WALKING MEDITATION

What is walking meditation?

Walking meditation is a form of meditation in action.
In walking meditation we use the experience of walking as our focus. We become mindful of
our experience while walking, and try to keep our awareness involved with the experience of
walking. Actually, there are several different kinds of walking meditation. Well just be
looking at one of them in detail, although well touch on the others. Once youve mastered
one form, youll easily be able to pick up the others.
Obviously, there are some differences between walking meditation and sitting meditation. For
one thing we keep our eyes open during walking meditation! That difference implies other
changes in the way we do the practice. We are not withdrawing our attention from the outside
world to the same extent that we do when we are doing the Mindfulness of Breathing or Metta
Bhavana (development of lovingkindness) practices.
We have to be aware of things outside of ourselves (objects we might trip over, other people
that we might walk into) and there are many other things outside of ourselves that we will be
more aware of than when we are doing sitting especially if we sit inside. These include the
wind, the sun, and the rain; and the sounds of nature and of humans and machines.
But one of the biggest differences is that its easier, for most people, to be more intensely and
more easily aware of their bodies while doing walking meditation, compared to sitting forms
of practice. When your body is in motion, it is generally easier to be aware of it compared to
when you are sitting still. When were sitting still in meditation the sensations that arise in the
body are much more subtle and harder to pay attention to than those that arise while were
walking, This can make walking meditation an intense experience. You can experience your
body very intensely, and you can also find intense enjoyment from this practice.
The practice of walking meditation can also be fitted in to the gaps in our lives quite easily.
Even walking from the car into the supermarket can be an opportunity for a minutes walking
meditation.
The form of walking meditation well be introducing here is best done outdoors. For your first
attempt, you might want to find a park or open space where you will be able to walk for
twenty minutes without encountering traffic.

Why walking meditation?

Some students have a sneaking suspicion that walking meditation is not really meditation at
all, or that its perhaps a sort of watered down meditation. I think these suspicions are
unfounded, and are probably based on the misconception that in order to do meditation you
have to be sitting still.
This is probably a very similar misconception to the idea that you can only really meditate
well in full lotus position. Both misconceptions are trying to define meditation in terms of
what is happening outwardly, rather than in terms of what you are doing internally.

Meditation is a process of developing greater awareness so that we can make changes to our
consciousness so that we can be more deeply fulfilled, and have a greater understanding of
life. Its essentially an inner activity.
This might seem to be somewhat contradictory to all of the emphasis to have placed on
having a good posture in meditation. But in emphasizing a good posture, all I am doing is
encouraging you to set up the best possible conditions for developing greater awareness in
order to achieve our desired goals of greater awareness, deeper fulfillment, and greater
understanding.

Meditation in action
Walking meditation is meditation in action. When we do walking meditation, we are using the
physical, mental, and emotional experiences of walking as the basis of developing greater
awareness.
Walking meditation is an excellent way of developing our ability to take awareness into our
ordinary lives. Any able-bodied person under normal circumstances does at least some
walking everyday even if its just walking from the house to the car, and the car to the
office. Walking meditation is an excellent way to squeeze more meditation into the day
you can do it anytime youre walking. Once we have learned how to do walking meditation,
each spell of walking however short can be used as a meditation practice.

Maintaining awareness
The great thing about walking meditation is that you can do it anytime you are walking
even in the noise and bustle of a big city. In fact its especially good (even necessary) to do it
in a big city, with all the distractions of people and noise, and shop windows tying to catch
your attention. When I used to walk through the city center in Glasgow, Scotland, I often used
to practice walking meditation. At first, it would be very difficult to keep my awareness
involved with my walking. Artfully designed shop window displays and advertisements
would be beckoning to me, and my eyes would involuntarily flick to the side as if afraid of
missing anything. Attractive people would parade past, dressed in their most eye-catching
clothes, and my neck would yearn to turn to squeeze every last moment of enjoyment out of
the experience of seeing them. But soon, I began to feel increasingly comfortable keeping my
eyes directed forwards.

