Hello and welcome to this walking meditation.
This is an ancient practice in a number of traditions and sometimes done between longer periods of sitting meditation,
But of course we can do it on its own.
It can be done pretty much anywhere,
Just walking around your home.
You can walk all the way across the house,
All the way down the street if you'd like,
Or even just back and forth to the ends of a yoga mat.
Just focusing on footsteps and on our bodies.
It helps cultivate mindfulness through awareness of the body and awareness of our body is a great way to be present.
And it's really nice because it can be done as a practice by itself or if you're walking somewhere it can be an opportunity to incorporate mindfulness which can help bring mindfulness to more areas of your life.
As we practice sitting meditation more and walking meditation,
We may find our minds wandering as we're doing the dishes or cleaning our home and can bring mindfulness to what we're doing and better yet to our interactions with people.
So let's stand up,
Get ready to walk if you're not already standing.
Let's just take some slow steps forward and as we step focus on each footstep focus on the pressure your foot makes as it hits the ground.
Feel the weight enter your footsteps.
Feel one foot and then the other.
Feel your weight shifting in each footstep.
Maybe from the back of your foot through to the front of your foot.
You can hear my floor creaking beneath my feet.
Now expand your awareness slightly.
What's happening to your balance as your body moves?
How is your weight shifting in your body?
Is it consistent?
Is it faltering slightly?
Are you having to regain your balance through some of these footsteps?
For some people walking is extremely natural and their minds tend to wander very easily.
So if you do have thoughts coming and entering your mind just observe those thoughts,
Acknowledge them and then let them go.
Just float away and return your attention to your footsteps.
Let's continue walking.
If you get to the end of your space you can just turn around and walk in the other direction.
Again we're just focusing on our footsteps.
Now as we are continuing to walk let's bring awareness moving upward from our feet to our ankles.
Are they bending significantly or slightly?
Do you feel weight shifting through into your foot through your ankle?
Let's expand even more upward into our legs.
What happens when you lift your leg off the ground?
Maybe it might help to slow things down significantly and take very slow deliberate steps.
What happens when you lift your leg?
What muscles are activated and what muscles relax?
As you step feel what changes.
Which muscles are activated when your foot comes down and which muscles relax?
Can you feel muscles in your hip,
Your thigh,
Maybe even your lower back or buttocks,
Your calf muscles?
You can feel tendons pulling perhaps.
And as you move forward feel those shifts.
Again any thoughts that may enter your mind you can observe them.
Let them go.
Bring your attention back to your feet,
To your body.
What happens if we speed up slightly from the pace that we're walking at?
Is there a significant change in our balance and our stride?
And the way we feel our muscles activating,
Pushing and pulling?
Is it more difficult to focus as we increase speed?
Just notice what changes.
What's happening in the rest of our bodies?
In our torso?
Much of the work and the focus is happening below our waist but what is happening above the waist?
How is our spine moving as we shift our weight?
Our shoulders or neck or head?
How do our arms move when we're walking very slowly?
And how does that differ from when we're just not walking at a normal pace down the street?
Now see if we can expand our awareness from the bottoms of our feet,
Making contact with the ground,
Up through our joints and muscles in our leg,
To the balance as it shifts,
As our weight shifts,
Our spine,
Our entire body.
Can you expand your awareness to incorporate all these different elements,
Feeling your feet,
Legs,
Balance,
The movement throughout your entire body?
You're welcome to take a few more steps and wind this practice down or of course keep walking if you'd like.
This is a very nice practice to do to change things up if you're used to sitting meditation,
If you have a daily practice,
If you're just forming a regular practice perhaps this can become a part of it.
I do walking meditations every so often but I do try to bring mindfulness to when I'm walking,
So even when I'm walking with my family or just walking down the street to a friend's house,
Paying attention to my entire body and even expanding my awareness to my surroundings and staying grounded in my own space.
I hope you continue to practice and enjoy moving meditations and have a wonderful day.
