Walking Meditation

I am now in the practice of meditating almost every day, the kind where you sit in a lotus position with eyes mostly closed.  It didn't start out that way.  As with so many things, it has been a progression.  I started with walking meditation.  Walking meditation is a wonderful, easy way to begin practicing meditation because it’s simple and most everyone already knows about walking for good health.  All you need are good shoes, a few quick stretches, and a safe place to walk. 

Walking meditation is simply adding a meditation practice to your walking.  We simply use the experience of walking as our focus.  We become mindful of our experience while walking, and work to stay focused on the walking.  Here’s one way to do it:

1. Before you set out on a healthy walk, pick a word or phrase to meditate with (if this seems daunting to you, stay tuned; my next post will have more on this). 
2. Once you are physically prepared for your walk, take a few minutes to mentally prepare.  Simply ask your mind to quiet so that you may have the space to meditate.  If you are spiritual, you may want to ask God* to dwell with you.
3. Now walk with the word for two to twenty minutes  
• Say the word with your interior voice as you walk.  If it’s a phrase, say one word per step that you take.  For example:  Your (step), will (step), be (step), done (step).  If it’s more than a one syllable word, try breaking each syllable out with each step such as with the word ‘joyfulness’:  joy (step), full (step), ness (step).  This will help keep the mind from wandering – trust me, I know!
• Repeat the word over and over and walk until you and the word are one and your mind is quiet.
4. When you’re finished walking, write down what you have learned and experienced in your journal.  Include what you thought about the word from the outset and what you think about the word at the completion of the walk.  I find this step to be so very important because you can go back through your journal and look for patterns, ideas, action items, etc. Listen to what God wants you to know and experience about this word (ask God directly:  God, what do you want me to know?)

Lastly, just take that first step.  I can almost guarantee you will be so glad you did!

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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else.  Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1. What do you think about walking meditation?

2. What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH (walkers along the PERT trail)

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net)