Walking Into Your Future

Get Up and Walk

Meditation doesn't always have to happen on a cushion in a dark room. Summer has us enjoying the outdoors, which makes it the perfect time to incorporate walking meditation into your practice. I've grown to really love walking meditations. I get some fresh air, exercise, and I feel so much more connected to nature. Research shows that making time to connect with the outdoors lowers cortisol and reduces stress levels. Walking meditation also helps me to clear my mind and stay in alignment with my intentions. 

So what is a walking meditation? There are a couple of different styles I use. One is a mindfulness approach where I focus on becoming aware of each part of my body, my breath, each step I take, and my connection with the ground beneath my feet. The other style involves setting an intention for who I want to be, bringing up an elevated emotion connected to that intention, and walking "as if" I am that person living in that reality. I practice walking into my future self. 

Mindful Walking Meditation

This meditation can be done anywhere you can walk, but it helps to have a nice spot where you won't be distracted. You could even do it in your backyard. If you like, you can use earbuds and listen to some relaxing instrumental music while you walk, or you can just enjoy connecting with the sounds of nature around you.
Start by standing and connecting with your breath, and then with your body as a whole. You can close your eyes if you wish. Then place your awareness on the soles of your feet and slowly move your attention upward through your body...ankles, calves, thighs, hips, abdomen, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, and head. 

Then begin walking slowly. Breathe deeply and bring your awareness through your breath all the way down to your feet. Notice the feeling of landing and lifting and the rolling motion from your heels to the balls of your feet. Notice any sensations you feel in your feet, the feel of the ground, the feel of shoes or socks you are wearing. Walk at a pace that feels right for you that allows you to maintain awareness of these sensations as you move. 

Then, as you walk, slowly move your awareness up your body from feet to head. Take your time. Notice how your joints feel. Become aware of the feel of the clothes on your body. How is your body temperature? Notice the rhythm of your walk. Allow your joints to soften. 

When you have scanned your entire body, see if you can walk a bit faster while still maintaining your focus. Breathe with awareness. Now, see if you can walk at a normal pace while still maintaining this attention on your body. Just be present with your walking experience. This helps you to rehearse maintaining your awareness when you walk at a normal pace throughout your day. Then begin to gradually slow your pace until you are standing still. Close your eyes. Breathe. Notice how you feel. When you feel ready, open your eyes. 

Walk Into Your Future

This style of walking meditation involves setting an intention and takes a little bit of planning. Think of something you want to bring into your life...more health...peace...awe...joy...a new job...a fun vacation...anything! Next, identify the elevated emotion associated with that intention (a sense of wholeness, calm, fun, contentment, enthusiasm, love...). Create a playlist of favorite songs that bring up that emotion. If you want to walk for 30 minutes, choose 30 minutes worth of music. Remember, music is frequency, and so are emotions! Indigenous cultures speak of prayer as being the experience of what you are praying for. So if you are praying for rain, you feel the drops on your face and the wet ground beneath you. You feel gratitude for the crops the rain will support. In your walking meditation, you become the experience.

Choose a nice place to walk, and begin your walk by standing, closing your eyes, and connecting with your breath. Drop your attention into your heart center and imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart. Decide to leave any troubles or cares behind for the duration of your walk. When you are ready, begin your music and start your walk.

Allow the music to lift you and connect you to the feeling of your intention. You are walking "as if" you are the person in that future. Feelings are the language of the body. You are giving your body a taste of your future, as if it has already happened. How would that person walk? How would they carry themself? How would they view the world around them? Expand your awareness into the space around you...the horizon...the sky. Feel its expanse. Feel your expanse. Stay in the feeling of your intention. Feel gratitude for your life. Gratitude communicates to the body that something wonderful has happened. 

At the end of your walk, look back at where you have just walked and imagine that you are your future self looking back at the person who walked today and thank them for their efforts. Close your eyes, connect with your breath, feel this gratitude, and when you are ready, open your eyes. 

Walking Meditation for Kids

Many of us are spending time with our children or grandchildren in summer. These two walking meditations are a great way to bond with them and teach them the skill of connecting with their body and learning how to set an intention and bring it to life. Kids are masters of imagination and pretend, so the "walking into your future" meditation is perfect for them! You can walk together, each using your own playlist. Helping children of any age learn the the skill of mastering their inner environment is an indispensable tool for life, especially when the outer environment gets tough. Dr. Joe Dispenza has a 30-minute walking meditation for kids called "The Big Walk." You can find it on his website drjoedispenza.com

With Our Eyes Open...

It's easier to feel peaceful, loving, etc when we are sitting on a cushion with our eyes closed. The challenge is to maintain that feeling when we get out into the world and the "shitake" hits the fan, and that's what walking meditation helps us do: it helps us to practice maintaining that state with our eyes open. So get up off your cushion and walk!