September 1, 2007
(Note:
This Walking Meditation webpage will be published in installments
in the Cloud Hands
- Meditation webpages beginning in January, 2007.
It will be published in its entirety by March, 2008.)
© Green Way
Research, Red
Bluff, California, 2007
By Michael P. Garofalo, All Rights Reserved.
Aligned,
Relaxed, Resilient: The Physical Foundations of
Mindfulness. By Will Johnson.
Boston, Shambhala, 2000. 137 pages. ISBN: 1570625182.
MGC.
Alphabetical Index to the Cloud Hands Website
Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: A Manual for Students, Teachers and Practitioners.
By H. David Coulter. Foreword by Timothy McCall. Honesdale,
Pennsylvania,
Body and Breath, 2001. Index, bibliography, appendices, 623
pages.
ISBN: 0970700601. 2002 winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award
for
Health,
Wellness and Nutrition.
The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Makeing Travel Sacred.
By Phil Cousineau.
Conari Press, 2000. 288 pages. ISBN: 1573245097.
Awareness
Through Movement; Health Exercises for Personal Growth. Easy to Do
Health
Exercises to Improve Your Posture, Vision, Imagination and Personal
Awareness.
By Moshe Feldenkrais. San Francisco, Harper Collins, 1972, 1977. 173
pages.
ISBN: 0062503227.
Bagua Qigong
Circle Walking Chinese Qigong
Behind the Zhan
Zhuang Training 7Kb.
The Benefits of Walking Meditation. By Sayadaw U. Silananda.
Buddhist
Publication Society, 1995. 22K.
Body
Learning: How the Mind Learns from the Body: A Practical Approach. By
Ginny Whitelaw, Ph.D.
New York, Perigee Book, Berkley Publishing Co., 1998. ISBN:
0399524061.
BodyStories:
A Guide to Experiential Anatomy. Expanded Edition. By Andrea
Olsen in collaboration
with Caryn McHose. Barrytown, New York, Station Hill Openings of
Barrytown, Ltd., 1998.
Index, bibliography, 168 pages. MGC. ISBN: 1581770235.
Brahmacharis
in Walking Meditation
Breathing: Bibliography,
Links, Resources, Quotations, Notes
Breathwalk:
Breathing Your Way to a Revitalized Body, Mind, and Spirit.
Broadway Books, 2000. 256 pages. ISBN: 0767904931.
Guru Charan's
methods.
Canes, Walking Sticks,
Staffs, Poles
Case Studies of
Walking Qigong on Chronic Diseases. 5K.
Center for Contemplative Mind in
Society
Chi Walking: The Five Mindful Steps for Lifelong Health and Energy. By
Danny Dreyer and
Katherine Dreyer. New York, Simon and Schuster, A Fireside Book, 2006.
Index, 258 pages.
ISBN: 0743267206. MGC.
Circle Walking (Bagua)
Chinese Qigong
Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure
Through the Himalayas. By Robert Thurman and Tad Wise. New York,
Bantam Books, 2000. 352 pages. ISBN: 0553378503. VSCL.
The
Complete Guide to Chi-Gung: Harnessing the Power of the Universe.
By Daniel Reid.
Illustrations by Dexter Chou. Boston, Shambhala, 1998.
Appendix, index, 326 pages.
ISBN: 1570625433. MGC.
The Complete Guide to Prayer Walking: A Simple Path to Body and Soul
Fitness. By
Linus Mundy. Crossroad Publishing Co., 1996. 168 pages. ISBN:
0824515463.
The
Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness.
By Mark Fenton.
Lyons Press, 2001. 288 pages. ISBN: 1585741906.
The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Walking for Health. By Erika Peters.
Indianapolis,
Indiana, Alpha Books, Pearson Education Company, 2001. Index,
293 pages. ISBN: 0028640020. MGC.
Cultivating
Stillness: A Taoist Manual for Transforming Body and Mind. Translated
with an introduction by Eva Wong. With a commentary by Shui-ch'ing Tzu.
