The aim with mindfulness meditation is to cultivate mindfulness that is continuous – a felt continuity of awareness.
Practising movement meditation (whether walking, yoga, running, swimming etc.) helps us to bring mindful awareness to more moments of our day.
The aim is to take the same mindfulness cultivated during the sitting practice, into movement.
We’re so used to ‘going somewhere’ when we walk, to having a destination in mind and often with the mind somewhere else while we’re heading there! In walking meditation we’re putting all this ‘directed’ movement aside, and bringing awareness into the body, and simply being as intimate as possible with the body as it moves through space.
Traditionally, we find a clear space about 10-12 paces long (about 3 metres, you don’t have to measure it!) and the intention is to simply walk up and down in this space. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. Just being aware of the simple act of walking – walking for walking’s sake!
You can focus just on the feeling of the feet meeting the floor (good for beginners), one after the other – lifting, moving, placing, pressing; lifting, moving, placing, pressing.
You don’t need to look at the feet – keep the eyes cast downwards somewhat to minimise distraction, but keep the neck and head relaxed and not pulling forwards.
Let the arms and hands hang softly beside the body, or fold them together at the belly or behind the back.
Relax the whole body.
Alternatively, you can expand awareness into the whole of both legs – feeling the tensing and relaxing of muscles as you move, the movement of tissues and bones as you move through space.
Or you can simply be aware of the whole body moving through space – keeping everything relaxed and soft.
Walk at about half your normal pace. But don’t walk too slowly – if you’re wobbling and the body is getting tight, speed up a little. When you find the ‘right speed’, the body will be relaxed and at ease.
You can coordinate the breathing with the steps, but again, keep this light and natural.
At the end of each length, pause in the standing posture, feel the body turning through space, stand again. Then start moving once again.