For many people, sitting still is hard. Walking meditation is a beautiful alternative: we join movement, breath and attention in something as everyday as walking.
A simple practice
- Find a space where you can walk a few metres in a straight line, indoors or in nature.
- Start standing, feeling the weight of the body on your feet.
- Walk very slowly. Notice the heel lifting, the foot moving forward, the foot landing again.
- When you reach the end, stop, breathe and turn mindfully.
With the breath
You can coordinate steps with breath: one step on the inhale, one on the exhale. Or two and two. Finding a comfortable rhythm helps keep the mind centred.
Vipassana walking
In the vipassana tradition, walking is divided into phases that we name silently: “lifting, moving, placing”. Labelling each movement trains very fine attention.
Try it for fifteen minutes before your seated meditation, or on a walk in the woods. You’ll discover that every step can be a return to the present.