Regaining wholeness
I realized that there was a kind of battle going on. Advertisers and shop window designers
were trying to capture some of my awareness, and I was trying to hold onto it. And when I
began to realize that I was winning the battle, I would feel a surge of joy and exultation. I then
realized that the normal state of distractedness in which I would normally walk down a busy
street was deeply unsatisfactory. When your attention is constantly seeking satisfaction
outside of yourself through glancing at consumer goods or at attractive passers-by then
your internal experience becomes fragmented, as if youre leaving parts of yourself strewn
along the city streets. In this state of fragmentation, it is even harder to find sources of
fulfillment within. This leads to a vicious cycle, where we feel increasingly hollow and
fragmented as we seek fulfillment outside ourselves.

Practicing walking meditation is a way of de-fragmenting our minds. One of the literal
meanings of the word sati (usually translated as mindfulness) is recollection. In
practicing mindfulness we are re-collecting the fragmented parts of our psyches, and
reintegrating them into a whole. As we become more whole, we become more contented and
more fulfilled. This is one of the main benefits and aims of the practice of mindfulness.

How to do walking meditation

I believe that the best way to learn this practice is to be led through it. In one way this practice
is simpler than any of the others we teach on Wildmind: one simply takes ones awareness
through ones experience while walking. But in other ways its more complex simply
because there is a lot you can be aware of while doing walking meditation.
So its easiest to be talked through the practice. Ive prepared an audio CD that will guide you
through the practice, in a guided meditation lasting just under 20 minutes.
You can also try walking meditation on your own. To give you an idea of what this practice
involves, you might want to read this transcript, which represents the kind of thing I generally
say when leading walking meditation. There is a CD available which contains a guided
session of walking meditation, as well as other meditation practices.

Standing
So, to begin this period of walking meditation, first of all lets simply stand. Just stand on the
spot, being aware of your weight being transferred through the soles of your feet into the
earth. Being aware of all of the subtle movements that go on in order to keep us balanced and
upright. Very often we take this for granted, our ability to be able to stand upright. But
actually, it took us a couple of years to learn how to do this. So be aware of the constant
adjustments that youre making in order to maintain your balance.

Walking
And then you can begin to walk at a fairly slow but normal walking pace, and in a normal
manner. Were not going to be changing the way that we walk; were simply going to be
aware of it.

Awareness of your body

So first of all, keep in attention in the soles of your feet, being aware of the alternating
patterns of contact and release; being aware of your foot as the heel first makes contact, as
your foot rolls forward onto the ball, and then lifts and travels through the air. Be aware of all
the different sensations in your feet, not just a contact in the soles of your feet but the contact
between the toes, the feeling of the inside of your shoes, the fabric of your socks, and let your
feet be as relaxed as you can. Become aware of your ankles. Notice the qualities of the
sensations in those joints as your foot is on the ground, as your foot travels through the air.
And let your ankle joints be relaxed make sure youre not holding on in any way. You can
become aware of your lower legs your shins, your calves. You can be aware of the contact
with your clothing: be aware of the temperature on your skin; you can be aware of the

muscles. And notice what the calf muscles are doing as youre walking. You might even want
to exaggerate for a few steps what the calf muscles are doing just so that you can connect
with that and then let your walking go back to a normal relaxed rhythm. Encourage your
calf muscles to be relaxed.
And then become aware of your knees- noticing the qualities of the sensations in your knee
joints. Then expand your awareness into your thighs. Being aware of the skin, again the
contact with your clothing, the temperature. Being aware of the muscles, and noticing what
the muscles on the fronts of the thighs, and the muscles on the backs of the thighs are doing.
And once more you might want for a few paces just to exaggerate what those muscles are
doing exaggerate the action of those muscles. And then letting your walk go back to a
normal rhythm.
Becoming aware of your hips the muscles around your hip joints and relaxing those
muscles. Really relax. Even when you think youve relaxed relax them some more. And just
notice how that changes your walk. Notice how the rhythm and the gait of your walk change
as your hips relax. You can be aware of the whole of your pelvis and notice all of the
movements that are going on your pelvis. One hip moves forward and then the other; one hip
lifting, the other sinking.
And you can be aware of the complex three-dimensional shape that your pelvis is carving out
through space as you walk forwards. The lowest part of your spine your sacrum is
embedded in the pelvis. So as you feel your spine extending upwards the lumbar spine, the
thoracic spine you can notice how it moves along with the pelvis. Your spine is in constant
motion. Its swaying from side to side. There is a twisting motion around the central axis.
Your spine is in constant, sinuous, sensuous motion.
Notice your belly you might feel your clothing in contact with your belly and notice how
your belly is the center of your body. Very often it feels like its down there because we are
so much in our heads. So seek to what extent you can feel your belly is the center of your
body, as the center of your being. Notice your chest, and just let your breathing happen.
Notice the contact that your chest makes with your clothing. Noticing your shoulders. Notice
how they are moving with the rhythm of your walking. Let your shoulders be relaxed, and let
your shoulders passively transmit the rhythm of your walk down into your arms. Having your
arms simply hanging by your sides and swinging naturally. Notice all the motions in your
arms your upper arms, your elbows, your forearms, your wrists, your hands. And feel the air
coursing over the skin on your hands and fingers as your arms swing through the air.
Become aware of your neck and the muscles supporting your skull. Notice the angle of your
head. And notice that as you relax the muscles on the back of your neck, your chin slightly
tucks in and your skull comes to a point of balance. And you might want to play around with
the angle of your head and see how it changes your experience. You might notice that when
you tuck your chin close into your chest, your experience becomes darker and more emotional
that youre more inward turned, somber. And if you lift your chin and hold it in the air you
might notice that your experience becomes much lighter that you become much more aware
of the outside world and perhaps caught up in the outside world, or much more aware of your
thoughts and caught up in your thoughts. And then, bringing your head back to a point of
balance, your chin slightly tucked in.

