How to wind down with “walking meditation” – 3 steps towards a new habit!

We are so busy with what needs to be done and what comes next that we risk missing the experience of the life we are living, while we are living it.

Increases our ability to experience positive emotions

Mindfulness and various forms of meditation train us to tune in to what we are experiencing: to consciously notice our thoughts, feelings and physical states, without judging them as good or bad. This helps to counteract stress, but also increases our ability to experience positive emotions.

For many beginners, sitting still during meditation is a major challenge — an added difficulty in itself. That is why we particularly like one of the fundamental mindfulness methods that involves walking!

Focus on the physical experience of walking

“Walking meditation”, or “gångmeditation” in Swedish, is about mindfully focusing on the physical experience of walking — in other words, consciously noticing all the components of every single step. With a little practice, it can become an excellent way to bring more moments of mindfulness into everyday life. Perhaps it may even become an unconscious habit and skill that you then carry with you into other everyday situations.

“When I go for a walk, I personally count from 1 to 8 over and over again.” Therese Ericsson is a wellness consultant trained in health education, methodology and investigation processes, with a focus on communication and stress management. “At first it was a way of resting the brain, but now it is a habit I do unconsciously. So yes, absolutely — it becomes a habit that happens by itself when you do the same thing enough times!”

Practice example – how to do it

1) Begin the exercise with 10–15 steps

Find a stretch where you can walk around 10–15 steps. This can be indoors or outdoors. If possible, choose a place that is relatively calm so that you can walk undisturbed, even if there are people around.

Walk 10–15 steps along the stretch you have chosen, then pause for as long as you like. Breathe.

Turn around when you feel ready, and walk back in the opposite direction. Pause. Breathe.

When you are ready, repeat the same thing again.

This is the basic exercise you start with. You can walk at whatever pace you like; the important thing is that you feel comfortable in your steps. You can either let your arms and hands follow your steps, swinging by the sides of your body, or clasp them behind your back. Do what feels good and avoid making it complicated. Once you have found your rhythm, you can add more to the exercise.

2) Focus your attention

Now you can add a level of difficulty. As you stroll through the basic exercise, try to focus all your attention on one or more sensations that you would normally take for granted:

The breaths flowing in and out of your body
The movement of your feet and legs
The contact between your feet and the ground
Sounds around you
How your head is balanced on your neck and shoulders
Whatever your eyes take in — focusing on the world as it is in front of you

No matter how hard you try to focus, your thoughts will wander. That is a natural part of being human. By choosing to bring your attention back to the sensation you have decided to observe, you are training your mind. Just as a muscle grows through repeated movement, your ability to focus on the present moment grows when you repeatedly choose to direct your attention back to where you want it to be.

3) Every component of each step

Walking meditation aims to help you think about, and carry out, a series of actions and movements very consciously — things you would normally do completely automatically. Once you have got the hang of steps one and two, you can break each step down into its smaller parts. You walk as in the basic exercise, but add conscious focus to each part of the step:

Notice how you lift your foot
How you move your foot forwards, a little away from where you are standing
When you place your foot on the ground in front of you — how does it feel?
You shift your body weight towards the front leg
Sense how the heel of the back foot lifts from the ground while the front part of the foot and the toes are still touching the ground
How you lift the back foot completely off the ground
Observe how the foot swings forwards and lowers towards the ground
Feel how the foot, usually heel first, reaches the ground
And experience your body weight sinking into the foot as your body moves forwards

Why it works

When we rush along on autopilot, it is easy to miss experiences. With greater awareness of our inner sensations and our external surroundings, we can adapt more easily and feel better. Paying more attention to the process of walking can increase our sense of appreciation and enjoyment of our physical bodies.

In addition, increased awareness of our mental and physical state helps us gain a greater sense of control over our thoughts, feelings and actions. Walking meditation — like mindfulness in general — trains us in that awareness and enables us to respond in more constructive ways when we experience negative thoughts or feelings. It helps you choose how to relate to the emotions and experiences you are having.

Source

This article is an adaptation of an exercise compiled by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, “Science-based practices for a meaningful life”.

Based on research by:

Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57(1), 35–43.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School

Links

UC Berkeley

“Science-based practices for a meaningful life”

Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.