Welcome to a breath and walking meditation.
We're going to start by walking,
Find a nice steady pace,
Take a couple deep breaths,
Just getting into the flow of walking,
Moving the shoulders,
Taking in the environment around you,
Connecting with your feet on the earth as you're walking,
Connecting with your breath as you're walking.
Wonderful.
And just finding a nice rhythm.
In a moment,
We're going to increase our pace.
We're going to connect our steps to breath.
So just continue to get into your flow.
And I'm going to set the pace of the walking.
Step two,
Three,
Four,
Step two,
Three.
So this is a faster than normal walking cadence.
Right,
Left,
Right,
Left,
Stepping.
So you're adding a little bit of speed.
And notice that the breath might naturally increase along with your walking.
In and out.
In and out.
Keep it going for a couple moments as you're building this energy and connection between breath and steps.
Now slow down your breathing,
Slow down your walking,
And shift from hyper-focus awareness of stepping fast,
Walking fast,
To slowing down,
Looking around you.
Staying connected to your breath,
But using your breath to open to the world as you walk,
Using your breath to slow down your nervous system,
Slow down your heart rate as you walk.
If the fast walking,
Faster breathing felt stimulating for you,
Perfect.
That is intentional.
That is purposeful.
We're walking with purpose.
Purpose to deepen our breath,
Stimulate the body,
And create spaciousness so that whenever we shift into calm,
Slow walking,
Calm,
Slow breathing,
We're able to shift into a different mind state system that allows us to open our eyes and see nature,
Take in the world around us.
There are two different systems,
The dopamine system and the serotonin system.
Dopamine is focus,
Motivation,
Flow,
And that's what we're hitting when we're walking fast and breathing deep.
And then we shift into openness and taking in the world around us.
This is the serotonergic system.
So we're oscillating between two,
Back and forth.
Beautiful.
And with that in mind,
We're going to go back into that faster paced walk and finding that same walking cadence.
Step,
Step,
Step,
Step,
Step,
Keep breathing,
Keep walking,
Find that flow.
Step,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Step,
Two,
Three.
Good.
Now you're at this faster pace and we're going to align,
We're going to align our breath to the walking.
It'll be a four step inhale,
Four step exhale.
Here we go.
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four.
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four.
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four.
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three.
Keep this up for the next 30 seconds.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
In,
Out,
In,
In,
In,
Out.
One more cycle.
In and out.
Now slow it down.
Shifting from pushing,
Focus,
Rhythm to relaxing.
Slowing your breath in all the way.
And letting it go.
You may want to slow down.
You may like that pacing,
That speed.
Find whatever feels good for you.
We're here for another minute.
Roll the shoulders a little bit more,
Maybe stretch the jaw,
Hands.
You can even bring a knee up to stretch the back.
Hug a knee in,
Hug the other knee in,
Getting some stretching flow.
Calm breathing,
Deep breathing,
Taking in nature and positive energy around you.
In about 30 seconds,
We'll do another round of the four step breath to create some energy,
Create stimulation.
So as we're doing this increased pace and increased breath,
It's with purpose,
Intentionality,
Purposes,
Accessing deeper energy,
Moving more energy through the body.
The exhale is just as important as the inhale.
The exhale is what releases the excess of the day.
And with that in mind,
Step,
Step,
Step,
Step,
Turning up the speed of your walking.
And we're going to align it with a four breath in,
Four breath out.
In,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four.
In,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Out,
Two.
Couple more cycles.
In,
In,
Out.
In,
In,
Out.
Now let's go for eight on the inhale.
So in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Out.
In.
These are deeper,
Fuller breaths.
And out.
These are longer,
Deeper exhales to the very bottom.
In,
Full,
Expansive opening with a purpose.
And out.
Last cycle.
In,
And out.
And shift.
And calm.
And slow down your breathing.
And relax the body.
Slow down your walking.
Shift your focus from inward rhythm of breath to outward expression.
Connection.
Meditation.
Walking with purpose and intention.
Purpose and intention varies from person to person.
Notice what comes through for you as you think about purpose,
Intention.
I'm grateful to share a breath and walking meditation with you.
I hope that you take these practices on with you into the rest of your day,
Into the rest of your walk.
Thank you for joining.
