A Walking Meditation:Walking In The Present Moment

Getting in touch with your breath while walking is a natural choice if you're trying to be in the present moment. So, it's a wonderful time to get in touch with your breath, BE in the present moment, get some exercise, and be more in touch with your surroundings. Join me for this walk. Music by Chris Collins. #127

Transcript

Welcome,

And I hope that each one of you will come to find peace within yourself.

Today I want to talk about a walking meditation.

It's February in the new year 2026,

And I often get in touch with my breath when I'm walking with my dog Chip and Miles.

We walk every day.

I don't meditate or get in touch with my breath every single day,

But I do many days.

It's all in keeping with my philosophy of getting in touch with my breath throughout the day and making meditation an integral part of my life.

When you get in touch with your breath while you're walking,

You're very much in the present moment.

And our goal during our walking meditation is to be aware of our breath and to be very conscious of the world around us.

And since I'm not walking where you'll be,

I'll simply describe what I do and you can adapt it to your surroundings and your terrain,

Your neighborhood or wherever it is you like to walk.

Please don't close your eyes unless you're stopped to ponder something.

And I do encourage you to stop and smell the proverbial roses along the way.

When Chip and I are walking,

He loves to stop and investigate things along the path.

So I'm encouraged to stop frequently with him.

I've said this before,

But I'm going to say it again.

I was thinking about Chip and I walking,

And it brought me to this realization that my walking with my dog is very much like a meditation in that I represent the breath and he represents thoughts.

So like the breath,

I'm walking steady,

Keeping a steady pace.

Like as we go down the road,

But just like thoughts,

Chip gets distracted and off he goes to smell this plant or over there and smell this where another dog has been or he sees a squirrel and he wants to go that way.

So it's very much like what we encounter when we're trying to meditate.

You have to keep your breath steady and focus on that and just let the thoughts wander back and forth and let them pass away,

Let them go.

There was a time long ago when I used to fight the dog because I wanted to be in control of the walk.

I wanted to control both of us.

But then I thought about it and I realized that he's walking too.

It's not just my walk,

It's our walk.

And I could have my walk and he can have his walk.

It's just the dog is motivated by his sense of smell,

So he's going to look at things that smell good or interesting,

Things that I can't smell at all,

Much like thoughts.

They don't pertain to our breathing,

So we just need to let them go,

Like I do,

Chip.

No judgment.

Okay,

So we're about ready to start on our walk.

Make sure you've got good shoes on,

Comfortable clothes,

That you're dressed for the weather.

Today here it was 25 degrees Fahrenheit,

So I had on a sweatshirt and a heavy sweater.

And get ready to walk.

I suggest taking in a breath through your nose and then letting it out through your mouth,

Letting out a sigh.

Okay,

Now just breathe normally and follow your breath and be very aware of your breath in and out.

And since we're walking,

Your breathing might be faster than when you're at rest and that's okay.

Our goal here is to be mindful as we explore our world in this moment.

So just continue to follow your breath,

Breathing in and breathing out,

One breath at a time as we hit the road.

And I've also said this before,

But if you don't feel like walking or you don't have time or the weather is bad,

You can also just stand or sit outside and take the time to appreciate all that's around you.

Just walk at whatever pace you're comfortable with.

And as you move through your world,

Take note of all the things you encounter on your way.

Chip and I often encounter squirrels and his nature is to want to chase them.

But when he's being mindful,

He just admires them from afar.

Being in the present moment means living completely in the moment you're in.

That means not worrying about things in the past because those things are gone and unchangeable.

It also means not spending a lot of time worrying about the future because that doesn't even exist.

The only moment we're concerned with is this one.

This,

Here,

Now.

This is the moment we need to worry about.

And in this moment,

We're walking or standing outside,

Just breathing and noticing the world around us,

Breathing in and breathing out,

One breath at a time.

So here,

I'm going to pause for a minute so you can just focus on your breath and focus on walking and I'll be back in a minute.

Now,

Hopefully your walk's going well.

In our walk today,

Chip and I encountered quite a few different kinds of birds.

I'm in the southern United States in Tennessee and we have probably different birds than you might have in your area.

But we saw blue jays,

We saw crows,

We saw a bluebird.

We also saw quite a few squirrels,

Red squirrels and gray squirrels.

We saw a few deer.

There was a buck and a doe and a couple fawn.

They were just very cute.

They were standing by the edge of the road.

You know,

And it's easy to be mindful while walking.

And it's probably easier than it is to be mindful any time else because you're moving through the world and all you have to do is have the intention to be mindful and stay in the present moment and then move your feet.

Being in this moment,

I want to experience as much as I can.

I want to feel the wind on my skin and in my hair.

I want to feel the sun on my face.

I want to touch the bark on the trees and the leaves on the shrubs.

I want to see and appreciate any people or creatures that I come across along the way.

And as you walk,

Sniff the air.

It's what Chip does to see what's going on around you.

In the springtime,

We'll smell lilac bushes and jasmine and other things that are flowery.

It's winter now,

So I did smell some fire smoke,

So someone had a fire last night or burned some trash.

As we pass along this one big house,

That's where we saw the deer.

And in walking,

All you can do is revel in the beauty and the wonder of the world around us.

And we're just breathing,

Breathing in and breathing out one breath at a time,

And then the next,

And then the next,

And placing our feet one after another.

There's so much going on in the world,

And even if it seems that all is quiet,

All you have to do is stop and listen to see and hear all that's going on around you.

The movement of the leaves in the trees,

The barking of dogs in the yard down the street,

A cat that's scurrying across the road.

We pass another walker,

And she's walking a beautiful golden retriever.

Such a lovely dog.

We're also going by a house for a dog who the children call Grumpy Jeff.

His name is really Wesley,

And Wesley was out and we got a good picture of Wesley today.

All the while,

We're just walking and focusing on our breath,

Sensing how you feel it as it moves in,

It moves out.

Our breath is like a river flowing in and flowing out.

There's so much going on as we walk,

Even though at first glance it seems like there isn't.

There's movement and sound and smells and activity and things to see,

And all that helps you remain in the present moment.

By taking a walk this way,

We can accomplish several things.

We can get in touch with our breath,

We can get some valuable exercise,

And we can truly live in this moment and experience the wonder of it all.

We can come to more fully appreciate everything in the world around us.

Think about how often you have walked and not even noticed the flowers along the way or the birds overhead.

How many times have you listened to someone and not heard them?

How many times have you seen beauty but never really noticed it?

How often we go through our world and don't really see what's there.

We just skim through all the beauty and the wonder and it just goes past us.

A walking meditation like this helps us to see everything that's there.

Now here I'm going to pause again for a minute while you just keep walking and breathing and then I'll be back.

By walking in your world in a mindful way,

Allowing yourself to notice all the beauty and wonder all around you while following your breath,

You will never see the world in the same way again.

I promise you the world will be different once you've taken the time to walk through it mindfully.

The world that you float through now will come alive.

It will be more meaningful to you and all those around you because if you can be more present,

It will impact every aspect of your life.

You will be on the road to finding peace within yourself.

Now as you come to a close,

Stretch and come back to the room and realize how good it is to be alive.

I encourage you to go for a walk and be mindful and be present.

Go for a walk like this and try to truly experience all that is around you.

I hope this has been a beneficial and calming session and I am so thankful we've shared this time together.

Till next time.