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Basic instructions for walking meditation.
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In walking meditation, you're trained to be aware of your breath and your steps simultaneously.
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By sinking your breath to your steps,
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you cultivate the energy of mindfulness in your walking.
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At first you may feel awkward and unsteady in your steps,
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the way a beginner feels while learning to dance.
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So you incorporate one movement at a time, paying attention to the breath first,
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then to the steps, and then slowly incorporating the breath and the steps together.
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Go slowly at first.
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Breathing in.
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Take one, two, three steps.
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Breathing out.
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Take two, three, four steps.
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As you walk.
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You may like to quietly say an affirmation to yourself.
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I like to say
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Each step is peace.
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Each step is healing.
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Each step is love.
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And
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come back.
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Come back to this moment.
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In your daily life, the practice of walking meditation
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from your bed to the bathroom,
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from your car to the office.
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Everywhere you walk.
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Left foot.
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Right foot.
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Left foot.
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Right foot.
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Come back.
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Come back to the breath.
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Enables you to live your life in that moment
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instead of being swept away by thoughts about the past, the future, or the present.
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What's going on
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may still sweep us away,
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but there is an island within you to come back to,
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and that is your mindful breathing and mindful steps.
