Here’s a Simple Guide on How to Do Walking Meditation

Stress and anxiety have escalated everywhere right now owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. One of the many suggestions made by mental health professionals is to practice walking meditation in this phase to calm your mind. Walking meditation, also known as mindful walking, is a form of meditation in action.

Many of you might be aware of the benefits of meditation but not everyone feels comfortable sitting in the same position for a long time. In walking meditation, you use the experience of walking as your primary focus. It helps you be aware of your mind and body and allows you to be mindful of all your thoughts, emotions, and sensations. This practice, if done properly, can turn into a tool for mindfulness and stress reduction. Now that you know the importance of mindful walking, you would surely like to know exactly how to follow the practice. Here, we help you understand how to do walking meditation through simple yet effective steps.

1. Find a place to walk

One of the cool advantages of walking meditation is that it can be done inside or outside if the area is relatively quiet. It can be the verandah inside your house or the little park outside your place. However, it would better if you avoid steep hills or places where you would be forced to stop regularly. Generally, a lane that allows you to walk back and forth for 10-15 paces without being disturbed would be ideal. Also, the lane doesn’t need to be very long as you don’t have to reach a specific destination through walking meditation.

Now, before you begin walking, do some basic stretches to loosen your body. Your spine should be straight and you should have a good posture before you start. Another good tip is that initially, you should try meditation walking indoors as there would be fewer distractions.

2. Start walking

Once you’ve chosen your spot, you can begin walking. To practice walking meditation properly, first, take 10-15 steps along the lane you’ve chosen while breathing normally. Walk slowly and take small steps. After you have finished your steps, pause, and breathe again. Don’t be in a rush and always take your time. Once you feel comfortable and have finished breathing, take another 10-15 steps in the opposite direction. Continue this process for at least 15 minutes.

If you are not comfortable going back and forth, however, you can also meditate by walking in a straight path. It is crucial to remember here that you are not aiming for a good workout through this routine but are trying to connect to your body and mind.

3. Connect your breathing with your steps

One of the main goals of walking meditation is to create unity between your body and your mind. You can achieve this by following a few instructions regularly. Firstly, breathe in as you take two or three steps. Then, you have to breathe out and take three, four, or five steps. To keep the cycle going, you should alter the number of steps you take with each breath. However, make sure that you don’t stress yourself in doing so. There's shouldn't be any rush. Find what is comfortable for your body and mind.

Remember that it may take you a while to find your rhythm and the pattern that you find convenient. However, your breathing should be slow and relaxed no matter what pattern you adopt.

4. Awareness of your body

A vital part of walking meditation is to be aware of each part of your body. As you are walking, you should notice how your feet feel when they are touching the ground. Also, take note of how your muscles contract as you take each step and the myriad sensations you feel in each part of your body. Even small things like the changing position of your hip as you lift your leg to take a step or how your arms and shoulders swing as you walk should be observed and felt.

You don’t have to think about these body movements, though. You just need to notice and feel the different sensations in your body as you move. This will allow you to connect with it on a deeper level.

5. Awareness of your feelings 

Meditation walking also involves being aware of your feelings. When you are walking, notice if there are things that feel pleasant or unpleasant in your body, or outside of you. There are bound to be a few, surely. When you do notice things that are unpleasant in your body, don’t cling onto them but don’t push them away either. Just take note of them. If there are unpleasant things in the outside world that you notice, allow them to drift by. Don’t follow them or change your gaze for those things.

Keep reminding yourself as you walk that there are no right or wrong feelings. You needn’t fight your sentiments. Instead, accept whatever you feel and let it be a part of your meditation walking experience.

6. Take note of your thoughts and emotions

When you are mediation walking you will experience a range of emotions, too. Your emotions will be affected by what is currently happening in your life. It may be some happiness over a new job or sadness over some other issue. You might also be irritated or anxious about something in your life. Whatever emotions you might be feeling at that point, just observe them and don’t let yourself cling on to them. Allow your thoughts to flow naturally.

Also, notice your mind during this process. Is your mind at peace or are you thinking about things unconnected with this practice? Whether you are experiencing negative or positive thoughts, just notice them without any judgment and focus on your walking.

7. Honing your ability to focus

One of the most difficult things to attain in walking meditation is to be aware of your body, feelings, and emotions. This might feel daunting initially and hence it would be better if you break it down and make it simpler. Start by focusing only on your body at first. Give it time and don’t feel agitated if the focus doesn’t come easily in the beginning. It will take time so you need to keep at it. Once you have become a little comfortable on focusing on your body, you can switch to being aware of your feelings and thoughts. This, too, will take time. The more you practice, the better you will get. 

Once you have gotten the hang of it, you can modify your focus based on your needs. For instance, you may want to become more aware of your feelings at a certain point and don’t want to be aware of your body or thoughts. Walking meditation allows you to do that once you practice it regularly and integrate it into your daily life. Over time, with the help of this technique, you will feel that your ability to focus, despite the distractions, keeps improving.

