The Value of Walking as Meditation and Walking Meditation
Two different practices that can improve your physical and mental health
Walking is an amazing form of exercise for many reasons. As a yoga instructor, I take my yoga practice into my life, it’s not only for when I’m on my mat.
When it comes to meditation, one aspect of practicing yoga, you can approach it from many angles. You might think of meditation as a monk sitting on a cushion off in the mountains somewhere. While that is one way to meditate, most of us can’t drop out of our lives to do that.
Thankfully, there are many ways to meditate that offer you benefits and are easy to integrate into your daily life. Walking as meditation and Walking Meditation are two ways to fit meditation into your busy life!
Walking as Meditation
The purpose of meditation is to bring your mind into the present moment. When you meditate, you are attempting to train the mind to notice what is happening right now. Walking is a repetitive motion that doesn’t require much concentration, so it frees up the mind to notice what is happening.
Feel what’s happening in your body
As you walk, you can notice sensations in your body. Try to notice with curiosity, rather than judgment. If pain or discomfort arises, notice the pain, how it feels, without creating a story around it. It’s common to catastrophize, so if you notice yourself worrying that your hip pain means you need a hip replacement (it might, but it might not), see if you can pause your thoughts and tune back into your body.
If you move differently or stretch, does that fix your pain? Does it make it worse? You are observing objectively to gain new information before jumping to the worst case scenario.
Notice what is
While you walk, notice your surroundings. Notice sounds, smells, sensations, and other people walking by. Feel your feet touching the ground. Observe the air on your skin. Feel the sun (or rain, or snow) on your head. It’s amazing how many things there are to notice in any one moment.
When you bring your awareness to the present moment, the chatter in your mind quiets. meditation is not about getting rid of the thoughts, simply giving them focus. When thoughts have nothing to anchor to, they can run amok. It’s amazing the things we tell ourselves, and even more amazing what we believe about what we tell ourselves!
Teaching your mind to focus on what is actually happening gives you the skills to do that under stress. It’s a practice, like practicing an instrument. You wouldn’t give a violin recital without having practiced the violin first. Meditation is the same. The more you practice, the easier it gets to let go of what your mind’s stories, and connect to what is real and true in the moment.
Walking Meditation
Different from using walking as meditation, Walking Meditation has a different purpose. While walking can be used for exercise and movement, Walking Meditation is a form of meditation that is less about the movement itself. When you practice walking meditation, you don’t need a lot of space. You can walk back and forth on your yoga mat, in your hallway, outside, really anywhere.
The purpose of walking meditation is to notice your foot placement on the ground, notice your shift of weight from one foot the the next, and notice your breath. It’s similar to seated meditation in this way, as you bring awareness to the present moment. Instead of being still, however, you are moving.
Moving meditation
This is a “happy medium” between seated meditation and walking as meditation. If you have trouble sitting still but are trying to slow down your mind, this might be something you’d like to try.
Start standing and notice the sensation of your feet against the floor. Ideally you want to do this barefoot, but wearing shoes is fine too. Shift your weight onto your left foot and pause. Feel most of your weight on your left foot with very little on your right. Notice if you struggle to balance, and let that be okay. It will get easier with practice.
Reach your right heel forward and pause. Just touch the heel to the floor and feel that sensation. What is happening in your left leg as you do that? It can be helpful to keep the knees bent or slightly bent. Slowly press off your left foot and shift the weight to your right foot. Pause. Notice without judgment if you were able to transfer the weight smoothly with control or if it felt less controlled and more gravity induced. Simply make note.
Lift your left foot and extend the left heel forward and pause. Repeat this process. Once you get to the limit of your space, slowly turn in a different direction, or go back the way you came. Over time, it’s easier to shift the weight and your mind becomes calmer. You’ll struggle less the more you practice. You can always pause, in fact, I recommend that you do. Pause as frequently as you can and make your movements as intentional as possible.
Practice makes everything easier
At first it might be less “graceful” than you would like. Let that be okay. Over time, your balance will improve, as will your ability to fall without self-criticism. Keeping your mind out of judgment is a key part of meditation. Notice how quick you are to criticize yourself and see if you can find more compassion and gentleness toward yourself. No one ever felt calmer or performed better from harsh criticism. Shame only makes you smaller and shuts you down.
If you find yourself falling frequently, take smaller steps. Move at a pace that feels in control, and allow yourself to do your best. You are not striving for perfect balance, you simply notice what is happening right now. If you fall, you fall. If you stand, you stand. You are just as worthy as a human either way.
Meditation
In general, meditation is a way to step back from the “swirl” of your mind and notice what’s there. Notice, without attachment, what your mind does. Meditation is a way to understand your mind better, and notice that you are not your mind. You are not your thoughts, you are the noticer of your mind and thoughts. The Witness.
Why does this matter? When you notice your mind, you teach yourself to become less reactive and cause less harm to yourself and others with your thoughts and actions. Take a moment to read that sentence again.
How much harm to you cause to yourself with your thoughts? How much harm do you cause others with your actions? Meditation allows you to slow down and see what’s happening before diving into actions that lead to regret. When you pause, you have time to decide, “is this worth acting on?” “Is this worth saying?” “Is what I am about to say kind or true or am I just pissed off?”
There is power in the pause.
Seated meditation isn’t for everyone, that’s why walking meditation exists. We all need to slow down sometimes. Notice how you feel when you do.
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