Relax your jaw. Relax your eyes and just let your eyes be softly focused, gently looking
ahead not staring at anything, not allowing yourself to be caught up in anything thats going
past you.

Feelings
You can be aware of the feelings that youre having; not in terms of emotions here, but just
the feeling tone. Are there things that feel pleasant; are there things that feel unpleasant in
your body, or outside of you. So if you notice things in your body that are pleasant or
unpleasant, just notice them. Dont either cling onto them, or push them away, but just notice
them. If you notice things in the outside world that are either pleasant or unpleasant, just
allow them to drift by just noticing them to drift by without following them or averting your
gaze from them.

Thoughts and Emotions

You can notice your emotional states. Are you bored? Are you content? Are you irritated?
Are you feeling very happy to be doing what youre doing. Again just noticing whatever
emotions happen to be present. And notice your mind also. Is your mind clear, or dull? Is your
mind busy, or is it calm? Are you thinking about things unconnected with this practice or do
whatever thoughts that you have center on what youre doing just now. Just notice these
things with no particular judgment just noticing.

Balancing Inner and Outer

And you can notice the balance between your experience of the inner and the outer. I often
find that if I can be aware of both the inner world and the outer world in equal balance, then
my mind settles at a point of stillness, and calmness, and clarity.
So see if you can find that point of balance, where youre equally aware of the inner and the
outer, and your mind is calm, content, and quiet.

Stopping
So, in a few seconds, Im going to ask you to stop. And Id like you to come to a natural halt.
So, youre not freezing on the spot; youre just allowing yourself to come to a stop. So do that
now; come to a stop. And just experience yourself standing. Just notice what its like to no
longer be in motion. Notice once more the complex balancing act thats going on to keep you
upright. Feeling once again, the weight traveling down through the soles of your feet into the
earth; simply standing, and experiencing yourself and, finally, bringing this meditation
session to a close.

The stages of walking meditation

Unlike many of the other practices described in this site, walking meditation has no formal
stages.
But there is a logical sequence to the practice, and this sequence is rooted in a traditional
formulation called the four foundations of mindfulness.

These are four levels of experience in which we can anchor our minds to prevent them from
being fragmented and strewn around like leaves torn from a tree in an autumn gale.
These levels are

our physical sensations

our feelings
our mental and emotional states, and
objects of consciousness.

These four foundations give us a way of breaking down a very complex experience so that we
can focus on one aspect at a time.
The four foundations crop up in many places in the Buddhist texts on meditation, and so these
can be considered to be a very important teaching.
Essentially, these arent stages that we work through one at a time, like we do with the
development of lovingkindness practice. Instead they are simply a tool to help us appreciate
our experience. However because each foundation is more subtle than those preceding it,
well work through them in order.
We start with the physical sensations of the body, which are relatively easy to experience
(except when as often happens we get lost in thought and all but forget that we have a
body). We then progress to more subtle aspects of our experience.
Well look at each of these in foundations turn, and well also look at how we start and end
the practice.

