Welcome to this walking meditation.
This is a mindful walking practice.
And so to start,
Let's just become aware of the feet on the floor.
Perhaps checking and looking down at the feet.
Checking that the toes are pointing forward and the feet are parallel.
And maybe experimenting a bit with widening the stance of the legs and seeing how that feels.
And then maybe bringing them together and letting the feet almost touch as you stand and knowing how that feels.
And then coming to a place in the middle.
Perhaps about feet width apart.
And just moving into the position that we might call standing in Mountain or Tadasana.
So this real sense of groundedness.
Of the weight of your body going down to the soles of the feet and being supported by the floor or the ground beneath you,
Ultimately the earth beneath you.
So the weight going down,
Standing in a way that's really grounded and rooted.
And then if you'd like to,
Just moving up to the legs,
Softening the knees slightly.
Perhaps tucking the pelvis and then feeling an extension right up the back in the very base of the spine.
Right up through the spine.
Shoulders balancing either side of the spine when you get there.
Perhaps tucking the chin very slightly and just getting that sense of extension up the back of the neck.
And then moving through the middle of the head to the top of the back of the crown of the head.
The tallest point of the belly.
So standing in a way that's rooted and grounded and tall and dignified.
It's almost if we're standing here balanced with the earth and ground beneath us.
The solid of the ground supporting us and also ultimately the space of the sky above us.
And then when you're ready,
Just moving the weight onto one foot so that all the weight is being held on one foot and the other foot is still touching the floor,
But quite softly.
It doesn't have any weight on it,
No pressure on it.
And if you have your eyes closed,
You might want to open them at this point or maybe you continue to keep them closed.
It's completely up to you.
And when you're ready,
Just gently lifting a leg,
The leg that has no weight on it and placing it down.
And then lifting the other leg and placing it down.
So lifting,
Moving and placing.
And each time you place the foot on the floor,
Really being aware of the contact,
The foot fall.
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
And as you do this,
Just noticing that you're not trying to get anywhere.
There's no goal,
Which there usually is in walking or getting to some destination.
In fact,
It can be quite helpful just to choose a track,
Even within a room,
Just an extent,
A length.
And just to walk along that length with real awareness of your leg,
Your foot moving and of placing,
Connecting with the floor again.
Just getting curious about the whole sensation.
And then when you get to the end of your track,
Perhaps pausing and maybe even before you turn,
Pause and coming back to stand in Mountain.
Tadasana.
Lifting breathing,
Noticing body,
Standing,
Contact with the floor,
Noticing any thoughts,
Any storyline,
Any commentary about the practice.
I like it.
I don't like it.
It's too slow.
I prefer to do it another way.
Whatever these thoughts are,
Just seeing if you can get them to come and let them come and then let them go.
Just lifting,
Moving and placing.
And then when you're ready,
Just turning around and continuing to walk the other track in the other direction,
Present with the footfall.
Perhaps getting really curious about the first part of the foot that touches the floor and then noticing the other parts that come into contact,
Moving into a lot of detail,
Noticing the way the feet kind of coordinate with each other so that as one foot comes down,
The other is ready and gets ready to move and lift.
And you may be finding that this is quite a new practice for you.
And if this is quite a new practice for you,
That there's quite a lot of wobbling and balance involved in this,
Just as with your young children or when your children were very young,
It took them some time to learn to walk,
To learn to stand upright and to use their feet and legs to move.
And so it is with us when we breathe deliberate conscious attention to the process of walking.
We can find that quite a bit of balance is involved.
So continuing to walk in this way and knowing that once you're familiar with this practice as with all of the other practices that we have been doing,
Once you're familiar with this walking,
Knowing that you can always do it for yourself,
You don't necessarily need to use my guidance.
You might even choose to walk deliberately and mindfully between the computer and the printer or from home to the bus stop or from the bathroom to the bedroom.
So just using the walking practice in whatever way is useful for you.
And remembering that all we're doing is standing in Mountain,
Tadasana,
Feeling the body standing here tall and dignified and then moving,
Moving one foot,
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
And then when it's time moving the other foot,
Moving,
Lifting and placing,
Perhaps walking in a track of a few steps,
Perhaps bringing mindful walking into your everyday experience,
Everyday routines.