Illustrated
by Hun-yen Tsu. Boston, Shambhala Press, 1992. 156 pages. MGC.
ISBN: 0877736871.
"Daizong's Magic Walking Technique and Qigong." By Lan
Blan. Internal Arts,
Vol. 3, No. 6, November, 1988, p. 38.
Diabetes - Exercise
Therapy: Taijiquan and Qigong
Discovering the Body's Wisdom. By Mirka Knaster. New York, Bantam,
1996.
A Discussion of Posture and Kinhin
- A Somatic Practitioner's Perspective.
By Hokaku Jeffrey Maitland. 11K
Earthwalks
for Body and Spirit. By James Endredy and Victor Sanchez. Inner
Traditions International, 2002. 200 pages. ISBN: 1879181789.
Ecoyoga: Practice and Meditations for Walking in Beauty on the Earth.
By Henryk Skolimowski.
Ecstatic
Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Workbook. By Belinda Gore.
Foreword by
Felicitas Goodman. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Bear and Company,
1995. Endnotes,
284 pages. ISBN: 1879181223.
"Efficacy of Tai Chi, Brisk Walking, Meditation and Reading in Reducing
Mental and
Emotional Stress." By Jin P. Department of Psychology, La Trobe
University, Bundoora,
Victoria, Australia. Psychosomatic Research. 1992 May;36(4):361-70.
Abstract
Eight Section Brocade Qigong Eight Treasures
Chi Kung. By Michael P. Garofalo.
Instructions, notes,
links, bibliography, quotations, and charts. 225Kb. Baduanjin,
Pa Tuan Jin, Eight Silken Treasures, Ba Duan Jin, Pal Dan Gum, Ba Duan
Gin,
Pa Tin Kam, Otto Pezzi di Tesoro. Between each of the eight postures is a
period
of Wu Ji.
Empowerment
Through Tai Chi Walking Meditation. Jennie Bev.
Exploring
the Labyrinth: A Guide for Healing and Spiritual Growth. By Melissa
Gayle West. Broadway Books, 2000. 224 pages. ISBN:
0767903560.
Five
Steps: Meditative Sensation Walking. By Paul Crompton. Midpoint
Trade Books,
1999. 80 pages. ISBN: 187425060X.
Free Your Breath, Free Your Life. How Conscious Breathing Can Relieve
Stress,
Increase Vitality, and Help You Live More Fully. By Dennis
Lewis. Boston,
Shambhala Press, 2004. Index, recommended reading, 193 pages.
ISBN: 1590301331.
Google Search - Walking Meditation
A
Guide to Walking Meditation. By Thich Nhat Hanh. 12K
Guide
to Walking Meditation. By Thich Nhat Hanh. Fellowship of
Reconciliation, 1985.
60 pages. ISBN: 0911810757. VHS
Video - 30 Minutes
Guided Walking
Meditation for Problem Solving for Children
The
Healing Labyrinth: Finding Your Path to Inner Peace. By Helen Raphael
Sands
and Robert Ferre. Barrons Educational Series, 2001. 112 pages.
ISBN: 0764153250.
The
Healing Promise of Qi: Creating Extraordinary Wellness Through Qigong and
Tai Chi.
By Roger Jahnke, O.M.D.. Chicago, Contemporary Books, 2002.
Index, notes, extensive
recommended reading list, 316 pages. ISBN: 0809295288.
Index to the Cloud Hands Website
Instructions for Walking Meditation. By Gil Fonsdal.
Internal Martial Arts
and Walking
Kinhin
Instructions. From Burning House Zendo.
Kinhin - Zen
Walking Meditation 4K
Kinhin: "經行 (jap.: "kinhin" or "kyōgyō",
chin.: jingxing) walking meditation is practiced between
long periods of zazen.
Practitioners walk clockwise around a room while holding their hands in
shashu (left fist closed, while the right hand grasps the left fist).
