Walking Meditation
Standing
To begin a walking meditation, first simply stand. Become aware of your weight being transferred through the soles of your feet into the earth. Being aware of the subtle movements keeping us balanced and upright. Very often we take this for granted, our ability to be able to stand upright. Be aware of the adjustments you’re making in order to maintain your balance.
Walking
Begin to walk slowly. Be aware of being balanced and upright.
Becoming aware of your body
Be aware of the soles of your feet, being aware of the alternating patterns of contact and release; being aware of your foot as the heel first makes contact, as your foot rolls forward onto the ball, and then lifts and travels through the air. Be aware of all the different sensations in your feet, not just a contact in the soles of your feet but the contact between the toes, the feeling of the inside of your shoes, the fabric of your socks, and let your feet be as relaxed as you can. Become aware of your ankles. Notice the qualities of the sensations in those joints – as your foot is on the ground, as your foot travels through the air.
Let your ankle joints relax – make sure you’re not holding on in any way. You can become aware of your lower legs – your shins, your calves. You can be aware of the contact with your clothing: be aware of the temperature on your skin; you can be aware of the muscles. Encourage your muscles to be relaxed.
Become aware of your knees- noticing the qualities of the sensations in your knee joints. Then expand your awareness into your thighs. Being aware of the skin, again the contact with your clothing, the temperature. Being aware of the muscles, and noticing what the muscles on the fronts of the thighs, and the muscles on the backs of the thighs are doing. And once more you might want for a few paces just to exaggerate what those muscles are doing – exaggerate the action of those muscles. And then letting your walk go back to a normal rhythm.
Becoming aware of your hips – the muscles around your hip joints — and relaxing those muscles. Really relax. Even when you think you’ve relaxed – relax them some more. Notice how relaxing changes your walk. Notice how the rhythm and the gait of your walk change as your hips relax. You can be aware of the whole of your pelvis. Notice the movements going on your pelvis. One hip moves forward and then the other; one hip lifting, the other sinking.
Be aware of the complex three-dimensional shape your pelvis is carving out through space as you walk forward. The lowest part of your spine – your sacrum – is embedded in the pelvis. As you feel your spine extending upwards – the lumbar spine, the thoracic spine – you will notice how it moves along with the pelvis. Your spine is in constant motion. It’s swaying from side to side. There is a twisting motion around the central axis. Your spine is in constant, sinuous, sensuous motion.
Notice your belly – you might feel your clothing in contact with your belly – and notice how your belly is the center of your body. Very often it feels like it’s “down there” because we are so much in our heads. So seek to what extent you can feel your belly is the center of your body, as the center of your being. Notice your chest, and just let your breathing happen. Notice the contact that your chest makes with your clothing. Noticing your shoulders. Notice how they are moving with the rhythm of your walking. Let your shoulders be relaxed, and let your shoulders passively transmit the rhythm of your walk down into your arms. Having your arms simply hanging by your sides and swinging naturally. Notice all the motions in your arms – your upper arms, your elbows, your forearms, your wrists, your hands. And feel the air coursing over the skin on your hands and fingers as your arms swing through the air.
Become aware of your neck – and the muscles supporting your skull. Notice the angle of your head. And notice as you relax the muscles on the back of your neck, your chin slightly tucks in and your skull comes to a point of balance. And you might want to play around with the angle of your head and see how it changes your experience. You might notice when you tuck your chin close into your chest, your experience becomes darker and more emotional – you’re more inward turned, somber. And if you lift your chin and hold it in the air you might notice your experience becomes much lighter – you become much more aware of the outside world and perhaps caught up in the outside world, or much more aware of your thoughts and caught up in your thoughts. And then, bringing your head back to a point of balance, your chin slightly tucked in.
Relax your jaw. Relax your eyes — and just let your eyes be softly focused, gently looking ahead – not staring at anything, not allowing yourself to be caught up in anything going past you.
Becoming aware of your feelings
You can be aware of the feelings you’re having; not in terms of emotions here, but just the feeling tone. Just notice them. Don’t either cling onto them, or push them away, but just notice them. If you notice things in the outside world, just allow them to drift by – just noticing them to drift by without following them or averting your gaze from them.
Thoughts and Emotions
Notice your emotional states. Are you bored? Are you content? Are you irritated? Are you feeling very happy to be doing what you’re doing. Notice whatever emotions happen to be present. Notice your mind. Is your mind clear, or dull? Is your mind busy, or is it calm? Notice the mind without judgment.
Stillness
Let the mind settle on an edge of stillness, calmness, and clarity – quieting the mind.
Stopping
Slowly stop walking. Experience yourself standing. Notice what it’s like to no longer be in motion. Notice once more the complex balancing act going on to keep you upright. Feeling once again, the weight traveling down through the soles of your feet into the earth; simply standing, and experiencing yourself.
Feel gods grace, gods presence in your minds eye as you complete your walking meditation.
Blessed are those who are aware of gods presence in all.
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