The image of Buddha sitting in meditation is etched in our hearts. But there’s another way the Enlightened One practiced meditation, and he enjoyed it greatly: Walking meditation.
After tens of thousands of mindful steps, I realize why it’s such a lovely thing. You are doing two of the best things a human being can possibly do: walking as well as meditating.
How can it be? Aren’t you supposed to sit still while doing meditation?
True, that’s the usual way meditation is practiced. But walking meditation is a bit different. Let me share a few observations from my own experience.
There are different ways and purposes of walking. You could be walking because your car broke down and you didn’t get a ride. You might be walking to school, which is not far away. Or maybe you are just hurrying to the market to pick up groceries.
In such routine acts of walking, our focus is mainly on the task at hand: to reach our destination, to get something from a place, to fulfill an objective.
There are some other reasons to walk as well, like when you are hiking. That’s like a sporting or outdoor activity you enjoy.
So, what does it mean to walk and meditate?
It means infusing your walk with the ease, simplicity, and bliss of meditation. It means to practice mindfulness while walking.
How you do that is by taking quiet, slow steps and observing your breath.
By not being in a hurry to reach anywhere but enjoying the very act of walking.
By looking around you in peace, even if you happen to be in an otherwise chaotic city.
By keeping this in your mind even as you take the next step: we are all connected to each other and to objects and phenomena in the universe. By seeing some of these connections happen or transform into another connection.
By being full of gratitude for the life you have been given, for your ability to walk, for the wonder of observing things that are nothing short of miracles: a bird singing, a flower in bloom, a tree swaying in the wind, a star-spangled sky, a horizon full of possibilities.
By simply walking at a pace that’s in harmony with your soul’s yearning.
By observing the joy rising inside you as you keep walking, not keeping track of time.
By smiling at the thought of having the better sense to have left your smartwatch back at home.
By wishing all sentient beings the same peace and happiness you are feeling right now.
That, my dear, is how you do walking meditation, IMHO.
Happy walking.
Happy meditating.
Happy doing walking meditation.
