Great advice. Thanks for this post!

I try and do much the same thing, but on my bicycle. I noticed when I started commuting to work how much time I spent trapped in my thoughts while biking. Kind of scary,considering I ride on Oklahoma streets without any bike lanes.

Love this post, Mary. I love walking, and in Summer it is something I like to do at night after dinner has settled. It relaxes me and clears the mind and puts me in the perfect mindset for sleep.

I completely agree with you about exercise helping you to get in touch with your body. That is what has helped me a lot with my own weight loss journey. I have learned to focus on that wonderful feeling of limbs moving, heart thumping, muscles contracting.

These are the signs that I am alive and well. Staying in touch with these sensations is what drives me to keep up with my exercise schedule. I have actually turned into one of those people who kinda “gets off” on exercise. Though for me, running is the ultimate meditation. It makes me feel free and beyond this world. I love it.

Kelly

Walking is my favourite “meditation”. I walk almost every day, sometimes for hours, Dunedin is such a wonderful place for walking. I walk through the Botanic Garden, through a little forest and the Northern Cemetery. I love walking through old cemeteries. Or along the beach. Sometimes I walk relatively fast, sometimes I walk slowly and mindfully and focus on my breathing or on the soles of my feet touching the ground, sometimes I stop and have a look around and tune into the soundscape. Most of the time I’m away with the fairies but who cares. I feel alive and in touch with my body when I walk. I like it best when it’s overcast and may be raining a little bit. I’m alone, all one. And the birds going crazy on days like that.

I love walking! Thank you very much for this post…

Hi Mary,
I know walking…we have just moved to North Wales right opposite the beach. We are discovering the power of long walks every evening. There is defiitely something therepeutic about it.

I completely agree! The morning is a nice time for clarity and to get the “cobwebs”out. Evening is a good time to reflect and think. Please keep the wisdom coming…

I’m not a “spiritual” person. I don’t believe in “souls”, the supernatural.. reality is amazing enough for me.

But walking? I’m with you on that. Great for body and mind.

Great post Mary. Never gave too much thought to walking till now really. I enjoy walking a lot and running even more. Most of the time however I tend to walk mindlessly, drifting away with my thought in other places. I’m in, as you’ve very put it, in “autopilot” mode. I don’t know if it’s good thing or not, but I sometimes take pleasure walking around without any purpose, meditating towards my inner reflexions. I also feel fantastic when I have someone I care about next to me. I love going for walks with my girlfriend, while we’re holding hands. There’s a special connection that I just can’t express in words.

I think walking mindfully is one of the best ways to train yourself to keep mindfully in your normal life.
I started trying to do it since I started doing zazen with my group in Christchurch.
Although it is quite difficult to keep the mind focused, it is easier to bring your mind back when it goes astray.
I am a professor and most of my daily activity consits of preparing my lectures, reading, marking exams, doing some research and so on, mainly mental activities and staying mindfully through them is extremely difficult. So when I walk to the classroom or to the library is an opportunity to come back to myself.

I don’t look for a special way of walking, only the one that is normal to me, my normal pace.

Ulises

Hello,

I am so glad I found your site. I’ll subscribe right away.

Meditative walking is such a beautiful practice. Well, as you say, it is a bridge between formal meditation and everyday life. In that way, it can lead us to see life more fully, for what it is, rather than what our past judgments have fixed it as.

I wrote a piece called “Little Buddha Walking” in my site “Zen-Moments” (brand new). The method involves seeing the world on your walk through the eyes of an infant.

Now I am going to subscribe and read some more of your articles. I’ll be sure to pass your site along to friends. Thank you.

Ciao,
John

Thanks Mary

There are so many ways we can enjoy life more deeply through enhanced awareness. The good part is, they can feel so natural, and what is more natural than walking?

Best,
John

There is neither walk nor feet, how can someone meditate?
Zen lies everywhere and nowhere
Be sure to lie down while you walk too
The zen permeates everything that you do

…

Hi Mary,

I am enjoying your blog immensely. I am the creator of a weight and life mastery program called The Weight Loss Master’s Club. The wisdom of Zen is at the heart of my program as it was a big part of my recovery from binge eating disorder and bulimia.

Walking is a very important part of my daily spiritual practice. I credit my daily walking for awakening my love of nature and opening me to her healing powers. Walking reveals many truths about life. My daily walks have shown me that I am part of the divine perfection of this world, and that change is happening every moment and to trust and embrace it, to move effortlessly with the flow of nature.

In nature I am able to enter the stillness easily and be filled with joy, peace and love. Nature soothes and nurtures me. In her presence I feel reverence, awe and rapture. Her beauty feeds my soul. I feel safe in her warm, all encompassing embrace.

I take my camera out with me on my daily walks. Photography has been a very useful adjunct to my mindfulness practice. By shooting pictures of my daily environment, I am able to see the constant changes in the environment around me. The act of focusing on my surroundings centers me in the moment instead of walking mindlessly, lost in thought, not really noticing anything.

For three years I walked every day in the circle where I lived. This circle was a third of a mile long. I would walk three times around the circle daily, documenting my surroundings with my digital camera. I took pictures of all the trees, plants, flowers, and animals I encountered on my daily walks. I began to sense each of the plants and trees as a living being. I could feel their energy. I began to think of the trees and plants in my circle as a council of wise beings and friends who had much to teach me about life.

I also got to meet my neighbors and their pets. This gave me a sense of community that was missing in my life. I had lived around these people for years and never even talked to them! I began to see them as fellow travelers on the journey. We were all taking part in the grand rhythm and walk of life, supported by Mother Nature herself!

In this time I was able to see the change of the seasons and I learned to appreciate each season’s special type of beauty. After awhile, I began to realize that the changes that were happening outside of me, were happening inside of me as well.

Winter is a time of dormancy, of incubating new ideas. Spring is a time of rebirth and celebration and bringing forth new ideas. Summer is a time of action and doing. Fall is a time of harvest, of reaping what one has sown all year, a time of giving thanks and turning within in preparation for the darkness of winter.

I was not separate from nature, but belonged to her. She had so much to teach me about being, trusting in the process of life, and allowing change. I am so grateful for her soothing guidance and abundance. When I need to feel centered, her gracious presence is within reach, a short walk away, waiting for me with open arms.

Catherine L. Taylor, The Weight Loss Master
The Weight Loss Master’s Club

To read the full article go to http://www.secretsofaweightlossmaster.com/weight-loss-soulful-walking.html

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