During walking meditation each
step is taken after each full breath. The word kinhin means 'to go straight'.
The beginning of
kinhin is announced by ringing the bell twice (kinhinsho). The end of
kinhin is announced
by ringing the bell once (chukaisho)."
- Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Labyrinths: Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Resources,
Notes
Labyrinths
From the Outside In: Walking to Spiritual Insight. By Donna
Schaper and
Carole Ann Camp. Skylight Paths Press, 2000. 176 pages.
ISBN: 1893361187.
Labyrinth Walking: Patterns of Power. By Patricia Telesco.
Citadel Press, 2001.
208 pages. ISBN: 0806522178.
Living
the Labyrinth: 101 Paths to a Deeper Connection with the Sacred. By
Jill Kimberly Hartwell Geoffrion. Pilgrim Press, 2000. First
published in
1985 by the United Buddhist Church. 104 pages.
ISBN: 0829813721.
The
Long Road Turns to Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation. By Thich
Nhat Hanh.
Berkeley, California, Parallax Press, 1996. Revised edition. 74 pages.
ISBN:
093807783X. MGC.
The
Magic of Labyrinths: Following Your Path, Finding Your Center.
By Liz Simpson.
Thorsons Publications, 2002. 176 pages. ISBN: 0007120478.
Magical Paths: Labyrinths and Mazes in the 21st Century. By Jeff
Saward.
Mitchell Beazley, 2002. 176 pages. ISBN: 1840005734.
The Man Who Walked Around the
World
Meditation:
Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotations, Notes
Meditation for Beginners: Six Guided Meditations for Insight, Inner
Clarity,
and Cultivating a Compassionate Heart. By Jack Kornfield. Sounds
True,
book (88 pages) and audio-CD, 2004. ISBN: 1591791480.
Meditations for Walking. By J. Lynne Hinton. Smyth
and Helwys Pub., 1999.
112 pages. ISBN: 1573122645.
Meditation
Walking for Writers. Patricia Fry.
Mindful
Hiker: On the Trail to Find the Path. By Stephen Altschuler.
DeVorss Publishing, 2004.
180 pages. ISBN: 0875167977.
Mindful Nature Walking (One Step at a Time).
By John Cianciosi.
Mindfulness
Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind. By Frank
Jude Boccio.
Boston, MA, Wisdom Publications. Index, bibliography, notes, 340 pages.
ISBN:
0861713354.
Mount Analogue.
A Tale of Non-Euclidian and Symbolically Authentic Mountaineering Adventures.
By René Daumal. Translated from the French by Carol
Cosman. Woodstock, New York, Overlook Press,
Tusk Ivories, 2004. 120 pages. ISBN: 1585673420.
MGC.
The
Nia Technique. The High-Powered Energizing Workout that Gives You a
New Body and
a New Life. By Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.
New York, Broadway Books, 2004. Bibliography,
glossary, 324
pages. Illustrated with photographs. ISBN: 0767917308.
MPG. Nia is a newer
fusion exercise system, and "Nia"
stands for "Neuromuscular Integrative Action."
On Pilgrimage: Sacred Journeys Around the World. By Jennifer
Westwood.
Hidden Springs, 2003. 310 pages. ISBN: 1587680157.
Opening
the Energy Gates of Your Body (The Tao of Energy Enhancement. By Bruce
Kumar Frantzis. Illustrated by Husky Grafx. North Atlantic Books,
1993. Second
Edition. 174 pages. ISBN: 1556431643.
Pa Kua Chang Qigong
Circle Walking Chinese Qigong
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. By Thich Nhat Hanh.
Foreword by Dalai Lama. New York, Bantam Books.
Philosophy
in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought.
By Geogre Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Basic Books, Perseu Books, 1999.
Index,
bibliography, 624 pages. ISBN: 0465056741. MGC.
"The mind is inherently
bebodied. Thought is mostly unconscious. Abstract concepts are
largely
metaphorical."
Pilgrimage
and Complexity: Adjustment Within a Representative Japanese Pilgrimage System.