Starting the practice

We begin walking meditation by not walking!
Its good just to stand on the spot and experience yourself. Experience your body, and notice
in particular all of the minute motions that take place in order to keep you balanced and
upright.
Experience how you feel; notice whether your mind is overactive or calm. This will give you
a sort of baseline of experience against which you can check what effect the practice is
having on you.
We take walking for granted, but we probably take standing for granted even more. So just
spend a minute or two appreciating your experience.
Standing really is pretty miraculous. It took our species millions of years to learn how to stand
on two legs, and it took you a year or two to get the hang of it when you were a young child.
Often we dont appreciate the simple things in life. Just noticing ourselves in a simple activity
like standing starts to shift the mind to a different level, to a slower pace at which we have
time to appreciate our experience and to experience greater enjoyment.

Its not uncommon to experience boredom or resistance when we first take up a practice like
this. We might think that its ridiculous to be devoting time to something as trivial as walking,
or to standing still. But those emotions of boredom and those judgments we make its
boring, this is a waste of time are themselves very interesting. Just noticing them is part of
the downshifting that were engaged in.
And if we simply persevere with the practice then at some point, perhaps to our considerable
surprise, well find that were doing something thats both fascinating and deeply enjoyable.
Standing meditation is in fact a valid meditation in its own right, but rather than explore that
were going to continue with our exploration of walking.

Being aware of the body

In walking meditation we begin by being aware of the body. Body awareness is the first
foundation of mindfulness.
Its useful to begin any meditation session (whether seated or walking) by paying attention to
those parts of the body that are in contact with the ground. This helps to stabilize and ground
the mind, making it calmer and less likely to wander.
So in this practice I usually start with becoming aware of my feet first standing, and then
walking.
Then I lead my awareness systematically through my body, relaxing each part of my body as I
bring in into the center of my focus. Its important to remember to experience these
sensations, rather than think about them.
Thinking about sensations keeps us trapped in our heads, and perpetuates patterns of anxiety,
craving, etc. By simply experiencing our sensations, on the other hand, we help to cut down
on unproductive thinking and bring about more calmness.
This distinction between experiencing something and thinking about it is not at all obvious to
some people. To experience something like the sensation of your feet touching the ground
is simply to be aware of it, to notice it. Thinking about something is where we have inner
talk, like I wonder if this is what Im supposed to be feeling? Oh, theres an itch. Maybe I
should scratch it? Why am I doing this anyway? I think Ill have pizza for dinner.
So the aim is simply to notice physical sensations. Thoughts may arise when we do this, but
this is thinking about and its not what we aim to do, and so we just let the thoughts go. We
simply return to the physical sensations, and as we persistently do that we find that the
amount of thinking we do dies down.
Remember to relax each part of your body as you become conscious of it. This practice is a
wonderful opportunity to practice letting go. You can really notice how your walk changes as
you relax.
Compared to sitting meditation, you may find that its far easier to be aware of your body
while walking. A lot of people find that being aware of their bodies is much easier when their
muscles and skin etc. are in motion. This can make walking meditation into a very powerful

and intense practice. Most of us live rather too much in our heads, and when we find a way
to bring our awareness into our bodies it can be a positive relief and even a great pleasure.
Its particularly interesting to become aware of the angle that you hold your head at. The
angle of your head has a huge impact upon your experience. If your chin is tucked into your
chest, and youre looking at the ground in front of you, youll almost certainly find that you
become caught up in a very cyclical pattern of emotion. If your chin is in the air, youll
probably find that youre either caught up in thoughts or in the outside world. Well look at
this again in the section on balancing inner and outer.

