturally dropped, Which was nice, But that might not be what's happening for you. You might notice your shoulders up to your ears. And if they are, You can just ask yourself, Oh, Do they need to be? And can I let my shoulders be held by the field of gravity too? Your hands are welcome to do what they'd like. They might be also falling to the field of gravity downwards by your sides. Your elbows might be bent, So there is no right or wrong. And if you notice that, You can just ask yourself, Oh, Do I need to be? And can I let my shoulders be held by the field of gravity too? Can I let my shoulders fall into the field of gravity, Fall down towards the earth? So there is no right way to be walking, Posturally. Just let your arms be positioned in a way that's easy and comfortable for you. Now our eyes are going to be open probably, Right, Because we're engaging in the world. So when we draw from the archetype of the visionary, The visionary's invitation is to be in the world, To be visionary in the world, Which is, Whew, Not super easy for a lot of us. We'd rather be visionaries on a mountaintop. I understand that, And that is also awesome. But in this practice, We're invited to be visionaries in the world. So our eyes are open, We're engaging the world. We're not leaving it. And we're walking in the world, Even if it's just in our bedroom or our hallway or in circles in the room that we're in. And we can see with our eyes, We're going to continue to invite ourselves to practice actual, Factual, Just noticing the actual, Factual in the space that you're in. Not right or wrong or good or bad, But just the colors, Shapes, Objects as they are, Right? Truth-telling without blame or shame or judgment. There's a plant. That's a truth-telling. My stomach is soft. That's a truth-telling. My hands are cold. That's a truth-telling. No shame or blame. My legs are shaking. Truth-telling. No shame or blame. I'm feeling the complexity of holding phone, Leading a meditation, Doing the meditation. That's my truth-telling. No shame or blame. There's no fault in that. Struggle can include truth-telling without shame or blame, As well as ease can be told without shame or blame or fault. So in this moment, We're invited to connect to just what simply is in this moment, Maybe through our eyes, Through the senses, Through our direct experience, As the legs are moving us, As the breath is happening. And I'm going to be quiet a little bit here, So just let our attention keep flowing. Noticing thoughts are going to go to, Predictably, They're going to go into judgment, Analysis, Figuring out management, And so forth. It's all very normal. Just gently bring your attention back to what is the simplest happening in this walking, Breathing of this moment. What is simply here that isn't right or wrong or good or bad? It's just simply here as it is. Your own experience. Keep coming simpler. If that's hard to find, That just means we need to go a little bit deeper. And just let your attention flow. Your own experience. Keep coming simpler. If that's hard to find, That just means we need to go a level lower, A level towards actual, Factual, Below thought analysis. Reminding yourself there's no right way to walk. There's no right way to be walking and breathing in this moment. But your thoughts might be trying to tell you differently. Just notice those thoughts that can't help themselves but critique what the should, Supposed to, Have to's. And then maybe have a chuckle over that. It's true. It's going to happen. Those predictable thoughts of judgment are going to happen. And coming back to remind yourself, Like, Oh yeah, I'm just walking any way the body wants to walk. Slow, Fast. You might even let the body shake a little bit, The limbs shake off. As fast or slow as you want. Small steps or big steps as you want. I'll come back to silence. Just notice what's here in the silence of my voice. Notice what's in your experience. We're listening. Listening below the normal chitter-chatter of our right, Wrong, Good or bad thinking. Below that, See what's here. Invite yourself to give yourself grace and compassion and kindness if this is difficult. And I'm going to invite you to come back as much as you can remember back to anything that's simple in this moment. And I'm going to invite you to slowly make your way back to the chair that you started in. And I'm going to invite you to come back to the chair that you started in. And I'm going to invite you to come back to the chair that you started in. Just slowly make your way back to the chair that you started from. No hurry. No need to rush back. No need to change your pace in any way. Take your time coming back. And I really mean that. Take your time. Stay with yourself. Stay in your body. Stay with your feet. Stay with your breath as you find your seat. Or you come back to laying down if that's how you started. Or back to standing. If you want to end that way, You can come back to standing. And just noticing kind of what you heard, What you noticed. Can you acknowledge what you heard or noticed without fault or blame? Or shame? Can you bring some curiosity to what you heard during this walking meditation? Let yourself slow down with that. Just noticing. Maybe jotting some things down. What it was like to do this walking meditation. And just thanking yourself for participating.