Walking Meditation Fundamentals

I'm hoping that you can hear the Artegia fountain.

And I'm at the cabin,

Which is my sacred spot,

And I wanted to do this particular walking meditation here because it's a sacred spot for me.

Just the amount of nature that's here seems,

I don't know if it's true or not,

But it seems more than say at home walking on my sidewalk.

I'm going to go down and walk on the dock now.

And what I want our focus to be a walking meditation.

It's a lot of things all at once.

It kind of seems like you're just walking.

But let's begin.

And I don't have my bell,

And if I had my bell,

You know,

The neighbors would probably wake up.

So when we begin our walking meditation,

The idea,

The first idea is that we're walking and there's no,

There's nowhere to go.

I mean,

We're walking to the end,

And then we're turning around and we're coming back,

And then we're walking to the end again.

But we're not trying to get anywhere.

We're just walking back and back again and back again.

And as we do this,

We rest,

And I'm turning around now,

We rest in the idea that there really is no place to go.

We really only have this moment or this time that we're walking back and forth.

We really only have this step.

The moment is this step.

And then the next thing that people often do is try and coordinate the breaths with your step.

So I am at the end.

I am not thinking about my to-do list.

I am not thinking about what I have or have not done.

I am merely walking back and forth,

With each step being in the moment.

So this back and forth will be about the breath.

Since it's hard,

I just stopped.

I stopped during walking meditation.

To breathe as you're taking a step and hold it,

And then exhale on another step.

So I'm going to try it,

Just breathing on my first step,

And then noticing when I exhale.

So it will probably be different for you.

Okay,

Now it's feeling a little bit forced,

And I'm not to the end of the dock yet,

So I need to change that a little bit.

And I'm not going to announce it,

I'm just going to think about my breathing with my steps.

And it's okay to stop during a walking meditation.

Stop and really tune in to your breathing.

What I notice most is when I am walking,

I notice my steps can get quicker,

My breathing can get quicker,

My steps get slower,

My breathing gets quicker.

Every different combination happens,

And I just notice that.

Just that awareness.

That's part of the meditation.

The final part of this kind of teaching walking meditation is one that I do often.

Dr.

Thich Nhan talks about how our feet,

As our feet hit the ground,

We're blessing the ground,

And the ground is blessing us.

And he said it both ways,

Like our step blesses the ground,

And then our upstep,

Whatever you call that,

Is the ground pushing us and blessing us.

He's flipped that as well.

So I think of it as each step is a positive,

Joyful,

Peaceful,

Respectful,

Gentle loving kind,

Respectful to yourself and others.

But in this case it's gentle loving kind,

Respectful to the earth and yourself.

So with each step I might think gentle,

Gentle,

Gentle,

When I am gentle with the earth,

The earth is gentle with me,

Or the universe is gentle with me.

Loving,

Loving,

When I am loving with the earth,

The earth is loving to me.

And gentle,

And kind,

And respectful.

So I take each word,

Gentle,

Loving,

Kind,

And respectful to myself and others,

To myself and the earth,

And I just rest in that.

And with each step I am giving,

That is what I am giving to the earth,

And that is what the earth is giving back to me.

You know Rumi says,

What you are seeking is seeking you.

And I think that's the key in this part of the meditation,

Is that what we put down into the earth is being co-created with us.

This is possibly the meditation that I do most.

So this part of my walking meditation or standing meditation I do in the grocery line,

Or I do as I am walking my dog.

So it's not the classic back and forth meditation,

But it's the meditation that I can do on the fly,

Usually when I am walking the dog and I am feeling a little frazzled.

I can slow the walk down and really get back to that core of being loved in the world.

And sometimes even though I have to say it through gritted teeth,

I am love,

I am love,

I am love-deg on it,

I am.

By the end of that time of walking the dog,

Usually I am back to feeling it.

So if I were to try and combine my breath,

My thoughts,

And actually feeling my feet,

That would be too much for me.

I am not that advanced of a meditator.

So I pick one.

I practice that for a while.

Sometimes that was pretty fast.

I am noticing the others were slower.

Another trick I did was I would put on my kids soccer cleats.

I am not a soccer player,

So it was like wearing high heels for me.

And I just focused on the sound and how my feet felt in them as I took each step.

Or when I am at the beach,

I always take my shoes off.

And I take a few steps and I just feel the sand or the stones or the water underneath my feet.

On the stock I am wearing shoes,

But I could take my shoes off and feel the wood.

Big storm rolled through last night,

So the wood is wet.

I would feel that.

So this is one of the more forgiving meditations.

I am probably best at it because I have some options.

I can focus on my breath.

I can focus on what my feet feel like.

I can focus on the sounds as I am walking.

It really helps me be in this moment.

As I just glanced up from the dock,

I am seeing the ripples of the water and how they sort of dissipate.

In that moment,

I can see the ripples.

In the next moment,

I can't.

And that is what our moments are like.

Our moments are ripples in the water.

In one minute they are here,

In the next they are not.

Oh,

And it just hit the dock and then it moved out in a different way.

That is pretty cool.

I wish I could take a photo of this moment for you.

So you can see how the water is moving as well.

Now often times,

Just like that,

In this meditation,

We will see something or hear something that would have before gone unnoticed,

Maybe the sound of those birds.

Oh,

That artesia well that I am hearing now again.

I hadn't heard it during the other part of the meditation.

I happen to just have stopped.

I don't know if you noticed that.

I stopped just to do a quick check in.

How does my body feel?

Do I feel relaxed?

Do I feel tight?

Do I feel the warm sun?

I am going to leave the dock now.

I am going to walk up to this little gravel path.

Getting closer to that artesia well.

I am going to walk up to this little gravel path.

I am going to walk up to this little gravel path.

As I come to the end of this meditation,

Do a little recap.

First of all,

We are not going anywhere.

It forces us to be in the moment.

It has us take a look at how our breathing and our steps work together and how that changes.

Then it is how we can work together with each step,

Blessing the earth and having the earth bless us.

That oneness,

That connectedness,

It is just beautiful.

Just being in gratitude for the earth,

Being in gratitude for my feet.

It just breaks it down to the simplest building blocks.

What you seek is seeking you,

Quote by Rumi.

It fits in so many things,

But I think it is a beautiful quote for this meditation.

The last one is just the awareness that we have.

The awareness of our surroundings,

The birds and the other sounds and the sounds that our feet make as we are walking.

And the breeze,

If there is one,

And the sun shining down,

If it is.

Or the wetness of the dock,

Or the crunch of the gravel.

Just being in this moment,

In this stillness.

Breathing our bodies,

Our minds and our spirits,

Time to just exhale and be.

Be in this moment.

Thank you for being with me at the cabin and on my dock and walking with me.

We really are all connected.