By Hiroshi Tanaka Shimazaki. Junrei = Pilgrimage
Praying at Every Turn : Meditations for Walking the Labyrinth. By Carole
Camp. 2006.
Praying
the Labyrinth: A Journal for Spiritual Exploration. By Jill
Kimberly Hartwell
Geoffrion and Lauren Artess. Pilgrim Press, 1999. 128 pages. ISBN:
0829813438.
Prevention's
Complete Book of Walking: Everything You Need to Know to Walk Your Way
to
Better Health. Edited by Maggie Spilner and Elaine Ward.
Rodale Press, 2000. 292 pages.
ISBN: 1579542360.
Qigong (Chinese Yoga): LInks, Bibliography,
Quotations, Notes
Quotations, Quips,
Wisdom - Walking
Rediscovering the
Laybrinth: A Walking Meditation. Grace Cathederal, San
Francisco.
Relaxation:
Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Notes
Resting in the River
Thich Nhat Hanh. Shambhala Sun, March 1998.
Rhythm Vision: A Guide to Visual Awareness. By Dennis Roth. Explore
"Rhythm Walking."
The Spirit of the Garden
Over 2,700 quotations, poems, sayings and proverbs
arranged by 130 Topics for gardeners and Lovers of the Green Way.
Spirit: Walking Meditation: The Labyrinth.
By Melanie Bowden.
The
Spirited Walker: Fitness Walking for Clarity, Balance and Spiritual Connection.
By Carolyn S. Kortge. Harper San Francisco, 1998. 272 pages.
ISBN: 0060647361. MGC.
Stepping in Suchness: The Prose of Walking Meditation. By Ronald S. Green.
Palm Leaf Books, 2005. ISBN: B000BSZ51A..
Strength
Training Anatomy. By Frederic Delavier. Champaign,
Illinois, Human Kinetics,
2001. 124 pages. ISBN: 0736041850. Revised edition of
"Guide des mouvements de
musculation" Paris, Ditions Bigot, 1998. An outstanding illustrated
guide to muscles
at work. Both male and female models are used. MGC.
Subject Index to the Cloud Hands (Taijiquan and Qigong) Website
Sun Style of Taijiquan
(Quick Steps Form)
T'ai
Chi Ch'uan and Walking Links, quotations, lessons, notes.
Tai Chi Chuan: A Slow Dance for Health. By John Cheng, MD.
"The Physician and
Sports Medicine", Volume 27, No. 6, June, 1999. Excellent advice for
older persons about
walking and Tai Chi Chuan.
T'ai Chi Ch'uan: Guides, Bibliographies, Links, Quotations,
Resources, Notes
All Taijquan forms begin with Wu Ji, a period of time to compose oneself, relax,
gain control of attention and concentration (Yi - Mind). The length of
time to
stand in Wu Ji varies between Taijiquan styles. Master
Sun Lu-Tang recommended
long periods of Wu Ji.
Tai Chi Walking. A Low-IMpact Path to Better Health. By
Robert Chuckrow, Phd.
Boston, YMAA, 2002. Index, 138 pages, 40 illustrations. ISBN:
188696923x.
Read review
and listen to recordings. MGC.
Tai Chi Walking
20Kb.
Take a Mindful
Hike Seven Steps to Quieting the Mind during a Walk through the Woods.
By Stephen Altschuler. 9KB
Technique in Walking Meditation.
Insight Meditation Online. 9K.
Technique in Walking Meditation with Ven. Pannyavaro
365 Days of Walking the Red Road: The Native American Path to Leading a
Spiritual
Life Every Day. By Terri Jean. Avon, Massachusetts, Adams Media Corp., 2003.
360
pages.
ISBN: 1580628494. MGC.
Thirteen Treasures
Walking Qigong. By Michael P. Garofalo.
Thoreau, Henry David
"Walking"
Trees - Quotes, Poems, Sayings
Valley Spirit Center
Red Bluff, California. Mike and Karen Garofalo.
