Meditative Walking

A task that I have been assigned through the Experiential Health and Healing program I talked about in my last entry is meditative walking. The written part of the assignment isn’t due until July, but I have begun practicing my meditative walks so that I can fit them into my schedule at leisure rather than trying to do them all the week before the July session.

I’m not much of a walker. I do walk occasionally, especially when I feel the need to shed a few pounds, but it is the aerobic, racing-heart-beat sort of walking, not the slow, meditative walking prescribed by the coordinator.

Now that I’ve begun my practice, I find that meditative walking is a nice change of pace from sitting meditation. I sometimes get too comfortable when I’m stationary and end up falling asleep. That’s relaxing, of course, but not the purpose of meditation, so I often miss out on some of meditation’s benefits. That doesn’t happen to me in walking meditation.

The first meditative walk I went on felt very strange at first. Like I said, I’m not much of a walker, but when I do walk, if it’s not with the goal of getting someplace quickly, it’s with the goal of exercising and therefore is done with a strong sense of purpose. On this walk, though, I had to slow it all down. Way down. No rush. No place to be. Just simply experiencing the walking. Stepping. Placing one foot mindfully in front of the other.

There are no headphones on a meditative walk. There is no talking to passersby. And certainly no worrying thoughts. All the focus is on the walking.

Here’s a video demonstration of walking meditation. The first four minutes is an explanation of walking meditation’s benefits and the last six minutes is a demonstration of how it’s done.

I recommend trying it. It really slows you down. It calms you physically and mentally. It challenges you to be more mindful of your actions and thoughts. See what other benefits you might derive from walking meditation.