Walking

Before you begin your meditation, just finding a space to walk. It could be outdoors, or it could be inside, perhaps in a hallway or a room, where you could do this practice by walking back and forth. And this meditation could be done as a formal practice. Formal meaning that there's a specific time taken out of your day for this meditation, in the same way you might do with a sitting meditation. Or it might be an informal practice, just bringing mindfulness to your walking as you travel from one place to another.

Just beginning now by taking a pause is before you begin and gathering your awareness into your physical body. So perhaps just noticing the touch of clothing against your skin. The cool touch of air on exposed parts of the skin. Feeling the sensation of your feet in contact with the ground. And then draw the focus to the breath.

And taking one deep, slow, full breath in. And exhaling. Keeping your eyes open, and bringing awareness again to the sensations of the soles of the feet in contact with the ground. And beginning now to walk at a natural pace, or if possible, just slightly slower than your normal pace. And with each step now, paying attention to the sensations on the soles of the feet as each foot touches the ground.

It doesn't matter whether or not you're wearing shoes. Just keep noticing the feelings and sensations in the feet as each foot meets the ground. Noticing the changes in pressure, texture and sensation, one foot after the other. And you'll need to obviously just keep enough awareness of the world around you so that you're aware of where you're going and staying safe. But the main focus of attention is feeling the soles of the feet as you continue to walk.

If you're in a small space, you can practice by walking 10 paces also, or walking the length of the room and then turning around. If at any time the mind wanders away from feeling the sensations in the feet, just notice the thought that distracted you and gently guide the focus back to the feet. There's no need for any frustration or irritation if the mind wanders. That's the same for everybody. Just simply bring the focus back as many times as you need to.

Now as you continue walking naturally, expand your attention to vision. Spring you full attention to what you can see. Taking in the various colors, shapes, movements, and play of light and shadow. And as you do this, aiming to put aside any mental commentary or labeling or judging about what you see. And instead, just being present with what's here to be seen.

And now, beginning to shift the focus to sound. Whether you're indoors or in the woods or in a city, just paying attention to the soundscape. And for these final moments of the meditation, bringing the focus back to awareness of the physical sensations on the soles of the feet. No matter where your mind wandered during this practice, just noticing right now the feeling of the feet touching the ground. And when you were ready to end this walking meditation, just pausing once again and taking a deep, slow, full breath in.

And exhaling naturally. And proceeding now the rest of your day. Perhaps making an intention to take this mindful awareness with you.