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Meditation In Motion

December 20, 2012 / Selfseeds / Comments Off on Meditation In Motion


A picture of an image with the word " sprout ".

Photo credit: Heather Marsh

Even though I am sitting more in my current meditation practice, I find that walking, spinning on the bike, or jogging on the treadmill are useful states for meditation in motion–moving but in a non stressful way.  Somehow, it almost gives the body and mind enough of a job/purpose that it opens up the ability to go deeper without the usual judgements and mind chatter.  Multi-tasking but at a gentle level rather than the fierce level we often live at.

Going from 100 to 0 is often a BIG jump for people when looking at adding in a “stilling” practice, so why not be kind and supportive of one’s self by funneling one’s self towards deeper, inner stillness. While training young horses, the idea was to introduce stillness by letting the horse move and then ask for standing, let the horse move in a constructive way and then ask for immobility, repeating until the individual could relax in the immobile phase instead of holding it from a place of tension.  What would follow would be asking for movement from stillness instead of allowing a release of tension in movement.  Horses are designed to move, are often on alert as a prey animal, so resting for them is often a point of vulnerability.  In some ways, our hectic lives have created this same mentality; when we are not doing, something is ‘wrong’ and we are deficient in some way.

From years of inner focus while in motion, I see that the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  I am learning about going super deep in meditation now, but it is not practical while I am doing in the world; I need to be aware of my body and I need to take care of my body while I inhabit it.  I recently learned that yoga positions were created when the deep meditators from the distant past realized they needed to take care of their bodies, so they could meditate without obstruction from the body.

The key to meditation in motion is to do something that doesn’t require a high level of concentration and focus.  Pick something that is familiar and is fluid.  While walking, I have the grace and fitness to move without a lot of attention to detail, but I still need to be mindful of  irregular ground, traffic, direction etc. that create minor disturbances.  While on the stationary bike,  I have the rhythm and tempo to maintain, but fewer functional distractions.  When I was swimming,  the feel and quietness of the water while moving was lovely.  The repetitiveness of the stroke was meditative in many aspects.  Pick your motion and enjoy: sweeping, dusting, raking, weed pulling…

The point is to tame yourself in steps and not feel failure or have judgement when the mind finds a way to engage.  How many years have most of us lived with mind chatter?  My meditative state in motion happens without effort now, but while sitting there is an attention to funneling.

A picture of an image with the word " sprout ".

Walking meditation: How to do it
Mother Nature Network (blog)
If you sit all day at work, have limited time, or are the restless type, you may feel challenged by a sittingmeditation practice. But one of the amazing things about meditation is that it can be practiced in many different ways (though oftentimes …

Walking meditation: How you can do it too
Calm your mind and relax your body while moving through your world.

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A man walks across a city

Photo: Gerard Avila/Flickr

If you sit all day at work, have limited time, or are the restless type, you may feel challenged by a sitting meditation practice. But one of the amazing things about meditation is that it can be practiced in many different ways (though oftentimes, people less familiar with the subject think that sitting with your eyes closed “Ohming” is the only way to do it).
Want proof? Yogi Sayadaw U Silananda writes, “At our meditation retreats, yogis practice mindfulness in four different postures. They practice mindfulness when walking, when standing, when sitting, and when lying down. They must sustain mindfulness at all times in whatever position they are in. The primary posture for mindfulness meditation is sitting with legs crossed, but because the human body cannot tolerate this position for many hours without changing, we alternate periods of sitting meditation with periods of walking meditation.”
I regularly practice walking meditation, especially on busy days or when I sit most of the day (which is hard for me; my body doesn’t like it!). Sometimes I take 15 minutes out to have a short walk outside to practice (much healthier than a smoke break or a trip to coffee shop), and sometimes I incorporate it into my walk from spin class or to work (or both!). Here’s how I do it:
Get comfortable: Try to arrange your bags/scarf/hat in a way that gives you a clear field of view, keeps you comfortable, and is as non-restrictive to normal walking as possible. If you can avoid bringing anything with you, that’s ideal.
Relax your eyes: You’re going to have to watch where you’re going, of course, but when I’m doing a walking meditation, whether I’m in the city or on a woodsy path, a dirt road in Vermont or beachside, I always keep my “looking” in check. In the city that means I don’t read signs that come into view (I can’t be the only one who otherwise reads every piece of written matter that comes in front of me), I don’t look at people’s faces, and I do set my gaze somewhere in the middle distance, so that I can easily observe what’s in front of me, while not “looking” at anything in particular.
Walk and breathe: At a moderate pace (I slow down my normally very-fast pace, but there’s no need to walk super-slowly), start taking deep breaths as you walk. I like to count; five breaths in and six or seven breaths out, calmly and slowly. I do this at least five times to get in the zone, and then keep taking deep relaxed breaths for the rest of my time.
Be patient: Just like with any kind of meditation, it’s always easy to get distracted. But this is actually great practice. When a person walks in front of you, you focus on a sign, or you have to stop at a crosswalk or pick your way across a stream, focus on just what’s happening, move past it, and keep walking and breathing. If you want to focus on something, notice how your legs, knees and feet all work together to keep you locomoting without having to really think about it.
Finish: I like to officially “close” my meditation sessions, whatever kind they are. A walking meditation is my time to be really appreciative for all that allows me to even practice walking meditation in the first place, so I say a mental thanks.

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