Being aware of feelings

The next stage of walking meditation is paying attention to feelings.
The word feeling has a specialized meaning in Buddhist meditation practice. In everyday
speech, we use the feeling to refer to a number of different things. We might say, for example,
that someones skin feels cold. Here we are referring to a physical sensation. We might also
say that we feel angry here referring to an emotion. By feelings in the context of Buddhist
meditation practice we mean neither of these things.
The word feeling (vedana) refers to a basic sense of liking/disliking, or comfort/discomfort, or
pleasure/displeasure (feelings can also be neutral, if youre not sure whether you like or
dislike them). These feelings are gut-level responses that are less developed than emotions
like anger, or love, or joy, or sadness.
Feelings often stand between sensations and emotions. For example, you turn up in the office
one day, and find that a co-worker is using a particularly pungent perfume that you dont like.
There is the sensation of the perfume itself. Then there is a gut-level response that you dont
like this particular smell (thats the feeling), and then there is a variety of emotions that you
might experience in response to that feeling; emotions such as anger, or compassion (on a
good day).
We experience feelings in relation to just about every sensation we perceive, whether visual,
or auditory, or tactile, or whatever. Particular colors have their own feeling tone thats why
we have favorite colors: we like the feelings that those colors evoke. There are some sounds
that we enjoy hearing (our favorite music) and some that we dislike (some other peoples
music). There are also odors and tastes that we involuntarily like or dislike. And physical
contact can be pleasant or unpleasant too, of course.
When we are doing walking meditation, there will be feelings associated with the body, from
a niggling pain, to a pleasant feeling of relaxation. There will also be feelings associated with
things that we see, and hear, and with all of the other sensory modalities that we experience
including those that are imagined. Thoughts and images that arise in the mind also have
feelings associated with them.
In paying attention to feelings, the important thing is simply to notice them without either
clinging to them or pushing them away. When we are unaware, it is very common for the
mind to start grasping after experiences associated with pleasant feelings.

An example would be when I talked earlier about walking past shop window displays. The
shopkeeper has arranged goods and advertising in the window that he or she hopes will give
rise to pleasant feelings. She or he doesnt do this just in order to make your life more
pleasant however. He or she hopes that the emotion of desire will cause you to stop and look,
and possibly even to come in to the shop and make a purchase.
We also respond emotionally to unpleasant feelings. So you might, as in another example
above, feel anger towards the colleague who has such bad taste in perfume. Anger is a form of
aversion or rejection.
In practicing mindfulness, were trying to be more aware of how our experience moves from
sensation, to feeling, to emotion, so that we have more choice over what emotions we
experience. Of course, the aim in meditation is to cultivate positive emotions and to eradicate
negative emotions. So we try simply to notice what feelings arise, without letting our mind
unmindfully stray into negative emotional patterns.

Being aware of emotional and mental states

The third foundation of mindfulness that we pay attention to in walking meditation is our
emotional and mental states, or citta.
In Buddhism, the word citta means both heart and mind. So here, were becoming aware of
our emotions and of our state of mind as we do walking meditation.
So, as you are walking along, you can be aware of the emotions that youre experiencing.
These will almost certainly change throughout the course of a single period of walking
meditation. A particular meditator might start off experiencing boredom, become slightly
irritated as he wonders what this practice is about, and then start developing curiosity and
interest as he begins to notice his body beginning to relax, and then start feeling intensely
joyful as the practice becomes more and more fulfilling. Then the approach of a large dog
may cause some anxiety, which may turn to relief as the dog passes, and then he may
experience joy once more.
Our emotional states often change quite rapidly. The quality of your mental states may also
change. Your mind can be bright or dull. You may notice that you have a lot of thoughts at
one time, and that your mind is very calm at another time.
Often when your mind is very busy, your thoughts are not connected to the meditation
practice at all. You may be thinking about all sorts of other things. When your mind is more
calm, your thoughts are more likely to be connected with your actual experience and with the
meditation practice itself. Its very common, in our day-to-day lives, for us to be quite
unaware of our current experience.
Instead, we are lost in thoughts about the past or the future. Practicing mindfulness helps us to
be in the moment.
In being aware of our emotional and mental states during walking meditation, we try to
maintain this practice of being in the moment. By filling our mind with the richness of the
experience of walking, we leave less room for daydreaming and fantasy. Instead, we are

deeply aware of our present experience, which becomes far more fulfilling than any
daydream.
With practice, we become more continuously aware of our emotional and mental states. This
is an important skill to develop. Our mental and emotional states change in dependence upon
the way we think, the habitual emotional patterns that we allow to unfold, as well as the
speech and physical activities that we engage in.
Once we become more sensitized to the effects of our inner and outer actions, we have more
choice. We can choose not to pursue a particularly negative train of thought, or realize that
weve been speaking harshly to someone, because we are acutely aware of the unpleasant
effects that these actions are having on us.
With awareness comes choice, and with choice comes freedom.

