Hello,
Maria Balthozzi here.
Welcome to this mindfulness talk and meditation.
I first invite you to close your eyes as you settle into a comfortable position.
Your hands can rest in your lap or on your knees.
Take a few full breaths in through your nose,
Noticing where you may be holding tension in your body and letting it go as you exhale out your nose.
Now find a natural and relaxed breath and just listen.
I travel a fair amount and a famous quote for travelers that I really like is,
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu,
Founder of Taoism which is a Chinese philosophy about living simply and in harmony with nature.
Though there is another decision I think one needs to make along with the one to take the first step in any given journey in life itself and that is whether you do it mindfully or mindlessly.
The suggestion is to do it mindfully because you will likely have a fuller,
More profound experience of the journey,
Whatever,
Wherever it may be.
Not long ago I took some traveling companions to walk the last 120 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
While steeped in the Christian faith of walking the way of the Apostle James,
You can also be a mindful one no matter what your spiritual leaning is.
On our journey every afternoon we would spend time walking in silence.
There I am not referring to doing a slow walking meditation,
The kind that is taught in our mindfulness practice.
Instead it was about paying attention to how one walked.
In general,
What was the traveler's natural pace?
Were they on a march or on a stroll?
Though I would encourage my companions to be at a pace that would enable them to truly take in the sights,
Sounds,
And smells around them.
To notice what they really were seeing when they are silent versus when they were walking and talking.
When they or anyone is always talking,
Is always busy,
You can miss so much.
In this case these travelers might have missed the gold painted shells on a home's wrought iron gate.
The red and white dahlias in someone's garden.
The dappled light on our pathway.
As they silently walked they could reflect on how they were at that very moment.
How were they experiencing the environment?
Were they noticing the warmth of the air?
The sun hitting one side of their body more than the other?
The difference in temperature walking in the sun versus the shade?
What sounds could they now hear?
The wind blowing through the tree leaves?
The very distant sound of cars?
The snippets of conversations as they pass by people.
If they had to engage someone or someone wanted to engage them,
How would they do it?
How would you do it?
How would you engage someone while being in silence?
Do you look into their eyes and offer prayer hands?
Or do you divert your eyes with a head nod and move a little quicker to get beyond them?
Honestly,
This kind of walking and noticing is something that you can do in your everyday life.
While walking the Camino de Santiago is a transformative travel experience,
You do not need to wait to go on a pilgrimage to try this out.
Doing the silent mindfulness walk I just described can be done wherever you choose.
Doing it could very well give you an insight into how you usually move through your days.
Do you take the time to appreciate what is in front of you?
Or do you just blow by things?
What do you stop to notice?
What do you not notice?
A hint here is that how you do one thing is how you do everything in life.
So for the next several moments reflect on this while I remain quiet and I will keep track of the time.
As you come back from your reflection and I close this talk,
The invitation is to be more mindful of how you move through your everyday world.
Notice how this shifts things for you.
What do you appreciate more or as if for the first time?
So yes,
Stop and smell the roses.
Until we sit together again,
The light in me sees the light in you.
My name is Maria Baltasi.
I hope you have enjoyed this mindfulness talk and meditation.
Please feel free to share it with others and thank you for the privilege of your time.
