Walking Meditation: Present With The Body In Motion

Root into the sensations of your body while walking outside. In this 20-minute meditation, we develop an awareness of our breath, touch, and motion to anchor into the present moment and into our bodies while immersed in a changing environment.

Transcript

Welcome to this walking meditation.

This is a practice in walking mindfully and in being present while in motion.

So please keep your eyes open while walking and take care.

If you are on your way somewhere,

Make sure you know the way to your destination,

So navigation will not interrupt the continuity of your practice.

We will begin this meditation standing up,

Bringing our awareness to the sensations in our bodies.

As we transition into walking,

You will notice many things grabbing your attention.

These distractions will be unavoidable,

But the practice of this meditation is to come back again and again to the meditation and to your body.

The sensations of your body will be there as an anchor through which you can always come back to the present moment.

Throughout this meditation,

I will suggest different anchors and invite you to notice which ones are the most helpful for you and to stay with them.

The invitation is to be with what works for you today.

So find a place where you can comfortably and safely stand for one minute before we begin walking.

Soften and lower your gaze,

Looking down towards the ground.

Begin by coming into stillness.

Feel your feet on the ground.

Feel the weight as it pours through your feet and into the ground.

Feel your weight as it pours through your feet and into the ground.

Feel your pelvis resting on the thighs,

The calves,

The feet,

The floor.

Feel the pull of gravity in your hands,

The weight of your head.

Then relax your face,

Your eyes.

Release the area behind your eyes.

Release your cheeks and your lips.

Rest the tip of your tongue gently on the roof of your mouth and release your jaw.

Feel the invitation of gravity to release your face,

Your jaw.

Release your shoulders,

Your hands and take a deep breath.

Release the air with a sigh and let go of anything that isn't necessary for standing up.

And continue breathing deeply.

With every inhale,

Feel yourself rise up.

With every exhale,

Feel yourself as you root deeper into the ground.

Inhale,

Rise up from your pelvis up to your head.

Exhale slowly,

Root down,

Releasing your shoulders and your belly,

Your hands.

Inhale fully to your feet.

Feel yourself rising from your feet through the spine and up to the top of your head.

And exhale,

Feel the support of the floor carrying your weight.

Now breathe normally.

Notice the quality of the air around you,

The temperature on your skin.

Do you feel any wind on your hands,

Your legs,

Your face?

Feel the touch of your clothes on your skin.

Your feet in your shoes or on the ground.

And now shift your attention to your environment.

Notice the distances between your body and the things that are near you.

Maybe a wall or a tree,

A railing,

A car,

A shrub or a passerby.

Bring your attention to the ground that is just below your feet.

Notice how it holds you.

Let your attention expand to the ground all around you.

And notice how it holds and supports all the things that share this environment with you.

Begin walking and notice how your weight is shifting from one leg to the other.

Notice your breathing in your belly,

In your chest.

Stay with the breath.

Notice the breath that is happening now and the breath that is happening now.

This breath and that breath.

If something grabs your attention,

Something you see,

A thought or a sound,

Gently come back to your breathing.

Without changing anything in your breath,

Notice how your strides give rhythm to your breathing.

Every step is like a drumbeat over the continuous ebb and flow of the inhale and the exhale.

Notice how it feels in your body.

Feel the belly or chest stretching with the inhale,

And how they release and fall gently with the exhale.

Feel the impact of every step.

Feel it in your foot and see if you can notice any reverberations of the impact going up in your body.

Can you feel the impact in your thighs,

In your hands,

In your chest,

Or maybe even in your cheeks?

Feel your breathing and the impact of the steps together.

The ebb and the flow of the breath and these rhythmical drumbeats of the steps.

Your gaze may wander.

You can either gently bring it back a bit lower towards the ground,

Or just note what it is that pulled your attention in the first place.

Name it for yourself and just let it go.

Now bring your attention to your tongue and gently place it in your mouth.

Feel its tip back on the roof of your mouth.

Feel the meeting point between your tongue and the roof of your mouth.

Feel the meeting point between your tongue.

Shift your awareness to the surface where your tongue touches the roof of your mouth.

To that sensation,

Now add the awareness to your feet.

Feel your feet as they step on the floor,

And at the same time,

Feel the area where your tongue meets the roof of your mouth.

Now shift your awareness to the place where your lips meet each other.

The surface where your lips meet one another.

Shift your awareness now to the surface where your shoes and feet meet the floor.

Feel the meeting point between your upper lip and your lower lip,

And the meeting point between your shoes,

Feet,

And the floor.

The surface where your lips meet.

Release your jaw.

Your spine is long.

Your breath is deep.

Feel your spine stretching upwards to the sky as you inhale,

And feel your weight,

Your shoulders,

Your mouth,

Your jaw release towards the floor as you exhale.

Feel the rising of the inhale,

And feel the weight of your body on your exhale.

You might find your mind wandering,

Jumping from one thing to the next,

Or going deep into a particular thought.

But the sensations of your body can be your anchors,

Something you can always bring your attention back to.

So whenever you feel the wind on your skin,

Stay with that feeling.

Whenever you feel the meeting point between your lips or your tongue on the roof of your mouth,

Stay with that feeling.

These are your anchors.

The feeling of your breath is your anchor,

And so is the feeling of your weight.

You can always come back to one of these anchors.

Breath,

Weight,

Meeting surfaces,

And the wind on your skin.

In a moment,

There will be a few minutes of silence to explore this in your own rhythm.

Whenever you notice that something had grabbed your attention,

Or you are wandering in thought,

Note it.

You always have your anchors as a way to come back home to the present.

The feeling of your breath in your chest or belly,

The feeling of your weight shifting as you walk,

The feeling of the wind on your skin,

The feeling of the surfaces where your two lips touch,

Where the tip of your tongue touches the roof of your mouth,

Where your feet and shoes touch the floor.

I will ring the chime in three minutes.

Bring your attention back to your lips touching each other.

Bring your attention to the surface where your lips are touching one another.

Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

Release your jaw.

Release your cheeks.

Release the space behind the eyes.

Melt the skin of your forehead.

And take a slow and deep breath in.

As you exhale fully through your mouth,

Release your jaw,

Your shoulders,

Your hands,

And your belly.

You may keep walking or come back to standing.

Bring your palms together in prayer in front of your heart.

Let your hands hold each other in a hug.

Let them embrace one another in whatever way feels comfortable.

Feel the surface of your hands touching.

And invite in,

Through this embrace,

Some kindness for yourself.

Wish yourself well the best you can.

May I be happy and peaceful.

May I be safe and protected from danger.

May I be healthy and strong.

May I be at ease.

May everything be well and peaceful.

And safe and protected.

Healthy,

Strong,

At ease.