CMP Discussion | Introduction To Walking Meditation

Welcome to Community Mindfulness Project's discussion of mindful walking or walking meditation.

So this is a brief discussion of what the mindful walking or walking meditation practice is,

Why we do it and how we do it.

And we invite you to listen to our guided meditations,

Which are available on Insight Timer and on our website communitymindfulnessproject.

Org.

So what is walking meditation?

We talk about mindfulness as being sustained voluntary attention to a chosen object in the present moment with curiosity and kindness.

And thanks go out to Jon Kabat-Zinn for that wonderful definition.

In walking meditation,

We're placing our attention on the sensations that arise when we walk.

We often begin with a narrow field of attention,

Usually just the soles of the feet,

And we can widen that to include the region below the knees.

And with discipline,

We can broaden that even further to include the entire body.

So why do we engage in walking meditation?

As Lao Tzu said,

A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.

And so in walking meditation,

We're taking small steps on our journey to present moment awareness and ultimately happiness.

For most of us,

Most of the time,

Walking involves very little present moment awareness.

Generally,

We're on route to a future place in time,

And we're just treating our body as simply the chauffeur of the mind.

When we deliberately slow down our regular daily activities like walking and we bring our full attention to them,

We become aware of what,

How,

And why we're doing something.

And then with that awareness,

We develop the freedom to respond intentionally to what arises in life,

And we move from reaction to response.

So attention leads to awareness and awareness leads to choice,

And choice allows us to act more wisely.

And walking meditation strengthens that response muscle,

As we like to call it.

Walking meditation also allows us to practice observing our physical experience in a non-reactive,

Non-judgmental way.

And we begin to be able to discern sensations that actually exist versus those that we expect to exist.

So for example,

After an injury,

We may continue to expect pain when we walk.

Let's say we've hurt our knee,

For example.

And we may continue to adjust our gait in order to avoid that pain,

Even after our injury has fully healed.

Cultivating the ability to acknowledge our actual experience can help us to have a more accurate understanding of what is going on in our bodies.

A third benefit that I'd like to mention is that slowing down a habitual rote action can reveal more of the wonder that exists in our daily lives.

Walking is,

If you think about it,

An incredible feat of engineering.

It requires coordinating function of elastic fibers,

Of rigid bone,

And neural circuitry up and down the entire length of the body.

So as we begin to pay close attention to what it's like to walk,

We can tune into the gross and the fine muscle activity,

And the shift of weight and balance,

And the interplay with our environment.

And this habit of just noticing what's going on in our lives can carry over more easily into other areas of our lives,

And with it,

A deep appreciation for all that works in our lives,

Which can serve as a really helpful balance to our typical focus on what doesn't work.

Fourth,

Because walking meditation is practiced with your eyes open so we don't bump into things,

And during movement,

It serves as a bridge between the cushion and the world,

Reinforcing the notion that mindfulness is not a tool just to be used merely during a seated moment of stillness,

But is meant to infuse every moment of our lives.

Walking meditation is also a supportive alternative to our seated practice.

As I'm sure you may have experienced,

From time to time our minds may be too active,

Or our bodies may be too relaxed to meditate in a seated position without frustration.

And while it's wise to try to sit with the frustration for a while,

Observing the experience and possibly sitting through it,

There are times when we may simply be too agitated or too tired for a productive seated meditation.

And in those instances,

Making the deliberate decision to stand and then to begin a walking meditation can enable us to continue our practice more productively.

And just one last notion,

Walking is really the act of falling and catching ourselves over and over again,

And it can be incredibly liberating to recognize that life is full of falls,

And that falls are essential to forward progress,

To learning,

And to growth,

And that we have the resilience to catch ourselves and pick ourselves up over and over and over and over again.

So now that we've covered what walking meditation is and why we do it,

Let's just talk about how we do it.

We typically begin in the seated position,

Taking some time to settle into the body,

And using our breath to study our attention.

And then we spend a few minutes observing what it feels like just to sit.

Once we've opened up that conversation with the body,

We make a very intentional decision to stand up,

Paying close attention to all the sensations associated with that experience of standing up.

And next,

We spend a few moments noticing what it feels like just to stand.

We may close our eyes and see if that changes our experience,

Perhaps.

And then we make a very intentional decision to begin to walk,

Paying close attention to either the sensations on the bottom of the feet or those below the knee.

And so while holding the field of attention to just the feet or the lower leg sounds really limiting,

You may become aware of just how many sensations are discernible in that area.

Many sensations that you may really never have noticed before.

It's really fertile soil for paying attention.

So as we're doing this,

Thoughts,

Reactions,

Sensations outside of that area will arise.

And all mindfulness practices are really opportunities to become more familiar with ourselves.

So you can notice all these phenomena as they arise,

But then you just touch them gently and let them go,

Returning attention to the area beneath the feet or below the knee.

In terms of how far you walk or where you walk,

It can be a good idea to take eight very deliberate steps,

Paying attention to the lifting,

The forward motion,

And the putting down of each foot.

And at the end of those eight steps,

You can stop and adjust your posture and take a breath or two and then either continue or turn around and walk back in the same direction for another eight steps before pausing again.

And you can continue this for as long as you like.

The stopping,

Rather than just continuously walking,

Can help make sure that we come back to the present moment if we've wandered off into La La Land for a bit.

So when you're done with your walking meditation,

You pause for a moment in a standing position,

Noticing again what it's like to stand,

Particularly what it's like maybe to stand after having been moving for a while.

And then consciously you decide to sit,

Spending some time noticing then what it is like to sit after having been standing and walking.

Walking meditation can be alternated with seating meditation during longer meditation sessions,

And you'll often experience this rotation between seated meditation and walking meditation if you go on retreat.

So just a few technical tips before we wrap up.

This really is a mind-focusing practice.

And so if widening the scope of awareness leads to an active mind,

Come back to the focus on the soles of the feet.

And if the repetition of walking begins to become rote and the mind wanders,

Here again just try stopping,

Adjusting your posture and returning attention to the area of focus,

And then begin walking mindfully again.

Also stand tall and cast your gaze down slightly.

If you find yourself hunching over,

Which can happen when you're doing walking meditation,

Just adjust your posture so that your spine is straight and your shoulders are back and your sternum is raised.

We can walk with that same sense of dignity and regal posture that we use when we sit.

You also want to bring a sense of play and curiosity and a beginner's mind to the practice.

So maybe asking yourself,

Approaching it with a sense of questioning,

What sensations arise?

If you walk forward,

Maybe try it walking backwards and maybe even sideways play around with it.

There's no right or wrong way to do this as long as you're paying attention.

You can walk faster or slower.

You can find the rhythm that works for you.

You start with your left foot or you start with your right foot or you try both and see how the experience differs.

And the last thing in terms of a technical tip that we would add is just that when you're sitting,

Sit.

When you're standing,

Stand.

And when you're walking,

Walk.

So this practice has stages to it.

And try really to stay present in the stage that you're in until you move directly into the next stage.

This can be challenging,

But it is so productive for the rest of our lives and all the other aspects of our lives.

So we hope that this discussion has been helpful.

We invite you to listen to Community Mindfulness Project guided meditations on our website communitymindfulnessproject.

Org and on Insight Timer.

And we would love to hear from you with any questions,

Comments or experiences that you'd like to share with us.

You can email us at welcome at communitymind.

Org.

May all beings everywhere without exception feel at home walking in peace.

Take care.