Transform Your Day in Thirteen Minutes: A Guided Walking Meditation

Unlock the profound connection between movement and mindfulness with our guided walking meditation practice. Ever wonder how a simple walk could transform your day? Experience the calming and energizing effects of walking meditation as we guide you to embrace the sensations of each step, the rhythm of your breath, and the myriad sensory details around you. This episode promises a refreshing escape from autopilot mode, empowering you to integrate a state of relaxed awareness into your daily routine, whether you're navigating a bustling city or strolling through the tranquility of nature.

As you conclude your walking meditation, you'll find yourself grounded in newfound spaciousness and clarity. We offer gentle guidance on marking the end of your practice with intention, standing still to reflect before re-entering the pace of daily life. By embracing the art of mindful walking, you'll carry a sense of peace and connection with each stride, enhancing your day-to-day experiences. Join us and discover how this practice can serve as a gift you can revisit whenever you seek to recenter and recharge. Namaste, dear friends, as you take steps towards a more mindful existence.

If you are enjoying the show please subscribe, share and review! Word of mouth is incredibly impactful and your support is much appreciated!

Chapters

• 0:00 Guided Walking Meditation for Daily Life
• 10:54 Concluding Walking Meditation Practice

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:23

Hey there. So it's well known that stillness is an important part of meditation, but there's another aspect that is just as important, which is movement. So today I'm going to offer you a guided walking meditation for daily life. This is a great one to do when you need to take a break or boost your energy. It's just about 12 minutes long and it's a walking meditation. So, before you begin your meditation, find a quiet space to walk. It could be outdoors or in a hallway, or even a large room, just walking back and forth, even if it just means standing up from your desk or your piano, piano or wherever you've been still, so that you can get your blood flowing.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Walking meditation gives us the chance to gather our awareness, which so often becomes distracted or even stuck when the mind is left to its own devices or defaults. So, whether moving between floors of a building or on a city street or a park or in the woods, accept this as an opportunity to guide yourself out of the distractions or the autopilot that you might be living in throughout so much of your day, that you might be living in throughout so much of your day Paying attention. In this way, we stay safe by remaining fully aware of whatever is around us On any walk or hike or run or other physical activity, without effort. We may mentally check out or we can practice awareness instead. So that's what we're going to do today. So, as you begin, you're going to walk at a natural pace. Place your hands wherever they feel comfortable On your belly, behind your back or by your side, if you find it useful. You can count steps up to ten and then start back at one again. If you're in a small space, as you reach ten, pause and then, with intention, choose a moment to turn around With each step, pay attention to the lifting and falling of your foot. Notice movement in your legs and the rest of your body. Draw your awareness around any shifting of your body from side to side. Just walking, walking. Feel your foot lifting and falling and connecting to the surface that you're walking on, maybe paying special attention to your toes or your heels or the arches, whatever speaks to you in this moment, just keeping your attention on the sensation of walking, simply walking. Your mind will wander. So, without frustration, guide it back. Just guide it back again, gently, as many times as you need, and particularly outdoors.

Speaker 1: 4:42

Maintain a larger sense of the environment around you, taking it all in, staying safe and aware, relaxed and open. Now, for a few moments, expand your attention to sounds, whether you're indoors or in the woods, in a city or in the country. Pay attention to sounds without labeling or naming or getting caught up in whether you find them pleasant or unpleasant. No judgment here, just noticing, noticing the sounds as nothing more or less than a sound as you keep walking. Shift your awareness now to your sense of smell and again, simply notice. Don't push or force yourself to feel anything at all. Just hone in on your sense of smell and whatever it is that you discover through this sense, fully aware and walking, open, moving, drawing awareness, making no judgments, just experiencing what is when you're ready.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Draw your awareness around your sense of sight. Notice colors and objects and anything else around you that you can see, patiently coming back each time, each time that something grabs your attention, or even if something needs addressing, like avoiding an obstacle. Just stay natural, not overly rigid, not daydreaming and drifting, but with sustained awareness. And no need to make sense out of anything you see, simply opening up the ability of vision, of sight, fully aware and walking. Notice your energy swirling a little more. Don't judge it, just notice it.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Keep this open awareness of everything around you, wherever you might be right now. Absolutely nothing to do. There's nothing to do. There's nothing to fix, nothing to change, just fully aware and walking.

Speaker 1: 8:49

Feel yourself walking, see yourself walking. See yourself walking, notice a sense of connection without attachment, Just connection by simply being there and moving. Attachment, just connection by simply being there and moving. Don't let anything draw your attention more than the other. Just notice. And come back to the sensation of walking, the physical sensations of walking. Notice your feet touching the ground, notice the movements in your body with each step. Notice your heart and your breath start to breathe more consciously, feeling open and more relaxed, consciously Feeling open and more relaxed. Again, just drawing awareness around how you're feeling, around what might have shifted. And again, once you've drawn awareness around it, just let it go, just accept it as what is.

Speaker 1: 10:54

It's been about ten and a half minutes now, so feel free to change your direction if you like. Or, better yet, when you're ready to end your walking meditation, stand still for a moment, wherever you might be, pausing, choosing the moment to end the practice, with no caveats. And so, when you're ready to end your walking meditation, stand still for a moment, consciously, choose this moment to end your practice and, as you finish, consider how you might bring this kind of awareness into the rest of your day. Into the rest of your day, you can do this meditation whenever you want, whenever you'd like. A little boost, a little spaciousness, a little clear-headedness. That's what this is, my gift to you. It's been about twelve and a half minutes, namaste, my friends.