om mind
You may have seen labyrinths on the ground in parks or retreat
centres. They look a bit like circular mazes and present a single
walking route that requires no conscious thought to navigate.
Similar to the Buddhist walking meditation outlined above,
labyrinth walking helps to take away external distractions. You can
create your own labyrinth (there is plenty of advice online if you do
a quick search) which could easily fit into most back gardens.
Mantras are another way to turn a regular walk into a walking
meditation. The inspirational Tich Nhat Hanh suggests repeating
“Breathing in, we say to ourselves, I have arrived. Breathing out, we
say, I am home”. He also suggests counting steps using words that
evoke beautiful images. For example, with strides that are in time
with the breath, we say to ourselves “walking on the green planet”,
becoming one with the earth at every step.
Mindful walking meditation is a lovely to way to feel present
in your body and environment. Whilst some forms of walking
meditation try to eliminate opportunities for the mind to turn to its
surroundings, others encourage us to reach out externally. Touch,
feel, smell and taste combine to give the experience of being truly
present in your environment. For me, in my teaching and personal
practice, mindfully walking through the world is where walking
meditation excels. As I walk and open my senses I feel more at
one with my surroundings. As naturalist John Muir wrote, “Most
people are on the world, not in it - have no conscious sympathy
of relationship to anything about them - undiffused, separate, and
rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate.”
Mindful walking meditations help us to better understand our
relationship with the world around us.
Fiona Lines is the founder of yoga retreats company Cowdance
(cowdance.co.uk)
WALKING MEDITATION AS
A PART OF EVERYDAY LIFE
This potent tool can help us discover in ourselves a
sense of calm. Even better, it is accessible to most of us,
most of the time, and could be the key to fitting a daily
meditation practice into busy lives. In the words of Tich
Nhat Hanh: “When we practice walking meditation, we
arrive in each moment. Our true home is in the present
moment. When we enter the present moment deeply, our
regrets and sorrows disappear, and we discover life with
all its wonders.”