Vipassanā Meditation Guidelines.
By Chanmyay Sayadaw.
Walking. By
Henry David Thoreau. 1862.
Walking:
A Complete Guide to the Complete Exercise. By Casey Meyers.
Random House Paperbacks, 1992. 336 pages. ISBN: 0679737774.
Walking
a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool.
By Lauren Artress. Riverhead Books, 1996. 201 pages. ISBN:
1573225479.
Walking: Bibliography,
Links, Notes, Resources
Walking
Kung: Breathing for Health. By Sheng Keng Yun. Red
Wheel/Weiser, 1997.
160 pages. ISBN: 087728895X.
Walking Meditation
Dharma Talk by David Bennett. 16K.
Walking
Meditation. By Steven Smith.
Walking
Meditation. By Nancy J. Napier. Meditation exercises
and experiences. 25Kb.
Walking
Meditation By Sayadaw U. Pandita, abbot of
Panditarama Monastery and
Meditation Center in Rangoon, Burma. 51K.
Walking
Meditation. The Center for Contempletative Mind in Society. 28Kb.
Walking Meditation.
By Choalayna. 10Kb.
Walking
Meditation. By Chris Arthur.
Walking Meditation.
James H. Stout. 12Kb.
Walking
Meditation. By Laurel Kallenback.
Walking
Meditation. By Matthew Flickstein. Includes illustrations.
26Kb. Mirror
Walking Meditation.
A Sermon for Seekers Church. By Muriel Lipp
Walking Meditation.
On-line Instruction with Charles MacInerney. 17Kb.
Walking
Meditation. By Rev. Kusala.
Walking
Meditation: An Introduction. 12K. Includes a audio CD with
instructions.
Walking
Meditation and Feldenkrais. By Bob Murray and Alicia
Fortinberry.
Walking Meditation and
the Six Primary Elements. By Ven Sayadaw U Janaka.
Walking
Meditation at Plum Villiage, France.
Walking
Meditation in the Thai Forest Tradition. By Ajahn Nyanadhammo.
38Kb.
Walking
Meditation on Retreat. By Karen Burnett. 15Kb.
Walking Meditation: Pakua-The Martial Art of the I Ching. By
Paul Crompton.
Shaftesbury, England, Element Books, 1996. Glossary, resources,
index,
163 pages. ISBN: 1852308974. MGC.
Walking Meditation: Stride to Higher Awareness (Brain Sync Series)
by Kelly Howell (Audio Cassette - May 1995)
Walking Qigong Developed in 1960 by Master Guo Lin.
Taught for the Peaceful
Dragon in
Virginia by Kup Kup Fu.
Walking - Quotations,
Quips, Wisdom
Walking - Poems, Quotes,
Sayings for Gardeners
Walking the Labyrinth: Bibliography, Links, Quotes,
Resources, Notes
Walking: The Ultimate Exercise for Optimum Health.
By Andrew Weil, M.D., and Mark Fenton. 2 CDs. Sounds True.
Walking Through Stress: Meditation in Motion. By Dick Harding.
Cassandra
Press, 1990. 181 pages. ISBN: 0945946090.
Walking Well with the
Alexander Technique. By Charles J. Stein.
Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through the Lord of the Rings.
By Sarah Arthur. Thirsty Books, 2003. 220 pages. ISBN:
0842385541.
Walking
Yoga: Incorporate Yoga Principles into Dynamic Walking Routines for
Physical Health, Mental Peace and Spiritual Enrichment. By Ila Sarley and
Garrett Sarley. New York, Rireside Books, 2002. Index, 210 pages.
ISBN: 0743421973. MGC.
Warrior
Walking: A Guide to Walking as Exercise, Meditation and Self Defense.
By Josh Holzer. Unique Publications, 2000. 148 pages. ISBN:
1892515253.
The Way
of Energy: Mastering the Chinese Art of Internal Strength with Chi Kung Exercise.
