When I first started meditating in 2004/2005, I had a really tough time with silent, seated, non-moving practices. In fact, I gave up meditation all together thinking that I couldn’t meditate! Now I thank them, because with out them I would not have discovered moving practices!

This is a moving practice, one of the classics, walking meditation. It is from the same family as the silent-seated type, and uses much of the same cues. It will feel familiar if you are used to the traditional Vipassana practices that are often referred to as mindfulness practices these days.

For some of us, like me in the beginning!, this practice will still feel too structured and limiting. If you want more freedom in your movement, Five Rhythms can be a great place to play! Look it up and see how you feel.

Mindfulness Practice: Walking Meditation

1. Start by becoming present: bring your attention into the space you’re in by looking at what you can see right now.
2. Close your eyes and gently shift your attention to your breathing. Notice your breath moving in and out of your body right now. Be curious about your breath. “How am I breathing right now?”
3. Open your eyes and gaze down. Shift your attention to your feet and notice how it feels to be standing here.
4. Shift your attention to one foot, SLOWLY lift your foot notice how your foot feels as you lift it off the floor and SLOWLY put it down again. Feel each part of the foot as you lift it and then press it down onto the floor.
5. SLOWLY lift the other foot and repeat the process as you slowly walk around in the space that you are in. GO SLOWLY.
6. When you are ready to end, come back to standing and notice both feet and how it feels to be standing here now.
7. Shift your attention back to your breath, noticing it as it moves in and out of your body.
8. When you’re ready, open your eyes to end the practice, noticing the space that you’re in right now.

When your mind wanders, as it inevitably will, gently bring it back first to presence by noticing your breath and the quiet between thoughts, and then re-focus on the heart of the practice.

 

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