In our post last week, we talked about Mouna, the practice of silence. Today we are going to be interested in the benefits of doing meditative excursions. We tend to feel like we have to get somewhere, that we have to hurry, that time is running out. And we rarely stop to ask ourselves: “Hurry, what for?”. When you practice meditation walking, the end is just walking, not getting anywhere at any particular time. It is a pleasant way to deepen the relationship with our body and the earth. We breathe, take a conscious step and return to our true home, which is right here and now.
How to put it into practice?
Begin by feeling your footsteps on the ground, how their rhythm is guided by the breathing, when and how you inhale, when and how you exhale. With each breath we can take a single step. Observe how the tread is produced, feel the support of the earth, the attraction of gravity. Experience the sensations it produces throughout your body. Every conscious breath, every conscious step, reminds us that we are alive on this beautiful planet. We don't need anything else. Look around, stop at the details of nature, what you feel about what you see, how you feel while walking. Through your breathing, identify the smells, the sensations. When we walk like this, with our breath, we bring our body and mind back together. When our mind and body have calmed down, we see more clearly.
The benefits of taking meditative walks and excursions
- Connect with who we are, find our right pace, our own rhythm.
- Pay attention to the action of walking and everything that physically involves: movements, breathing, sensations.
- Learn to listen to silence.
- Feel everything that happens inside and outside of us.
- Be transparent, let everything flow freely, without intervening mentally or emotionally, simply be present.
Walking, like breathing, are processes that we can carry out consciously or unconsciously and it is precisely paying attention to the process of walking that will turn it into a meditation.