By Master Lam Kam Chen. New York, Fireside, Simon and Schuster, 1991.
A Gaia Original.
Index, 191 pages. ISBN: 0671736450.
The Way
of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing. By Kenneth
S. Cohen.
Foreword by Larry Dossey. New York Ballantine Books, 1997. Index,
notes, appendices,
427 pages. ISBN: 0345421094.
The Way
of the Labyrinth: A Powerful Meditation for Everyday Life. By Helen
Curry
and Jean Houston. Penguin USA, 2000. 255 pages.
ISBN: 014019617X.
Way of
Walking: Eastern Strategies for Vitality, Longevity, and Peace of Mind.
By Jacques
Moramarco, O.M.D., L. Ac., with Rick Benzel. Chicago, IL,
McGraw-Hill/Contemporary
Books, 2000. Resources, 213 pages. ISBN: 0809225867. MGC.
Wild Goose Qigong: Links, Bibliography, Quotes, Notes
Willpower: Quotes, Links,
Bibliography, Resources
Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering. By
Linda Hartley.
Berkeley, California, North Atlantic Books, 1989, 1905. Index,
bibliography, 346 pages.
ISBN: 1556431740.
Yin, Yang and Tai Chi
Chuan Includes notes on Zen
walking. 7K.
Yoga: Guides, Bibliographies,
Links, Resources, Quotations, Notes
Yoga of
the Mahamudra: The Mystical Way of Balance. By Will Johnson.
Rochester,
Vermont, Inner Traditions, 2005. 151 pages. ISBN:
0892816996.
Zen Walking. By Jan
Haag. 7K.
Zhan Zhuang Standing
Like a Tree
"The rhythm of walking
generates a kind of rhythm of thinking, and
the passage through a
landscape echoes or stimulates the passage
through a series of thoughts. The creates an
odd consonance between
internal and external passage, one that suggests that the mind is
also a landscape of sorts and that walking is one way to traverse it. A new thought often
seems like a feature of the landscape that was there all along, as though thinking were
traveling rather than making."
- Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust:
A History of Walking, p. 5.
"Walking
meditation is learning to walk again with ease."
- Mirka Knaster
"Each step we take creates a cool breeze, refreshing our body and mind.
Every step makes a flower bloom under our feet."
- Thich Nhat Hahn
"To find new things, take the path you
took yesterday."
- John Burroughs
Walking Meditation
By Sayadaw U. Silananda
"Let us now talk specifically about the practice of walking meditation. If you are a complete
beginner, the teacher may instruct you to be mindful of only one thing during walking meditation:
to be mindful of the act of stepping while you make a note silently in the mind, "stepping,
stepping, stepping," or "left, right, left, right." You may walk at a slower speed than
normal during this practice.
After a few hours, or after a day or two of meditation, you may be instructed to be mindful
of two occurrences: (i) stepping, and (ii) putting down the foot, while making the mental
note "stepping, putting down." You will try to be mindful of two stages in the step:
"stepping, putting down; stepping, putting down." Later, you may be instructed to
be mindful of three stages: (i) lifting the foot; (ii) moving or pushing the foot forward;
and (iii) putting the foot down. Still later, you would be instructed to be mindful of four
stages in each step: (i) lifting the foot; (ii) moving it forward; (iii) putting it down; and
(iv) touching or pressing the foot on the ground. You would be instructed to be completely
mindful and to make a mental note of these four stages of the foot's movement: "lifting,
moving forward, putting down, pressing the ground.
At first yogis may find it difficult to slow down, but as they are instructed to pay close
attention to all of the movements involved, and as they actually pay closer and closer
attention, they will automatically slow down. They do not have to slow down deliberately,
but as they pay closer attention, slowing down comes to them automatically.
