Windswept Walking Practice

A luscious guided walking practice with natural sounds, recorded during a light rain on a windy day in the woods. Tune in to deepen your walking meditation practice, a great way to meditate actively and harness creativity and increase flow and focus. Try this before a writing session to see if meditation helps you, as it has so many scribes, get more focused and in flow when you engage in your writing practice. This gentle and relaxing meditation is for all levels.

Transcript

Welcome to Mindfulness for Writers.

My name is Heather Demetrios,

And today I'll be guiding you in a 10-minute walking meditation practice.

As you can see,

I'm doing this practice outside today.

It's a beautiful day,

Just rained.

There's wind,

Wind chimes,

Birds are chirping.

Water is fresh and cool.

But you can do this practice anywhere you want.

You can do it in your own backyard,

On your deck.

You can do it in your living room,

As long as you have a nice flat space in which to walk.

This recording is only meant to be listened to once or twice as you become accustomed to the way this practice works.

But after that,

Don't have any apps,

Any recordings.

Just let yourself walk.

The reason I love walking meditation so much is that it generates creative flow and makes me feel more expansive.

And I'm not alone in this.

Writers for decades,

For hundreds of years even,

Have been talking about the power of walking,

How it's a generative act.

So it's a great thing to incorporate into your writing practice and your meditation practice.

I'd like to share with you a quote from Thoreau.

He says,

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.

Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move,

My thoughts begin to flow.

You can do walking meditation for as little as five minutes or as long as you wish.

Today we'll just be doing ten.

I like to do walking meditation as a break in between writing sessions or as a transitional element before or after writing.

It's nice to do when you feel stuck,

When your back hurts,

Or when you'd like to just switch things up from sitting meditation.

So we're going to begin standing in a nice regal posture in a space that is flat and comfortable to walk in.

It's recommended to have about 20 paces to walk in one direction and then 20 paces back the way you came.

Ideally you do this practice barefoot because we want to get as close to the earth as possible to get really grounded and rooted.

But if that's not possible for where you're at,

Opt for shoes that are comfortable with thin soles that will allow you to feel connected to the earth.

Because in walking meditation for this practice today,

Our object of meditation is the feel of our feet on the ground.

There are variations for how you can do this practice and incorporate different modalities such as perhaps loving kindness practice.

But for today we're just going to focus on our feel of our feet on the ground.

Now wherever you are there may be things that are seeming distractions.

If you're outside,

Someone might start up the lawnmower or there might be a beautiful shaft of sunlight going through the trees.

And all that's welcome,

All that's part of the process.

Nothing is wrong.

But try after you get distracted to focus back onto the object of meditation.

If you're anything like me,

Walking will probably generate some ideas and thoughts and that's great.

But in order for the meditation to be meditation and not just a walk,

Don't focus on those ideas.

Just as in sitting meditation,

When they arise,

Acknowledge their presence and let them go.

I truly believe that if an idea is worth keeping around,

It will come back to you after the practice.

So just allow yourself the treat of not having to write anything down,

Of not trying to cling to something,

But to just allow yourself to be right here,

Right now.

So wherever you are,

Find your space,

Again 20 paces,

A nice regal posture,

Standing up straight.

Your hands can be gently at your sides,

Palms against the side of your legs.

Or you can hold them behind your back.

I like to hold opposite elbows,

That's often a comfortable stance for me.

There are other options for your hands,

But I recommend that you don't put them in your pockets.

You really want to feel like this is a separate act from just taking a walk.

Walking meditation isn't taking a walk.

If you want to walk through your neighborhood,

That's a walk,

That's not walking meditation.

This is walking meditation.

Okay,

We're going to start our 10 minutes right now.

You'll hear the sound of the wind chimes and allow that to lead you into three deep breaths before you begin.

And I'll walk you through it.

Take three nice deep cleansing breaths.

Your eyes are open during this practice.

You can do them closed,

But for now keep them open.

In through the nose and out through the mouth.

We're going to take our first step,

Lifting your right foot and gently setting the heel down.

And this step goes all the way through your toes.

So that you feel the fullness of the step from the heel through the arch,

The ball of the foot to the toes.

And only when the step is complete do you lift up your left leg.

Just an inch or two off the ground.

Set your heel down.

Move through the space,

Walking forward through the arch,

The ball of the foot,

The toes,

Lifting up the right leg.

This is a slow stance,

Slow pace.

You can go faster if you wish than I'm speaking.

Traditionally walking meditation has three paces.

Extraordinarily slow,

Where you're really doing this action of feeling the ball of the foot leave the earth,

The next heel coming down.

So tiny,

These steps.

Again about 20 paces.

Or you can move a little bit faster,

Still feeling the articulation of the movement through the full foot,

But moving a little bit faster through the space.

Or you could even have an even faster pace if you wish.

But let's start with the slow pace for now.

So whichever foot you're on,

Heel touches the earth,

Moving slowly through the arch of the foot to the ball of the foot,

Feel your big toe on the earth.

And only then do you slowly move up the next leg.

Set that heel down.

Go through the arch,

Ball of the foot,

The toe,

Lift up the next leg.

All this time you're focused intently on your object of meditation,

Which is the feel of your feet against the earth.

So take a few more paces.

It's helpful to have a spot ahead of you that you know is going to be your end spot for each duration across the line.

You go about 20 paces.

Moving normally through the nose.

There's wind enjoying that on your face,

If there's sunlight enjoying that on your face.

If you're inside enjoying the comfort of being in a safe space that is yours.

When you've gone about 20 paces,

Go ahead and stop.

Again adopting that regal posture.

In yoga they call this tadasana,

Mountain pose.

Just your feet on the earth,

Hip width apart,

Hands at your sides.

Take a breath.

Sometimes I like to look around me for a moment if I'm outside enjoying the space.

And then slowly turn around.

And once more in this same regal posture facing the space ahead of you.

And you begin again with the right foot,

20 paces.

The same path,

Always the same path going back the way you came.

Hearts will arise,

Acknowledge them and then let them go.

Just like the leaves that might be falling off the trees around you or the breeze that passes you by.

Don't hold on to them no matter how great the idea is.

Heal through the arch,

The ball of the foot,

The toe.

Breathing through the nose regularly,

Object of meditation is this feeling of your feet on the ground.

Affirming your right to take up space.

Affirming your connection to the earth and your contribution to it as a storyteller.

I'm going to let you walk in some silence now.

I'll pop in with a couple reminders.

But you've got this.

Keep going.

Go for it.

As thoughts arise,

Acknowledge them and let them pass.

Turning to the feel of your feet on the earth,

Moving through space,

Occupying space,

Having a right to be here,

Connected,

Rooted,

Nourished,

Part of a much greater whole,

But also essential to it.

Finishing up this practice,

Take a few more steps to wherever your end point is,

And when you get to that place,

Take a moment to close your eyes,

Really feel rooted into the earth,

Allow yourself to feel the expansiveness of your body,

Of the space.

Add a nice deep breath,

And set an intention for the rest of your day.

What qualities do you wish to bring into the day that this practice today might have ignited inside you,

Might be to the page,

To your family,

To yourself,

And I'll end us with the bell.

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Reviews

Thank you, Heather. I so appreciate you reminding everyone who listens to appreciate, enjoy (and benefit from) our connection to Earth. I really enjoyed this 😌

Meditative walking was a new style of practice for me. It did help me feel more rooted and quieted my busy brain. I’ll be returning to this. Thank you for producing it!