Welcome to this meditation practice of mindful walking.
Standing with your weight evenly distributed between both feet,
The knees slightly bent and soft and the upper body straight yet relaxed.
Guiding the gaze to the ground a few feet in front of you and allowing the gaze to be soft.
Starting now with bringing awareness to the feet,
Noticing the soles of the feet,
Maybe the weight of the body in the heels.
Bringing the mind to the balls of the feet and the toes.
How do your feet feel right here,
Pressing against the ground,
Sustaining the rest of your body?
You may notice that your mind is very full or very busy.
Even before we start walking,
You may find that these could be distracting.
But simply notice each distraction with a kindness and with curiosity,
Gently returning the awareness to the weight in the feet.
As we walk,
We'll be focusing on lifting,
Moving,
Placing this sequence of each step along a short path,
Maybe taking only five or ten steps before slowly turning and walking back along the path,
Noticing,
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
Beginning slowly with these steps to connect to the movement in its smallest detail.
But then you may like to experiment with changing your walking speed,
Noticing how the experience changes when you slow down or when you speed up.
So preparing now to take the first step,
Shifting the weight into the left foot as we lift the right foot from the ground,
Peeling the foot off until the toes finally lift off,
Getting a sensation of the foot suspended in the air,
The leg bent and extending the leg,
Placing the heel of the right foot down and feeling the rest of the foot place itself along the ground.
The left foot now lifts behind and moves through the air through the heel,
Settles on the ground in front,
Heel,
Sole,
Toes,
And the right foot moves up behind.
Now the right foot moves through the air,
Heel placing down in front of you,
Heel,
Sole,
Toes,
Left foot lifting off the ground behind.
Now the left foot moves through the air before placing down in front of you,
Heel,
Sole,
Toes.
Now continue like this for the next few steps,
Focusing on lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
The sequence of movements of each foot and each step.
When you come to the end of your path,
Bringing yourself to a stop,
Pausing briefly to feel the weight evenly on both feet.
And as you turn around to face the other direction,
Noticing how the balance shifts within the body,
The involvement of the ankles,
Shins,
Knees,
Hips,
And torso.
And take a moment to recognize the change of direction before starting off again.
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
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And when the mind wanders,
Bringing yourself to a pause wherever you are on the path,
Noticing the distraction,
And then letting it go,
Before continuing with the movement,
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
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You may also like to play with the speed,
Noticing how the experience changes when we slow down even further,
Taking care not to slow down so much that we lose balance.
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And now maybe speeding up the walking,
Noticing how this changes the experience,
Noticing if the mind wants to speed up as well,
Noticing how this feels within the body,
Going from slow movement to walking fast.
And now bringing yourself to a standing position,
Bringing awareness to the sensations in the body,
And the mind after picking up the pace.
And returning once again to mindful walking,
Lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
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Noticing any distractions,
Bringing the mind gently back to the sequence of lifting,
Moving,
Placing.
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And now bringing the body to stillness,
Wherever you are on your path right now,
Bringing awareness to the soles of the feet,
Grounding into the surface beneath you,
Noticing how the feet connect to the ankles,
The connection of the calves and the shins,
The knees,
The thighs,
The buttocks,
The pelvis,
The back,
The torso,
And the shoulders.
All these areas of the body that are involved in our day-to-day movements.
And finally,
Bringing attention to the mind,
Recognizing how the mind feels now as we come towards the end of this mindful walking practice.
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Before we finish this meditation,
Just bringing an awareness once again to your body as a whole,
Grounding down into this place and this moment.
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