Take a Mindful Walk

For many of us, sitting in stillness to meditate can be challenging to say the least.

So why not try a mindful walk and meditate on the move instead?

I tend to head off to open spaces, somewhere away from traffic noise, where I can be immersed in nature. But you don’t need to go far … your own back garden will do just fine. Leave your phone at home or switched to silent mode so that you won’t be disturbed and make sure you’re dressed for the weather.

You can walk at any speed. Begin by paying attention to your own footsteps: notice how your feet connect you to the earth below, while the crown of your head lifts you towards the sky above.

Invite your breath to be as soft, slow, even and deep as is comfortable for you. Maybe your footsteps fall into rhythm with the breath, maybe they don’t. There’s no need to force your pace or the breath.

Guide your attention to the body and, slowly working your way from the top of the head to the soles of the feet, notice any sensations that may be apparent. With each soft breath, visualise letting go of any discomfort, tightness or tension in the body.

Then, one by one, allow your senses to come alive.

Start with all that you can see. Pay attention to all that you can see next to you, in front of you, to the sides of you, out in the distance, close at hand, below you and above you (never forget to look up!)

Next, move to what you can hear. Notice all of the sounds around you: the birds singing, perhaps a distant car or an aeroplane overhead, someone calling for their dog, the sound of your own footsteps on whatever surface you’re walking on or maybe just the sound of your own breath. Before you move on, now notice the tiny pauses, the moments of silence between the sounds: they are there if you look for them.

Then smell. What can you smell as you walk? Maybe the perfume of flowers or shrubs, the scent of wet grass after recent rainfall, the smell of cooking from a neighbour’s house.

From smell to touch. What can you feel as you walk? The wind brushing against your skin? The rain or snow dampening your face? The sun warming your skin? Your hand grazing against shrub as you pass by?

Are you able to taste anything as you walk? What might it be like to catch a raindrop or snowdrop on your tongue, perhaps as you did when you were a child?

As you walk, you can keep rotating through each of the senses in turn, while you continue to invite the breath to be soft and slow and even. Notice if you find yourself out of breath occasionally. As you breathe in, know that you are breathing in. As you breath out, know that you are breathing out.

When it’s time to return indoors, notice how you feel.