Walking Meditation

Enjoy this 23-minute gentle walking meditation practice with Missy, wherever you are in your day. Missy Brown is devoted to serving and feels deeply honored to have the privilege of sharing these practices with others. Enjoy the walk.

Transcript

So good morning.

I'm so glad that we're here together.

And I'm inviting you to be here exactly as you are.

With whatever's present in your body and in your mind.

Do what you need to support yourself.

So sitting,

Laying down,

Eating breakfast,

Folding laundry,

Whatever it is that your body and mind are asking of you to do is perfect.

Nothing to get right because you're already getting it right.

And we're here together.

Finding a comfortable place to sit or lay down.

As I mentioned,

I'll be bringing you up into a walking experience.

And then we'll reestablish home coming back down to a seat or laying down before coming back together.

You can allow your eyes to remain open or find a soft gaze,

Looking at something that's not moving and if it feels safe and comfortable,

Allow them to close.

Bring awareness to your physical body and notice how is what's happening in the world landing in your body.

Feel yourself right here.

If it's comfortable place one hand on your heart and the other hand over the hand on your heart.

And gently feel the beating of your heart.

Connect with the pulse and the sensation of the beating of your heart.

Your heart has a vibration and imagine if this pulse had words.

What does your heart long for you to know?

Listening to your own heart.

And as you feel ready,

Allow your hands to come back down to your lap or down by the side of your body.

And begin opening and closing your fists.

Gently or more strongly just opening and closing your fists.

Beginning to bring some circulation and blood into your hands.

And then make circles with the wrists,

Circling in one direction and the other.

Bring your hands onto your shoulders and make circles with your elbows,

One direction and the other as small or as large as you'd like.

If it's available,

You can have your elbows come together in front of you and give each other a kiss,

Kissing elbows together,

And then opening and extending the elbows out to the side.

No wrong way to do this just beginning to feel movement in your body.

We'll do this for another two minutes or so.

Hands can now rest back down in the lap or the side of the body.

Begin gently saying yes with your head,

Lifting the head up and down and no with the head moving the head from side to side.

Imagine using your nose to draw a circle as if you had a crayon or a marker on the end of your nose and just drawing a circle as slowly and as small as you'd like noticing any snap,

Crackles and pops in the neck.

One direction and the other until it feels comfortable and complete.

No hurry.

Moving on to the jaw,

Opening and closing the jaw.

Making any sounds that might want to be released,

Sticking out the tongue,

Opening the mouth wide or not.

And then before we bring this loosening to a close,

Anything that may feel like it wants or needs to move,

A stretch of the arms or the legs.

And then my guidance will be to come into stillness.

But if you'd like to keep moving for our entire time,

Your body is your own best teacher.

Take the biggest breath in that you've taken all day and let it go with a sigh.

One more time,

Big breath in.

Let it go even more.

Feel a deep sense of peace and contentment in your heart.

Allow your heart to blossom open and right here,

Drop into your breath.

Feel one breath like a balloon in your belly.

Balloon expands on the breath in and deflates on the breath out.

Without any struggle to force the balloon.

No struggle against thoughts or sensations that may be arising.

Simply notice them as they come and watch them as they go.

Let the breath breathe itself naturally.

Again,

Nothing to get right,

Because you're already doing it right.

We'll stay with this breath for a few minutes before coming up to take a walk.

And as you said,

Allow the breath to arrive and invite yourself to arrive.

Notice as you exhale,

Your body may relax a little bit more.

The parasympathetic branch of the nervous system naturally does this for us.

So there's nothing that you even need to think about to do.

Just this breath.

The heart rate slows.

The mind momentarily softens.

As you start to have glimmers or moments of a sense of relaxation occurring.

Stay with that feeling.

Maybe have a sense of it spreading like the feeling of warmth.

Become more aware of what feels nice on the exhale.

The letting go.

The steady stream of dropping in begins to move through your entire being.

Bring to mind a gratitude,

Something you are grateful for.

It may be an event,

A situation,

A person.

Give yourself over to this feeling of gratitude.

Perhaps it's a moment of gratitude towards yourself for getting yourself here.

Letting yourself feel thankful and connecting to this quality.

Each breath in invites calm.

Each breath out connects deeper to this feeling of gratitude.

In this moment,

There are cascades of neural activity flooding your brain.

Bringing gratitude,

Attention to each exhale without any force.

By calling something positive to mind.

Gently coming back again and again,

To softening with each breath in and each breath out.

Developing this quality inside ourselves with increasing attention on our inward path together this morning.

