Mindful walking and recording by Gemma for the owl and the coconut.
Coming to standing.
Sensing into the contact of your feet with the floor beneath.
Checking your posture.
Ensuring that your back is upright and dignified but without straining.
Allowing your arms to loosely hang by your sides and your shoulders to drop a little.
Adopting a soft gaze straight ahead of you.
Now taking your attention to the bottom of your feet.
Sensing into the physical sensations of the contact with your feet on the floor beneath.
The weight of the body going down through your legs to the feet to the ground.
Connecting with your breath.
Noticing where you sense your breath in the body right now.
Breathe in with the whole body standing.
You can walk mindfully at any pace that suits you.
To start with you might find it helpful to walk slowly to really be aware of all the sensations of walking.
But you can also choose to walk mindfully at your normal pace or even explore walking a little faster.
Seeing what's best for you.
As you begin walking become aware of all of your weight shifting into one leg as you start to lift the other leg off the ground.
As best you can be aware of every physical sensation in the feet and the legs as you lift your feet and move them forward.
Noticing which part of the foot touches the ground first and taking your attention to the soles of the feet in each part in turn.
Being aware of your balance and your weight shifting as you prepare to lift a foot off the ground for your next step.
Perhaps being aware of how the movement of walking affects your balance.
Continuing walking.
Keeping your attention on your feet and your legs.
Simply noticing all of the different physical sensations and the way these sensations change as you take one step after another.
The focus is not on getting anywhere in particular but being where you are as you walk moment by moment.
If you find your attention's wandered just notice where your thoughts are before gently guiding your attention back to your feet and your legs.
If you notice your mind is particularly active it can be helpful to keep your attention on the soles of the feet and the contact on and off the ground.
You might choose to walk a short distance up and down.
Repeating this over and over.
Coming to a stop when you reach the end of the space within which you're walking.
And using this as a moment of stillness and then turning and walking back again.
Becoming aware of and appreciating this complex pattern of movement through which the body changes direction before walking back.
After a few moments you might want to expand your awareness to taking the whole of your body in motion.
So the feet and the legs.
The motion of air as you move around the space.
The movement of your arms swinging slightly from your shoulder sockets.
Just being aware of the whole body as you walk.
Noticing all the different movements and sensations involved.
You could also try expanding your awareness still further to look around and taking the sights around where you move.
And taking sounds.
There's no need to get caught up in any meanings of the objects or the sounds.
Just noticing colors,
Shapes,
The qualities of any sounds around you.
Seeing what this is like.
Expanding your awareness to encompass all that is in your experience as you continue to walk mindfully.
Including awareness of physical sensations,
The feet,
The legs,
The entire body.
And awareness of the senses of sight and sound.
And awareness of the motion of air on your skin as you move,
The temperature around you.
Continuing to walk mindfully at your own pace.
Step by step.
Pausing when you wish to.
Come into your breath.
And then walk in once more.
And at any point during this mindful walking practice if you feel distracted or thoughts are coming and going.
Emotions are overwhelming you.
Or you feel too scattered.
Simply tuning in to the sensations of the soles of the feet in contact with the floor as they meet the ground.
And the sensations of your legs as they continue to walk.
Step by simple step.
Anchoring your attention to your lower body,
Your feet and your legs.
And whenever you're ready.
Gently bringing this mindful walking practice to an end.
So perhaps slowing or pausing or stopping the movement.
Whenever it feels right for you.
Sensing into the contact of your feet with the floor.
Checking in with your posture.
Connecting to your breath.
Noticing what's here now.
How are you in this moment?
No right or wrong.
Simply exploring what's here in this present moment.
Perhaps silently thanking yourself for giving yourself this time to engage with this mindful walking practice.
And if it feels useful maybe using your sketchbook to play with any shapes,
Sensations,
Anything you noticed during this mindful walking practice.
As we end this practice for now.