Being aware of objects of consciousness

The fourth foundation of mindfulness that we bring attention to in walking meditation is
dharmas, or objects of consciousness.
Here, we are aware not just of the general state of our emotions and of our minds, but of the
specific contents of our emotions and of our thoughts, and are able to categorize our emotions
and thoughts in various ways. At the very least, we can be aware of whether our thoughts and
emotions are those that we want to encourage or to discourage.
Once youve read more of this site, youll be able to categorize your emotions and thoughts in
terms of the five hindrances and the five meditation factors (these are ways of classifying our
negative and positive states of mind, and will be discussed in other sections of Wildmind).
Why is this ability to categorize your emotional and mental states important? The more that
you are able to do this, the more ability you will have to choose to alter your experience.
An analogy would be weeding a garden. You need to make decisions about which plants you
wish to encourage in your garden, and which you want to eliminate. Being aware of objects of
consciousness is thus rather like knowing which plants are weeds, and which plants are those
that you want to cultivate. This kind of knowledge comes with study, reflection, and
experience.
An example might be useful. Imagine that someone comes up to you while you are working,
and points out that your shoulders are tense. You realize that theyre right, and that you hadnt
been aware that your shoulders were up round your ears. In fact, you now realize that your
neck and other parts of your body are tense too. So you relax your shoulders and neck, and
you feel more at ease. You can now continue your work without developing sore shoulders
and a headache.
It was being able to recognize tension as tension, and knowing that the tension that was
something you didnt want that allowed you to make the change. Also implicit in this example
is that you could recognize the absence of the positive state of relaxation, and knew what to
do to bring it about (i.e. let go of the tension in your shoulders). The more we meditate, the
more we become aware that some mental/emotional states are undesirable, and that there are

some mental states that we want to experience more often because they lead to greater
fulfillment.
Of course theres considerably more to working with the mind than simply recognizing
tension! Buddhism offers a systematic and thorough map of the mind and offers many
techniques for reducing the hold undesired mental/emotional states and for cultivating desired
mental/emotional states. But we start just by noticing.
So, in this walking meditation, we start with the experience of our bodies, and then become
aware of our feelings, and then our emotions, and then objects of consciousness.

Balancing inner and outer experience

One thing I havent mentioned so far in this discussion of the four foundations of mindfulness
in walking meditation is our awareness of the outside world.
Our awareness of the world is obviously dependent upon our senses, which are part of our
bodies. So you might think that it would be best to focus on the outside world right at the
beginning of the practice.
However, I find it useful first of all to connect with my body, and only to focus on the outside
world when Im becoming aware of my feeling responses to what I perceive in my
environment. Of course, Im aware of the outside world for the whole of the period of the
walking meditation (it would be dangerous not to), but I only focus on the outside world once
I have thoroughly grounded my awareness in my body. Otherwise Im likely to get
distracted.
Once I have been through the whole experience of my body, feelings, emotions, and objects
of consciousness, I like to try to balance my awareness of the inner and the outer worlds.
During walking meditation, there are some experiences that are purely internal (the sensations
in your body, your emotions, etc.) and there are some that relate to the outside world (you are
seeing trees, and grass, and rocks; you are hearing the sounds of the wind and of vehicles).
Its paradoxical, but being more aware of our inner world makes us more deeply aware of the
outside world. When you develop more mindfulness, you become more intensely aware of
what is around you. By contrast, when we are distracted we tend to get rather wrapped up in
ourselves and hardly notice the outside world, or only notice it in a superficial way. When our
minds become calmer, we find we are more open to the beauty of the world.
I find that it is possible to have an awareness of both inner and outer experiences, more or less
simultaneously, and that when I can balance my awareness of inner and outer experiences my
mind settles on a point of quiet, calm, lucid awareness.
One thing that will help you to establish a balanced awareness of the inner and outer is to pay
very close attention to the angle of your head (as I mentioned in the section on body
awareness during walking meditation). When your chin is tucked too far towards your chest,
you are likely to get caught up in your emotional states. Its as if you get sucked into a
whirlpool of emotions, often of a rather dark and brooding nature.

