What is the difference between walking meditation and mindful walking? What about the difference between walking meditation and meditating while walking?! Let's take a closer look at various options for mindfulness while moving.

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In this episode, I discuss:

• 00:44 - Grounding & Check-In
• 04:00 - Introduction
• 05:34 - Walking Meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh ⁠
• 07:27 - Meditating with Tai Chi, Yoga Qigong
• 09:31 - What is Kinhin?
• 10:39 - Why Moving Meditation and Could it Work for You?
• 13:16 - Benefits of Walking Meditation
• 14:27 - Practice: Moving Meditation

Resources:

• Older video of ⁠Thich Nhat Hanh discussing Walking Meditation⁠
• Beautiful Guided ⁠Walking Meditation | Guided by Brother Khiet Minh⁠ of Plum Village
• ⁠Introduction to Kinhin⁠, Zen Buddhist walking Meditation, which punctuates periods of Zazen (seated meditation)
• ⁠15 Minute Mindful Walking Meditation⁠ from Wildwood Mindfulness
  

Episode Show Notes:

"Welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank you for spending part of your day with me.

How is your day going? How are you feeling? What's happening for you?

Maybe let's take a quiet moment to settle in, check in, notice where you're at in the moment. If you are in a space, in a place where you can, perhaps allow your gaze to soften or your eyes to close, and let your awareness slowly, gently travel through your physical body. How are you feeling physically in the moment? Maybe notice the feeling of an in-breath and an out-breath.

And if you are somewhere where you can, again, maybe point, flex the feet or circle the ankles. Maybe do a dental turn of the torso side to side. Shrug your shoulders up toward your ears, and then let them slide back and down a few times. Shrug, draw them back and down. Shrug the shoulders up, draw them back and down.

And again, if you're somewhere where it works, sweep the hands up overhead. You can bring the palms together if you like, or interlace the fingers, and then grow those arms long, long, long, stretching up to the sky, and then start to slowly bend over to your right. Feel that stretch move from the left hip up into the waist, into the side body, shoulder, arm.

Slow, lift yourself back through center. Grow long in the center. Stretch, stretch, stretch the hands up toward the sky. Slow, side bend other way. Feel that stretch expand through the side body.

Slow, lift to center. Allow the arms to relax. Maybe lower the chin down toward the chest, and then slowly rock the chin side to side, letting your chin draw toward one collarbone, and then the other. Let the chin fall to the chest.

Lift the head back up. Take a big breath in through the nose. And a full breath out through the nose or the mouth. And then notice again how you're feeling.

I'd like to muse a little more today on meditation postures, options for how we sit, lie, stand, or move as we meditate. And today, I want to particularly start to dive into this idea of moving, moving while we meditate. What does that look like? And some ways to start to explore whether that could be something that works well for you.

My very first experience with the idea of moving meditation, or at least as the first one that I can remember, was during undergrad. You may remember, if you've been listening regularly, a few episodes ago, I referenced taking an Eastern and Western religion class, which was just incredibly eye-opening and interesting to a very, very sheltered person who grew up with very little awareness of what was happening outside of my own community and the religion in which I was raised.

And there was an extra credit assignment in my Eastern religion class, and I can't even remember exactly what the assignment was.

But the way that I fulfilled it was I went to the public library and I checked out a VHS tape, so that will tell you about how long ago this was, of Thich Nhat Hanh's walking meditation.

And I actually went back and found a little clip of it on YouTube.

So I'll put it in the show notes just for fun, for those of you who might be curious.

Both the video and audio quality are pretty awful.

But I rented this VHS tape and I tried walking meditation.

And what I remember is it being incredibly slow, both the way that he spoke, that he presented himself, and then the way that the group of people moved together through the process of walking meditation at the end was just so intentional.

With the focus really being an awareness of the connection of each part of each foot to the earth as you move in this really slow, grounded, connected, intentional manner.

And then also this idea of smiling while meditating, and of thinking about that connection to the earth generating joy and peace.

And even though I didn't come back to Thich Nhat Hanh's work in a really purposeful or regular way until many years later, that video, that first introduction to this approach to walking meditation, has always stuck with me, and particularly that emphasis on slowness.

And then inspired by that class, I also ended up during undergrad taking a Tai Chi class.

And Tai Chi, it tends to be much bigger movements, and the movements are taking you through all planes of movement, all ranges of motion.

And the awareness is much more on the movement of the body through space and the movement of energy through the body rather than this very particular awareness of the connection of the foot to the earth.

And then a few years later, I found yoga for the first time.

I'll spend a little more time in future episodes deep diving into Tai Chi, into Qigong, into yoga.

But I just wanted to mention here kind of my experience of encountering each one and noticing the difference in sort of the type of movement and the focus of the practice.

Yoga doesn't always have to be, but it can be still a little bit of a faster movement even than Tai Chi.

And again, more of the focus on the movement of the body through space and of pairing movement with breath.

And then fast forward quite a number of years later, starting massage school, we spent some time each morning before class practicing Qi Gong as a way to prepare our bodies for the physical demands of practicing massage therapy.

