Our Rituals of Practice: Walking Meditation
Image by Michał Parzuchowski
When we work together either face to face or in the small Zoom rooms, we engage in what I call Rituals of Practice. To read more extensively about this way of working together, please refer to my research found on this website. Right now it is enough to know that in order to turn up as the best version of ourselves and at the same time do our best work, we need to be present, grounded, and alive to our environment both internally and externally.
The ritual I want to focus on today is our Walking Meditation. You can choose how long you wish to walk. You can choose which path you wish to take. It could be a path you are very familiar with or one you have just discovered. It could be frequented by people or no one in sight.
BENEFITS OF WALKING MEDITATION
Slow mindful walking helps us awaken our parasympathetic nervous system response, so we can move towards ‘resting and digesting’.
Mindful walking helps blood circulate throughout our body, and reduces our anxiety levels, helping alleviate depressive thoughts and bringing calmness just a little bit closer.
All of these noticings do not happen separately from each other of course, but it is a process that you can gradually unfold.
Before you begin to walk, centre yourself. Notice how you are feeling and where tension lies within the body. Take a few deep belly breaths, noticing the coolness of the air as it enters the nostrils and the warmth of the air as it leaves the body.
As you begin to walk slowly, feel the whole of your foot as it touches the earth lightly: heel awareness, ball of foot awareness, toes, and then changing legs awareness. Take a moment as you are adjusting to your rhythm to feel gratitude to your body and to the earth on which you are walking, noting that this is the ground of storytellers, and we ask permission to continue on the tradition.
Keep being aware of your breath, telling yourself that “When I step I breathe in, when I step I breathe out.
Adjust this to suit your own personal rhythm. As you walk gently become aware of your surroundings. Keep your eyes in soft focus. Those of you with theatre training will be very familiar with this exercise:
What do you smell? What memories does it awaken? Do not dwell on these memories just notice and then allow the thoughts to float away, like a cloud on a blue sky.
What do you see? What grabs your attention? What are you drawn to? If there was a metaphor in the environment to represent you right this minute what would it be?
What do you hear?
What do you feel?
What do you intuit?
To learn more about walking meditation here are some links: