Meditation: Walking

Walking meditation is a key component of our practice because of the following reasons:

1. It will help you to meditate better in the seating position.

2. It will stop the bio-electromagnetic energy (chi/prana) from pooling in the head as well as the chance of it becoming stagnant in meridian points; that is, it will be evenly distributed all throughout the body, starting from the head and down to the feet.

3. By focusing on the various strokes involved in the walking process, it will enable us to settle down the wanderings of the ego-mind.

4. During walking we are actually massaging and pushing on parts of the feet which will have a beneficial effect on other parts of the body as a result of the mutually interdependent web of cause and effect. Simply put, the human body is interconnected through a web of cause and effect such that the whole and the parts are mutually interdependent. The following charter is pretty much self-explanatory:


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Before you start walking is important that you observe these points:

1. Stand on both feet close to each other.
2. Look in front of you to a distance of 2 m. in front of you.
3. Imagine there is a straight wide line just ahead and you are walking on it. Maintain your attention on that point that is moving forward at the same time you move forward.
4. Breath in and breath out naturally.
5. Your arms should be kept behind or in front of you while you hold hands: right hand holding the left hand.
5. Say: standing, standing, standing (becoming aware of the fact you are stopping).
6. Then you start the actual walking process. Points to be followed:

- Lift the right foot off the floor and repeat: raising, moving, putting. Make sure when you repeat these words you are clearly aware of them. Do it slowly to avoid the mind wandering off.
- Lift the left foot off the floor and repeat: raising, moving, putting.
- When you want to turn around and walk the opposite direction, then you must do the following:

Bring the back foot up to the front foot, next to each other, and repeat the following words:

- Stopping, stopping, stopping (becoming aware of the fact you are stopping).
- Standing, standing, standing (becoming aware of the fact you are standing).

Right after that lift the right foot off the floor and turn 90 deg. to the right saying: turning. Repeat the same process with the left foot.

And finish off by turning both feet facing the opposite way where you came from, and slowly repeat: "turning-turning."

Once you complete the turn start all over again but this time you will be walking in the opposite direction.

7. In addition, before you start walking again after completing the turn, you can stand and meditate in that spot. This break is extremely beneficial!
8. Walk for 10 minutes.
9. Start the sitting part. Do it for 10 minutes.


Points to remember:

1. To succeed in walking meditation we must verbally repeat each point, slowly and matching exactly the movement itself. So when we raise our left foot we are doing it at the same time as we say "raising."

2. The walking and sitting components have equal weigh, which means that if we walk for 10 min. we must sit for 10 min; and if we walk for 40 min, then we must sit for another 40 min.


The following video shows you how to correctly perform walking meditation in its most simple way:




Notes:

1. The walking meditation described in this post is used in the Theravada Buddhist tradition of northern Thailand, being part of what is commonly referred as "Insight meditation" or Satipatthana Vipassana Kammatthana:

Kammatthana: meditational exercise.

Vipassana: insight, understanding the true nature of reality, the direct and intuitive understanding of the true nature of all mental and physical phenomena.

Vipassana is based on the Four Satipatthana, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. That is to say, Insight is realized by the consistent and progressive application of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are:

1. Mindfulness of the Body,
2. Mindfulness of Feelings,
3. Mindfulness of the Mind, and
4. Mindfulness of the Mind Objects.

Taken from "The Only Way," by Venerable Ajahn Tong Sirimangalo, translated by Kathryn Johnston Chindaporn and published in Chomtong, Chiangmai, Thailand, 1999.

2. The Buddhist monk performing the demonstration only focuses in one stepping point: stepping left and then stepping right.