When most people hear the word mindfulness, they automatically think of meditation, which is one form of mindfulness. They also think that meditation is sitting incredibly still and incredibly silent. While that is a traditional seated meditation practice, meditation can be practiced in other ways too.

One of those ways is a walking meditation practice. This is the perfect meditation practice for those of you who struggle to sit still or want to add some meditation into your life, but can’t seem to find the time. We have to walk somewhere every day anyway so might as well incorporate some meditation into our steps!

“Meditation can be practiced in other ways too. ”

Walking meditation cultivates an awareness of bringing our bodies, hearts, and minds together as we move about life. You can practice this more formally, based on traditional walking meditation practice that has historically been used to break up long periods of sitting meditation. Or you can practice this more informally as you go about your day.

In formal walking meditation, choose a specific space (outdoors or indoors) to walk about 10-30 paces straight ahead. At the end of that path, turn around and walk that same amount of paces back, doing this over and over for a set amount of time, 10 to 15 minutes or longer if you’d like. This is something to practice daily, same as you would sitting meditation, in order to experience all those great benefits, like calm, clarity, creativity, and joy.

More informal walking meditation happens when you choose to pay attention to your walking as you’re out and about in normal every day life. This can be done anywhere, anytime you’re already walking or planning to walk with another purpose in mind, other than meditation.

Either way, the actual experience of walking meditation is essentially the same, whether you’re practicing formally or informally:

Start by standing still and feeling the weight of your body pressing your feet into the ground, as well as your muscles supporting you as you stand.
Rest your arms and hands easily at your sides or however is most comfortable for you.
Notice the stillness before you begin walking, relaxing into it.
As you begin walking, you can walk at any pace you’d like, but most people will at least start, if not continue for the entire walking meditation, at a slower pace than they’d normally walk. I highly recommend this slowing down, especially if you tend to be a speed racer like myself, as it allows for a greater awareness than you may have otherwise, as well as lends itself to further reducing stress.
Pay attention to the sensations in your feet and legs as you move. Whether they feel light or heavy, any tingling or pressure, any physical sensation that’s present, even pain if you encounter that.
Also, notice the physical sensations in the rest of your body as it engages in movement along with your legs and feet. Your arms, stomach, glutes, and other body parts may not be the stars of this show, but they do play a role.
These sensations are what you’re anchoring your attention to rather than your breath or another source of focus. This is where we come back to over and over again as we walk.
Notice how it feels to lift your feet and set them back down onto the ground.
Try to walk in as relaxed and natural way as possible.
If you are practicing more formally and need to turn around, when you reach that point, stop and pause for a moment. Feel your entire body standing in place, and then slowly, mindfully, and with intention, turn to face in the other direction. Before you begin walking, pause again to center yourself. You can do this pausing with eyes open or closed, depending on what’s most comfortable. If you’re practicing walking meditation more informally you can bring this same awareness to any natural pause in your walk, stoplights, crossing the street, turning the corner, or heading back home.

As with any meditation or mindfulness activity, it’s absolutely normal for your mind to wander. Whenever it does, observe where your mind wandered to, whether it’s thoughts, emotions, or things outside of yourself. Notice this wandering and gently return your attention back to the sensations of the next step.

As with any mindfulness practice, there is no right or wrong way to do the walking meditation. These are simply guidelines to get you started and keep you engaged. Your experience is your experience. When you find yourself not present with it, you’re present again. Try not to judge yourself, but if you find yourself doing so, try not to judge yourself judging yourself! If you can bring yourself back to the present moment over and over again, no matter how long you were away from it, then you’re doing it!

If you experience intense sensations, whether physical or emotional, it’s perfectly okay to pause and be fully aware of those sensations, noticing how they shift and change as you observe them.

If there’s severe physical pain that indicates an injury please DO NOT continue on, but care for that pain rather than make it worse. The purpose of this exercise is to gain increased awareness of your body, mind, and heart so that you can make healthier decisions in caring for yourself. You can’t do that if you’re hurting yourself. If you have an injury that doesn’t allow you to walk for the time being, you can practice another form of moving or still meditation until you can walk safely again.

“If you can bring yourself back to the present moment over and over again, no matter how long you were away from it, then you’re doing it! ”

While the purpose of the walking meditation is to focus on the physical sensations of the movement, you can add more to it as you become skilled with the basics. For example, you might coordinate your breath with your steps or observe what’s happening around you with your five senses, in addition to the physical sensations. If you’re new to this, though, I’d highly recommend starting out with the basic walking meditation so your don’t overwhelm yourself. The whole point of this is to create peace and awareness, not increase stress.

I hope you find this practice to be calming and eye opening to you in many ways. Please let me know what you think after practicing this in the comments below.