A Mindful Walk

I’m still making my way through Maitreyabandhu’s 8-week course in mindfulness described in his book, Life with Full Attention: A Practical Course in Mindfulness.  As most of you know, practicing mindfulness ideally can help us get into the habit of paying more attention to our life as it happens, rather than operating on automatic pilot.  The more we practice noticing the everyday details in our lives, the more we can savor the moment.

I wanted to share with you one of my absolute favorite mindfulness exercises I’ve learned about so far because it’s something that everyone can do, whether or not you have the time or inclination for other kinds of mindfulness or meditation practices.  In a way, in fact, you have to do it , at least until we all convert to those mobility hover chairs from the movie Wall-E.

It’s taking a short mindful walk.

Weird. That's exactly what the route from my bus stop to work looks like . (Image via DavidSpinks on Flickr)

Yeah, yeah. You probably either have an exercise routine down, or don’t feel like adding any walks to your life.  The great thing about this exercise is that you’re not supposed to do anything different or extra, you should use a walk you already do every day, ideally one between 5 and 20 minutes long. For me, I have about a five-minute walk from the bus stop to my office, so that’s what I’ve been using.  Maybe you walk your dog, or have a walk from where you park at work.

Here’s what you do:

1) Every day (or as often as you can remember), bring your full attention to your physical movement and body sensations as you walk.  That’s right.  You just notice what it feels like to walk.  You don’t walk in any special or different way (unless you want cars to honk at you and small children to ask their parents what’s wrong with that you): you’re just noticing the physical sensations.

2)  Instead of focusing on your breathing (as you might do during meditation), keep bringing your attention back to the feelings in the soles of your feet.  This is where the walking action happens–the transfer of the weight and such.   Use this sensation as an anchor, and every time you get distracted (which will be a lot), gently turn your mind back to the sensations here.

3) Count your steps as you walk; for example, count up to 8 and then count back down to 1.  This’ll serve as another anchor for your attention and help to keep you focused on the task at hand: noticing each step.

4) If it helps, you can use a word or a phrase too.  For example, every time I get up to 8, before I start counting back down to one I think the phrase “walking mindfully.”  Maybe that’s too new-agey for you, but I like it .

5) As you walk, notice any pleasant or unpleasant physical sensations or thoughts, and see if you can let them go and relax your mind and body.

6) Have special appreciation for any pleasant sensations that come your way: the feel of the sun, the sensations of wind, the pleasant feelings in your body, any cute people you pass .  After taking a moment to savor the moment, re-direct your attention to the sensations in the soles of your feet again.

I have been doing a mindful walk nearly every work day for a few weeks now, and I’ve noticed  that I feel a more “awake,” centered, and pleasant when I walk in the door to my office: no small feat because I am not a morning person.   Maitreyabandhu talks about finding “Islands of Mindfulness” in our day to help us be more aware of living our lives, and this is one that I’ve found easily.

Let me know how it goes if anyone tries it!

In other Spiritual and Existential Studies 101 news, I am going back to the Zen Sitting Group meeting this Sunday–I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes.  Have a pleasant end of the work week–it’s 50 degrees and sunny in Pittsburgh, which may signal the Apocalypse, so I’m enjoying it while I can .  Perhaps during my mindful walk today…