When your chin is too high, and your chin is pointing in the air, you are likely either to get
caught up in a maelstrom of thoughts, or to get very caught up in the outside world.
When you develop a balanced head position, so that your chin is very slightly tucked in, its
much easier to be aware of your thoughts, your emotions, and the outside world in a balanced
way. At this point of balance, youll notice that the muscles on the back of your neck are long
and relaxed.
Your skull is also balanced perfectly and effortlessly, with the crown of your head supporting
the sky. The back of your neck feels open, and your chin is very slightly tucked in. Your gaze
is into the middle distance; you are neither looking at the ground directly in front of you, nor
are you gazing at the horizon. Your gaze is directed slightly downwards, perhaps meeting the
ground 50 yards in front of you.
There can come a point where the very distinction between inner and outer ceases to have
much meaning, and there is simply undifferentiated experience, with no sense of self or other.
When this kind of experience arises, its very joyful. It almost feels like a huge burden has
been laid down the burden of self.

Ending the practice

When you begin to end the practice by coming to a natural and comfortable stop, notice what
happens.
It can be a very powerful experience to simply stand once more. Compare this experience
with the standing that you did at the start of the practice.
Notice the sensations from all parts of your body. Notice your feelings, emotions, and
thoughts. Notice the world around you and find a point of balance between your awareness of
the inner and outer worlds.
Most people report a huge increase in physical sensitivity, often with sensations of tingling
energy. Often this is accompanied by a sense of joy, happiness, or even bliss.
Be sure to give yourself a few moment to assimilate the effects of the practice before moving
on to another activity. If you immediately rush off to do something else you may find that the
effect is rather jarring. As you move off from your session of walking meditation, maintain
some continuity, so that theres still a meditative attitude in what you do.
Its quite common for us to be far more sensitive than we are aware off. So make sure that
you end the practice graciously, and try to take the greater degree of awareness that you have
gained into whatever activity you do next.
It may be that youre not able to be as intensely mindful in your next activity as you were in
the walking meditation, but as much as possible let your mindfulness, and any calm and
happiness that youve connected with, percolate into the rest of your day.
Even if you dont make any conscious effort to continue being mindful beyond your session
of walking meditation youll probably find that youre just a bit more together and a bit
more patience and calm than you would normally be.

Learning the practice a little at a time

Theres a lot you can be aware of while doing walking meditation. When you first start doing this
practice, you might want to keep the practice very simple especially if you find that you get
distracted easily.

You can start off just by being aware of your body as you walk. Perhaps you might spend
most of your time being aware of just your feet. Its OK to do this, and to build up the practice
slowly.
You might then expand your awareness beyond the feet, to include the calves. And then the
knees, the thighs, the hips and eventually the whole body.
Once youve gotten better at keeping your awareness grounded in your body, you can start
becoming aware of other elements of your experience, like your feeling and emotions.
When you can do that and still stay mindful of the practice for most of the time, then you can
add the elements of mindfulness of objects of consciousness and balancing the awareness of
inner and outer.
Id also suggest that the first time you try walking meditation you give it at least 20 minutes
and go to some quiet place like a park, where you are likely to be able to walk undisturbed.
Once youve done a few twenty minute sessions and have gotten the hang of the practice, then
you can start also doing shorter sessions walking from your car to the office, or walking
from your home to a grocery store.
If you have Bodhipaksas CD of guided meditations, then this will also help you to pick up
the practice more quickly, because you can simply let the guided meditation do the work of
leading you through the practice.

Making the practice your own

Some of my students find that they want to do the walking meditation in a slightly different
way from the method that I outline on the site and on the CD.
Some want to spend longer being aware of their emotions, while others want to pay more
attention to the world around them, especially when in the country.
Some want to repeat a phrase of affirmation, or bear in mind a Buddhist teaching such as
impermanence as they walk. I think its an excellent sign when students want to adapt the
practice in this way.
Usually, my advice here is to make the walking meditation practice your own. There are no
set stages in this practice. You can do it in your own way. I would recommend always starting
with awareness of your body, but you should make the practice yours and shape it so that it
fits your needs.