Qi Gong has many parallels to Tai Chi, and is another process that really takes the body through all planes of movement, and is a very slow, grounded, mindful process.

And then right after massage school, that is when I ended up at the Ithika Zen Center, and started practicing under Yoshin David Raiden for the first time, and encountered Kin Hin.

Kin Hin is Buddhist walking meditation.

And what I found practicing in that context, as opposed to the walking meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh, was that it was much more rhythmic, and the focus was on the step, the step, the step, staying in step.

And it was this process of moving together with others in a group, and sort of being anchored to the movement that facilitated the mindfulness, rather than in the Thich Nhat Hanh meditation, this really slow, grounded connection and awareness of the foot landing on the earth that facilitated the mindful awareness of the moment.

And then, fast forward yet again to just a few years ago, and in my own process both of discovering somatic types of work, somatic body work, somatic meditation, and then also my own journey of discovering my neurodivergence and learning that a lot of folks with neurodivergent don't do well with sitting meditations, that I started to encounter this idea of doing other types of mindfulness meditation while moving.

And what could it look like to have a mindful awareness of the body, or a mindful awareness of the breath, or a mindful awareness of the senses, while walking slowly through a familiar area?

As you think about your inclinations, your goals, your struggles, trying a walking meditation, does that really, really slow walk appeal to you, where you're really keenly focused on the surface of your foot connecting to the earth?

Does a slightly faster movement appeal to you, where you're focused on one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other?

Or do you like the idea of walking really slowly through a familiar area, as you do a different type of meditation?

Many types of mindful meditations are really adaptable to being done while moving.

If it is a fully guided meditation that is focused on visualization, please do not try to do that while you're walking.

That's the kind of meditation where you do want to be able to soften your gaze or close your eyes.

So just think about that as you move forward.

And then in addition to that older clip of of Thich Nhat Hanh, I will put some other video resources in there for you to start to explore, and maybe a slower style, maybe a slightly faster style, and then an idea of a meditation that you could do while walking slowly through a familiar area.

And why would we do this?

Why would we do a walking meditation?

Or why would we do another type of meditation while walking?

So if you've been listening for a while, or you've been researching meditation in general, you've probably started to learn the plethora of benefits that come along with meditation.

And you know that we get the benefits of meditation when we're doing it regularly, and we're going to do it regularly if we're enjoying it and we feel successful.

So if a moving meditation is the thing that's going to get you out there doing it, and stay in routine, and stay practicing, then that is the thing that I want to invite you to try to create, to try to build that practice that really works for you.

With the added benefits of most often when we're doing a walking meditation, we're outdoors, so we're getting the benefit of a little fresh air, a little sunshine, and then of course, we're also moving our bodies.

We are moving our hip joints.

We are getting some steps in.

We are also reaping that benefit of movement.

What I would love to do with you today is just a short mindfulness meditation as you are moving through space.

So if you'd like, go ahead and pause here and get yourself set up to head outdoors.

And any time we are doing any type of walking meditation, I always say walking slowly through a familiar area with supportive footwear.

I invite you first to find a comfortable stance, allow both feet to feel fully connected to the earth, do a little sway forward-backward, a little sway side-to-side.

Find yourself centered, grounded, right in the middle.

Do a little bend and straighten to the knees.

Find a place where the knees feel long but not locked.

And getting ready to start a slow walk forward.

As you step, allow your awareness to stay with that step.

Notice the movement of your hip, leg, and foot as it travels forward in front of the other, and the connection of your foot to the earth.

The rocking of your body weight forward, the lifting of your back foot.

As you continue to move slowly through space, keeping that awareness anchored to the movement in your lower body.

And then begin to bring your awareness specifically to the connection of the sole of your foot to the earth.

How does it feel as one heel connects with sort of sense or pressures communicated back to the foot as you roll through that step?

How does it feel to lift the heel as the toe is connected and then lift that foot from the earth?

Continuing to slow step forward one foot at a time.

As each foot connects, notice the ground, notice the pressure, notice the feedback.

Is there sound, crunch of twigs or leaves?

Continuing to step one foot forward at a time.

Full awareness, foot connecting to the earth.

Notice when you get distracted, gently come back.

And then allow your awareness to come to the sense of your breath.

As you continue to slowly move through space, stepping one foot in front of the other, allow yourself to really feel, notice, explore all the sensations of your inhale, and then really notice, experience, get curious about all the sensations of your exhale.

And as you continue to slowly move forward and mindfully breathe in and out, keep your awareness anchored here to the sense of your breath.

Notice when you get distracted and gently invite your thoughts back.

Gently broaden your awareness back out to include your whole self, your whole body.

Slowly come to a stop.

Bring your awareness back to the connection of your feet to the earth.

Find a comfortable stance.

Take a big breath in and a slow breath out.

Lift your gaze up, taking in the sights, the textures, the light above you.

Notice how you feel.

How do you feel?

How was that for you?

As always, I invite you to spend any time that feels right, reflecting or journaling, any time that you'd like thinking about any practices here that you might like to carry forward, to experiment with.

Take care of yourself.

I will see you next time.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Maitri Musings.

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Thank you and be well.