8. Allow yourself to live in the moment 

The primary idea behind walking meditation is to allow yourself to live in the moment. You don’t have to reach any destination as you should only focus on the journey of this unique exercise. Live in the moment and forget the past. While you are walking, your mind may wander. Let it do so without feeling anxious. Observe those thoughts and let your mind come back to the present moment, to the present breath, whenever it feels comfortable. 

Let yourself be free as you walk and don’t worry about any goal. You will feel light and relaxed with time. As you make this into a habit you will start to learn how to live in the present moment rather than always being worried about the future.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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Train your mind to keep depression at bay

The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our life! Positive and empowering thoughts, emotions, and feelings create energy in our body that makes us happy and joyous. Negative and disempowering thoughts, on the other hand, create inertia and force us to stay stuck! A simple change in perspective can make a world of difference.

You don’t need to force yourself to make deep inner changes. You can choose to change your thoughts, beliefs and perspective to something more useful that empowers you. Here’s how you can train your mind and give a positive direction to your life:


Accept responsibility for your life and regain control – There’s a comfort that comes from having an excuse for your challenges in life. Whether you blame your issues on poor parenting, a boss that hates you, a negative spouse, or the universe in general, it’s soothing to have an excuse. However, that excuse comes at a cost. By putting the blame and responsibility outside of yourself, you take away your power to change your situation.

Does this mean everything is your fault? Of course, not! But it is your responsibility. If you don’t fix it, who will? If you choose to see everything in your life as your responsibility and start making some changes, you will eventually enjoy the power that comes with responsibility.

Examine your current beliefs and choose those that empower you – Your beliefs are like your software. If your software is faulty, you aren’t operating efficiently. Examine each belief you have and determine if it is serving you or holding you back. Look at your behaviour for clues regarding your internal thought processes. What must you believe to be behaving the way you do? Now question the belief to see if it’s really true!

For example, if you believe that you are not loved, you are bound to become extremely sensitive around people. In this state, you are more likely to take everything that’s been said, very personally. To avoid hurting you, people will eventually distance them from you. This will further strengthen the belief that you are not loved. The cycle will then repeat itself and suck you into a downward emotional spiral as a result.

On the other hand, if you believe that you are loved by everyone, you will be a delight to hang around with, and as a result, attract tons of loving people into your life. This will enable you to stay in higher energy vibrations of peace, joy and love.

Break the cycle of negative thinking – Each time you find yourself having a negative thought, change it to something positive. A great way to do that is to acknowledge and appreciate what you already have. This is not to suggest that you should not aspire for more. Enjoy whatever amount of success you have achieved, instead of feeling sad about what you have not been able to achieve. 

There is nothing wrong in pushing yourself toward higher results, but failure to reach them should not destroy your pleasure of what you have created on the way. Turn each failure into a learning experience and use it to grow yourself.

Focus on what you want, not what you don't want – When we are thinking thoughts that are rooted in fear, self-doubt, worry, criticism, judgment, anger, frustration, and anxiety; we are not focused on what we want to create in our lives. When all we think about in our current situation, we get more of the same. Spend some time each day visualising the results you want to create in your life. This clarity will give you the power to propel forward in the desired direction.

Learn how to manage your moods. When you feel a mood swing beginning, take a moment to pause, breathe deeply and focus. Center your attention on something in the present, such as the sound of your breathing. By focusing your attention on something sensory you can take your mind away from negative thoughts and feelings. If you feel overpowered during a mood swing and tend to lose rationality, sit down afterward and really think about what happened. Journal all your thoughts, feelings and emotions of what you feel about the situation. Then examine the event that changed your mood in relation to your reaction, and come up with a positive way of responding to the same situation, if it were to repeat in the future.

Inner changes can be challenging, but they are under your control. As your inner world changes, your behaviour will change. As your behaviour changes, your outer world will change too. Try it!

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                      FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                    

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The Embodiment Method

When we feel threatened or shaken, we can see it through our posture, breathing and movement, our bodies can go into shock or sometimes even crash. Many people think that the solution to overcoming a crisis or challenge comes primarily from a change in mind, but the truth is that 98% of our thoughts come from the subconscious and no thought will be fully realized if it isn’t connected to the body. In order to easily cope with the pitfalls of our lives, we must understand that our bodies have a great influence on our behavior, and it is important that we learn how to know our bodies and not separate them from the way we act and think. Precisely this principle focuses on the Embodiment approach, which teaches us how to build awareness of our bodies and properly cope with stress and obstacles. With this approach, we will present you with exercises to work with the body that will reconnect you to your mental abilities and help you stand up any challenge.

What is the Embodiment Approach?

We all have automatic trigger responses to different situations, for example, if we were to be called to our boss’s office, we would get nervous or start feeling stress. However, what people aren’t aware of is that our bodies also react instinctually. The way we walk, breathe and stand, consciously or unconsciously, affects our mentality and our experiences. The key to changing these responses is to think of our body as a sequence of sensations and to examine more positive and calming response patterns based on listening, movement, breathing, and other physical activities. Therefore, the solution must begin with control of the body and the feelings leading to the reaction, and by changing your automatic reaction patterns you will achieve significant results that, over time, will turn into a habit. By knowing your physical experience, you will learn how to control your thoughts, how to overcome stressful situations and confront your body's responses to panic and stress.

