Walking With Your Inner Children - A Walking Meditation

This gentle Walking Meditation invites you to connect deeper with yourself, your body, and your inner world. You are invited to gently connect deeper with younger, vulnerable parts of yourself to give them space, attention, and support.

Transcript

Welcome to this walking meditation,

Walking with your inner children.

I want to invite you to begin by taking a few deep breaths and just allow yourself to center yourself.

Since this is a walking meditation it's important that you are somewhere away from traffic.

Maybe you are walking in nature or if you live in the city maybe you're walking in a park or somewhere that you really like but that is away from the noise,

Away from the people,

Away from cars.

Somewhere where you can allow yourself to fully focus on you and on this meditation.

I will invite you in this meditation to connect with your inner children,

Younger inner parts of yourself.

I say inner children and not inner child because our inner child is present within us at different ages and today when you invite your inner children to be present there might be an inner two-year-old present at the same time as an inner twelve-year-old and that is why I say inner children.

I will invite you to invite your inner children to step forward and to connect with you and maybe one inner child steps forward,

Maybe two or more steps forward,

Maybe there's a little bit of resistance.

It is all completely normal and completely fine.

There's no right or wrong when we are working with our inner children.

It is our job to observe what is happening,

Not to try and control or get a specific answer.

We're simply here to learn.

I invite you now to turn your focus back to your breath and just allow yourself to focus on breath going into your body and on breath leaving your body.

Just notice the rhythm of your breathing.

If you're already walking I invite you to pause for a moment and just allow yourself to stand still.

If it feels comfortable you can even close your eyes for a moment and just allow yourself to connect with your inner world.

Take a few more deep breaths and with your next exhale I invite you to imagine that you drop deeper into your body and just notice what that feels like,

Allowing yourself to drop deeper into your body.

And with that deeper connection to your body I invite you to open your eyes and start walking slowly.

If you are already walking I invite you to slow down your pace just a little bit,

Slowing down and creating some space.

Just notice the rhythm of your steps as you're walking along.

Notice that rhythm in your body and when it feels comfortable for you I invite you to invite your inner children to step forward and ask them as gently as you can.

Maybe you say please come join me or I would really like to get to know you better.

Do you want to come walk with me?

Whatever feels natural for you.

If it feels comfortable you can even say it out loud or you can just say it in your mind.

Please come join me and just notice what you notice.

Maybe there's an image landing.

Maybe you see your inner children before you in your mind's eye.

Maybe it's more of a sensation in your body,

A feeling of their presence.

Again there's no right or wrong so we're just observing.

Observe how your inner children are stepping forward and if there is some resistance,

If some of them might not want to step forward or feel safe enough to step forward,

That is completely okay.

There's no pushing,

No forcing.

They're fully allowed to not step forward.

They can wait and do that another day but just give it a moment and see if there is one or more of your inner children who are willing to step forward and connect with you and just notice what you notice.

Do you sense their age?

Do you see them in your mind's eye?

What are you noticing?

And as you're walking along just imagine that your inner children are walking along with you and notice how they're walking.

Maybe they're walking beside you,

Happy to connect with you.

Maybe they're running in front of you because they're so excited and playful and can't contain their energy.

Maybe one of them is dragging their feet,

Walking behind you,

Not fully trusting you.

Again we're not judging,

We're just observing.

How are your inner children present as you're walking with them?

And notice if there's something that your inner children are drawn to in your environment maybe there's a flower,

A tree or a plant that they would want to look closer at or maybe even touch.

Maybe there's a cloud in the sky that is looking fun and playful.

Just notice if there's something that your inner children are drawn to and allow yourself to pause.

Slow down and maybe show the thing to your inner children.

Tell them about the flower,

Show them the colors.

Look,

Look how beautiful this red color is,

Look how this flower is blooming.

That makes me so happy to look at.

Or look,

Look at that fluffy cloud in the sky.

What do you think it looks like?

And just notice how those younger inner parts of you respond to those things that you are drawn to.

Notice if there is relaxation in your body or a feeling of joy,

Maybe even sadness.

There might be a younger part of you that isn't used to enjoying flowers or looking at clouds.

Or you might not have connected with that part in years so they might have forgotten how to look at clouds.

Again we're just observing,

Not judging.

Nothing is right or wrong,

Nothing is good or bad.

In this moment it just is.

We're just being curious.

Whatever that sensation or feeling that you're noticing as you're connecting with the thing you're looking at,

Just allow that feeling to take up a little bit more space in your body.

Allow that joy or excitement or relaxation or whatever the feeling is to just take up a little bit more space in your body.

And when it feels comfortable for you I invite you to continue walking and hold that feeling and take it with you as you continue walking with your inner children.

And again at whatever pace you're walking I am inviting you to slow down.

Slow down your pace,

Notice the rhythm and just allow yourself to walk at a slow pace and just notice what that slowness feels like in your body.

And as you're walking along I invite you to notice how your inner children are present now.

How are they interacting with you or not interacting with you?

How are they holding themselves?

How is their energy?

And just allow them to be.

And allow yourself to enjoy just walking along with this meditation.

And if it feels good to you I invite you to invite your inner children a little bit closer to you.

Maybe one of them wants to hold your hand,

Maybe not.

But just invite them a little bit closer and invite them to walk at the same pace as you,

Following the same rhythm.

And just give it some time or just feel how that feels.

All of you walk in at the same pace,

At the same rhythm.

All of you walk in as one.

And I invite you to slow down gradually and whenever it feels good for you I invite you to stop and stand still.

And just prepare yourself to land from this meditation.

If it feels supportive for you I invite you to put a hand or two on your chest and take a few deep breaths.

Maybe you want to close your eyes,

Maybe you want to sit down or maybe you just want to stand exactly as you do.

That's completely up to you.

But I invite you to feel into gratitude and to thank your inner children for being present with you today.

Thank them for having been willing to connect with you and to allow you to get to know them better.

And I invite you to tell them and reassure them that you will come back again later.

You will come back and connect with them.

And if it feels right I invite you to ask them if there's something they need from you right now or in the next few days or the next few weeks.

And just notice if an answer arises.

And I invite you to take that answer with you and hold that answer.

And allow yourself to meet the needs of your inner children.

Maybe they need rest or maybe they need you to listen.

Whatever it is that they need I invite you to meet those needs and show them that their needs can be met and that you will practice that.

As you're landing from this meditation I want to remind you that meditation is very much about practicing.

It's not about doing it right.

There is no one way of meditating and I just want to share that however this meditation looked for you today there is no right or wrong.

If your inner children were not present that is not right or wrong that is just how it is.

That is completely normal.

It takes time and practice to deepen into meditation.

So I invite you to be gentle and patient and compassionate with yourself and with your inner children.

Meditation takes practice and that is exactly what you've been doing today.

You've been practicing.

As you're landing I invite you to take a few deep breaths and just thank yourself for having showed up for yourself today.

And just ground into that gratitude.

Thank you for being here today.

I hope you will take some of this slowness with you.

Some of the connection to yourself and to your inner children.

Thank you so much and take care.

Reviews

This was a wonderful walking meditation. I walked with my Preschool Self (age 4) and 6th gd Self age 12. We enjoyed our exchange and nurture very much.