Now staying with this experience,

If it feels available,

Gradually begin to bring yourself up to a standing position.

If you prefer,

You can stay right where you are seated.

And if you want,

You can even lay down.

As I guide you through this gentle walk,

Imagine yourself in it.

Feel a length in your spine.

In whatever position you're in,

Feet are reaching towards the earth and crown is reaching towards the sky.

If you're participating in this walk,

Allow your eyes to gently open if they were closed with a soft gaze downwards.

If you're seated or laying down,

Eyes can remain closed if that feels comfortable.

If you're taking this walk,

We'll share a walk for a few minutes.

It's a way for the mind to become absorbed in a task.

Just like the object of focusing on the breath.

Feet are a comfortable distance apart and we weight are evenly distributed between both feet.

Arms can rest by the side of the body in front of you or behind you.

Feel your connection to the ground and feel yourself standing.

Become aware of sensations in the toes,

The soles of the feet and the heels.

Without yet,

Taking a step,

Shift or rock back and forth to become more aware of the sensation.

And as you begin to slowly start walking,

Remain relaxed and alert.

Feel your feet touching the earth with each step and make a mental note of touch,

Touch,

Touch,

Bringing attention to each deliberate step as your foot touches the earth.

You may choose to have a repetitive phrase of lift,

Move,

Place,

Lift,

Move,

Place.

With each step,

Feel your feet kissing the earth.

See if you can slow it down and by slowing your steps down,

Does your mind become louder and busier?

It's all right.

It's exactly as it's supposed to be.

Our mind has a mind of its own.

Bringing your attention back again and again into the stepping.

And if you're walking or sitting or laying down,

Notice what's happening around you.

Bring awareness into the sensation of your legs.

Perhaps there's light,

Colors,

Sounds or smells.

Noticing the sounds of birds,

Birds.

Noticing the smell of coffee,

Coffee.

Bringing your attention back to lift,

Move,

Place.

Notice what sensation feels most prominent and continue to call yourself back to this space.

No effort,

No force.

Becoming one with the rhythm and the cadence of the walk.

Or if you're seated or laying down,

The rhythm of the breath.

Gently calling yourself back over and over again,

As many times as you need.

Noticing the walk.

Noticing the sensation of the lift of the foot.

The space around you.

We'll continue this walk for a few more rounds of breath.

Your body breathing itself.

The body knows when to inhale and knows when to exhale.

Breath arriving.

Breath exiting.

Nervous system naturally slowing down.

Even if for a split second,

You find yourself coming back.

There's great healing that's happened.

And now we'll begin to bring this walking to a close.

Take your time.

There's no hurry.

And as you feel ready,

Find your way back to a seated or laying down place to integrate.

We'll spend a few minutes here before coming back together.

And as you settle back into a seat or laying down,

Breathing deeply fill your lungs from the bottom to the top as if filling a water bottle.

Feel the belly expand,

The chest expand.

And now breathe out as you empty from the top to the bottom.

You can imagine the whole body as a water bottle.

Breath from the feet of the legs of the belly of the chest all the way up to the crown of the head.

And then water bottle emptying from the head down the face,

Down the body,

Down the legs and out the feet.

Allowing the breath to be slow and steady as if filling this water bottle from a water cooler.

A continuous low filling of water in and then just as slowly the water emptying.

Observe any gentle movement in the abdomen or chest staying connected to the breathing in and breathing out.

Allow the process of breathing to be the vehicle for dropping back into stillness.

Staying connected to this feeling as tension releases and relaxation unfolds.

If the mind wanders,

Gently call it back.

Deepening the inhalations and exhalations with the natural rhythm of your own breath.

Creating no struggle.

Each breath in fills every nerve and fiber with healing energy.

Each breath out releasing tension held in the body and the mind.

Now drop into a space where all doing stops.

You are a clear channel for the free flow of divine radiance.

You are an emissary of light and love.

Become aware of the rise and fall of the belly with each breath.

And without yet moving,

Sense the body coming back into this space.

Notice that point of connection with the back body on the couch or the bed or the chair.

The seat of the body connected to a surface.

The lips gently resting against one another.

The eyelids covering the eyes.

Point of contact with the hands or the arms.

Just beginning to feel yourself coming back into the body.

Noticing the sounds around you and the breath in you.

Continue to stay in this deep in your experience.

Notice how relaxed the body is.

How soft the body is.

How quiet the mind is.

Before yet coming up to seated and opening back up the eyes,

Taking these words.

I am relaxed at peace.

Perfect and whole exactly as I am.

Everything is okay in this moment.

And everything I need is already inside me.