Exercises for working with the body according to the Embodiment approach:

Working with the body is very easy and effective because the body responds to every form of distress and this allows us to "read it" easily. When you change your negative response pattern in a different format that involves setting boundaries, listening or controlling pain, you change consciousness through your body. Once you identify these familiar patterns of action, you can change the response you feel to a more responsible, and calculated response. With the 7 Embodiment method-based exercises, you can increase the space of your body's responses and move closer to realizing your personal potential.
1. Relaxation between the eyes, tongue, diaphragm, and body – it’s not for nothing that Mystics believe in the third eye and that its closely related to the knowledge and vision of humans, which is why it’s important to keep this area relaxed. Start with the area between the eyes, try to relax, and make sure your tongue is not constricted your abdomen and diaphragm are relaxed and the body is loose and not tense. 
2. Posture - the body and mind work together, so it's important to be aware of how we stand. Posture is expressed in awareness of the environment, smells and the body itself. 
3. Breathing - A short breath is a breath that brings in a small amount of air and is designed to wake us up. In contrast, a long, deep breath from the diaphragm brings more air into the body, allowing it to relax and choose the desired response more considerately. 
4. Control of pain - If you notice, when you feel physical pain your body tenses up, the pain is sharp and breathing stops for a moment. Now try to relax, practice the previous 3 sections, breathe deeply with your stomach, release your tongue and loosen up your body. When the same pain is applied this time (with the same intensity), you’ll hardly feel it. The reason for this is your relaxed body that made it easier to feel pain, try it and you will certainly be surprised by the results!
5. A new approach to aggression - repeat the previous section while another person recites annoying sentences to you ("You're weak", "You're not good enough ...") and see how you react. Try it again only this time you have to calm your body and concentrate on breathing, note that the body is not tense. Not only will you feel less pain, but you will also be less aggressive towards the person in front of you. When we are in situations of stress or confrontation, the body tends to contract and tense up. Our typical reaction is to defend ourselves (even violently). But once we bring the body's awareness into play, we change our response and can replace it with more balanced behavior. 
6. Lie - The body signals to you and the people around you when you are lying. Ask another person to push you and try to resist them with your body, at this time you will say one truth and one lie. while lying, you’ll feel your eyebrows rising and your body will have a hard time resisting. The reason for this is that our bodies are "transparent" and cannot conceal lies, the inevitable raising of eyebrows, distracts your attention from the resistance. Now consider what this means about you... 

7. Decision Making - When you are required to make a decision under pressure, the choice you make will arise from stress. When your body is relaxed, your decision may be different and much smarter. It is therefore important to train the body how to deal with stress, with limits, lies or any other challenge that may arise in the future.

Training Workshop: The three-dimensional body

We will now present 3 simple exercises from the Embodiment Training Workshop, which focuses on the three dimensions of our bodies. Each physical object has three dimensions: width, length, and depth, as does the human body. The difference between our body and a chair or table lies in the fact that we have an experience of life and energy. To begin the first exercise, stand on your feet and observe the way you stand.
Length – as you stand on your legs picture them as roots of a tree. If you sink a little more into the ground, you’ll feel heavier – usually, those who are depressed, powerless or stubborn will seem as though they can’t be moved. If you imagine your body as a tree, your trunk should grow upwards and your treetop should reach your neck. If you lift your head up, you’ll feel slightly arrogant or condescending, but, if you straighten your back and neck, you’ll feel more relaxed and confident.
Width - width is actually a perception of place, think of thin people who stand with their hands together, people who are cold and hold themselves, or people who swing from side to side (just as they do in life). Part of embodiment is presence and visibility, but you don’t have to stretch out your hands and take over a space all the time. However, if you’re having difficulty feeling your presence, try to raise your arms along your shoulders, as if touching an invisible wall, feel your width and then bring your hands back towards your body while you stay with that feeling.

Depth - in this dimension we are not talking about muscles or weight, rather about movements. For example, if you run and rush to a certain place, your body will tilt forward, however, if you look at someone your body will move backward as if hesitant. In addition, depth is very connected to your culture, for example, people who maintain personal space as opposed to people who are more open to the environment. If you try to stand still and swing back and forth without moving your legs, you’ll feel the depth of your body and the trust you feel towards the person standing in front of you.

In the second exercise, after you’ve found and explored the three dimensions of your body, take a short walk, concentrate on the dimensions of your body and examine how you respond to objects and people (e.g., do you shrink back when smiled at or do smile back).
In the last exercise, try to think of something or someone that warms your heart. Start walking again, keeping in mind the 3 dimensions of your body, and think about the person you chose. Pay attention to your walking, your rhythm, and the dimensionality your body creates. Soon you will notice the difference in your walking and posture and after that success, you will be one step closer to embodiment!

 

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                
 PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                                             FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                               
     https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                                     
  FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                              https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com