Others of my students have adapted the principles of walking meditation practice by applying
it to running, cycling, skateboarding, rollerblading, and even to playing rugby. Im always
very pleased when I hear how students have creatively applied the principles of meditation to
other activities that are important to them.
Two really interesting examples have been to do with hiking and playing rugby. In both cases,
the students concerned have been in very demanding physical situations, where ordinarily
they might have found themselves getting into quite negative states of mind.
Hiking can be pretty tough going, especially when the weather gets bad and you feel
exhausted. One of my students related how she just kept letting go of negative thoughts as she
hiked, and chose instead to simply be aware of her physical experience. Her usual tendency
would have been to wallow in self-pity as she puffed her way up a steep incline, but through
practicing mindfulness, she managed to stay in a balanced and positive frame of mind, even
although her body was aching.
My rugby-playing student (also a woman) talked about how she would be in the last fifteen
minutes of a match. She would be physically exhausted and emotionally drained at this point
in the game. Usually shed think of nothing but how much she wanted the game to be over.
But through practicing being in the moment and simply being aware of her experience, she
managed to deeply enjoy finishing her matches even in the moments when shed be lying in
the mud with someone standing on her head! Shes obviously made of sterner stuff than I am!
Making the practice your own in this way allows you more flexibility. You can then do
walking meditation for two minutes while walking from one office to another, or you can
practice walking meditation for four hours during a hike in the country.
You can even adapt the walking meditation so that you practice mindfulness while running,
and its possible to do a sort of cycling meditation as well. A friend of mine who is paraplegic
does walking meditation in his wheelchair.
Once you make the walking meditation practice your own, it becomes a very flexible and
useful tool.

Walking meditation and the practice of lovingkindness

It was a traditional practice at the time of the Buddha for monks and nuns to practice the
Development of Lovingkindness (metta bhavana)meditation as they walked around. They
would do this while walking through town, begging food. Theyd radiate well-wishing in
every direction as they walked along the streets and through the marketplace.
Monks would also radiate Lovingkindness towards wild animals as they walked through the
forests and jungles. India at that time was heavily forested, and attacks by snakes and other
wild animals were common. It was considered that this practice was a good protection against
snake attacks!
Even if youre not at risk from cobras, you might still want to try practicing radiating
lovingkindness as you do walking meditation. It can be a beautiful feeling to radiate love as
you walk past people. You can start doing walking meditation in the usual way, deepening
your awareness of your body, feelings, emotions, and objects of consciousness.

Then you can keep your focus on your emotions or on your heart-center, and wish everyone
well. You can imagine that you have a sun in your heart, and that you are radiating warmth
and light in every direction as you walk. Or you can repeat the phrase May all beings be
well, may all beings be happy, may all beings be free from suffering.
This may also be an appropriate point to talk about what you do if youre practicing walking
meditation and you see someone you know. My suggestion is that you deal with the situation
as you feel appropriate. If its possible, and appropriate, for you just to say hi and keep on
going, then do that.
If it seems appropriate to stop and talk to the other person, then you can interrupt the walking
meditation, but try to bring the qualities of awareness that you have developed in the practice
into your conversation. You might want just to stop for a moment and say something like: Hi
there! Id really like to stop and talk, but Im practicing my walking meditation just now. Can
I call you later?
What you have to watch out for is on the one hand being rude through clinging to the idea that
you are doing something so special that it cant be interrupted, and on the other hand using an
encounter with another person to avoid the practice. We call this being precious about your
practice. Sometimes also we act out of guilt. We feel wehave to stop and talk to this person
because we feel guilty about spending time working on ourselves. This is something we
should work hard to overcome.
If you do happen to stop and talk to someone, then resume your walking meditation practice
afterwards, and at the beginning spend a few moments evaluating what your motives were in
stopping. There is always something to learn from these encounters.
You can adapt the practice of walking metta bhavana to activities such as riding a bus or train,
or driving a car. Rather than have your mind spacing out, you can direct thoughts of loving
kindness toward your fellow passengers and to other drivers, pedestrians, etc. This kind of
activity can powerfully enrich our emotional experience and leave us feeling much happier.
Rather than idly daydream, and have nothing to show for it, we can find ourselves more at
peace with the world and ourselves.

In beauty may I walk

This prayer is part of a nine-day Navajo ritual called the Night Chant.
In beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
Beautifully will I possess again.
Beautifully birds . . .
Beautifully joyful birds

On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.

With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
With beauty may I walk.
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.
A Navajo Indian Prayer of the Second Day of the Night Chant (anonymous)