Try This Mindful Walking Meditation
How many times have you been lost in thought while walking? While daydreaming can be a great exercise for creative thinking, there is beauty in bringing the art of awareness to your regular, everyday tasks — enter the walking meditation.
“The idea with taking our meditation off the cushion is that we can bring the same level of mindfulness into everything we do,” says mindful meditation teacher Jackie Stewart. “Walking might seem really basic, but it’s something many of us do all the time and it’s common for us to think of it as a means of getting from point A to point B. But sometimes we might not even remember how we got from point A to point B because our mind was somewhere else.”
The best part about walking meditations is that it combines the powerful benefits of mindfulness with the benefits of walking — two practices shown to support mental and physical wellness.
“The more places we can sprinkle mindfulness into our life, the more we realize the potential to be practicing in everything that we do.”
Benefits of a WALKING Meditation
Releases stress and anxiety
Lifts your mood
Improves your sleep quality
Supports creative thinking
Improves heart health
Boosts your energy
Supports digestion and metabolism
Provides gentle, low-impact exercise for all fitness levels
A 7-Step Walking Meditation Practice
Find a comfortable walking posture. Begin by standing up tall with feet hip-width apart and a slight bend in your knees. Relax your hands at your sides, folded in the front, or folded behind you.
Ground in stillness. Shift your weight back and forth to feel a sense of balance in your body.
Begin walking with intention. Slowly lift one foot. Notice the sensations of lifting that are happening as your weight shifts to the opposite foot. You may feel a forward motion in the lifted foot as you bring it back down to the ground. Feel the points of contact all throughout your foot as you take your first step, and attend to the next step with the same level of awareness. Find a cadence that feels natural to you.
Notice the experience of walking. Notice as your weight shifts with each step, feeling the ground beneath your feet. Place your feet with intention. Think of all the times you might rush around with your body. Notice each time your feet rise and fall.
Tune into your breath. Notice the rhythm of your breath. Notice if your breathing changes. Stay attuned to your breath as you move.
Reconnect to the present moment. Check in with your attention — where is it right now? Is it with this experience, or is it elsewhere? Guide your attention gently back to the movement of your body and breath.
Close with intention. Allow both feet to land next to each other, acknowledging your experience. Notice the ways that this meditation might have felt different to other meditations you’ve done before.
Want an audio version of this practice? Try Jackie Stewart’s Walking Meditation on Alo Moves.