Although yogis pay close attention and slow down, they may not see all of the movements
and stages clearly. The stages may not yet be well-defined in the mind, and they may seem
to constitute only one continuous movement. As concentration grows stronger, yogis will
observe more and more clearly these different stages in one step; the four stages at least
will be easier to distinguish. Yogis will know distinctly that the lifting movement is not mixed
with the moving forward movement, and they will know that the moving forward movement
is not mixed with either the lifting movement or the putting down movement. They will
understand all movements clearly and distinctly. Whatever they are mindful and aware
of will be very clear in their minds.
As yogis carry on the practice, they will observe much more. When they lift their foot,
they will experience the lightness of the foot. When they push the foot forward, they will
notice the movement from one place to another. When they put the foot down, they will
feel the heaviness of the foot, because the foot becomes heavier and heavier as it descends.
When they put the foot on the ground, they will feel the touch of the heel of the foot on the
ground. Therefore, along with observing lifting, moving forward, putting down, and pressing
the ground, yogis will also perceive the lightness of the rising foot, the motion of the foot,
the heaviness of the descending foot, and then the touching of the foot, which is the hardness
or softness of the foot on the ground. When yogis perceive these processes, they are
perceiving the four essential elements (in Pali, dhatu). The four essential elements are:
the element of earth, the element of water, the element of fire, and the element of air.
By paying close attention to these four stages of walking meditation, the four elements
in their true essence are perceived, not merely as concepts, but as actual processes,
as ultimate realities.
In the Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, the Buddha taught walking
meditation two times. In the section called "Postures," he said that a monk knows
"I am walking" when he is walking, knows "I am standing" when he is standing, knows
"I am sitting" when he is sitting, and knows "I am lying down" when he is lying down. In
another section called Clear Comprehension, the Buddha said, "A monk applies
clear comprehension in going forward and in going back." Clear comprehension means
the correct understanding of what one observes. To correctly understand what is observed,
a yogi must gain concentration, and in order to gain concentration, he must apply
mindfulness. Therefore, when the Buddha said, "Monks, apply clear
comprehension,
" we must understood that not only clear comprehension must be applied, but also
mindfulness and concentration. Thus the Buddha was instructing meditators to
apply mindfulness, concentration, and clear comprehension while walking, while
"going forward and back." Walking meditation is thus an important part of this process."
The Benefits of Walking Meditation
By Sayadaw U. Silananda
"Walking is the natural recreation for a man who desires not
absolutely to suppress his intellect but to turn it out to
play for a season."
- Leslie Stephen
"Wherever we walk, we can practice meditation. This means that we know that we are walking.
We walk just for walking. We walk with freedom and solidity, no longer in a hurry. We are present
with each step. And when we wish to talk we stop our movement and give our full attention to the
other person, to our words and to listening.
Walking in this way should not be a privilege. We should be able to do it in every moment. Look
around and see how vast life is, the trees, the white clouds, the limitless sky. Listen to the birds.
Feel the fresh breeze. Life is all around and we are alive and healthy and capable of walking
in peace.
Let us walk as a free person and feel our steps get lighter. Let us enjoy every step we make.
Each step is nourishing and healing. As we walk, imprint our gratitude and our love on the earth.
We may like to use a gatha as we walk. Taking two or three steps for each in-breath and
each out-breath,
Breathing in "I have arrived"; Breathing out "I am home"
Breathing in "In the here"; Breathing out "In the now"
Breathing in "I am solid"; Breathing out "I am free"
Breathing in "In the ultimate"; Breathing out "I dwell"
- Walking Meditation at Plum Villiage, France, Thich Nhat Hanh
"Singing the same song
at a different tone,
In thoughts, destined to die, unknown.
Born unto a world not of our own,
We walked together, walking alone."
- Michael R. Anderson, Walking
Alone
"In summary, the walking process involves four stages: lifting, raising, shifting, and dropping.
Your inhalation is coordinated with the lifting movement of the heel of your foot and your exhalation
with keeping your foot lifted, while your toes are still touching the ground. Your inhalation is coordinated
with the raising and shifting movements and your exhalation with the dropping of your foot. While you
are coordinating your breath with your physical movements, remember to pay bare attention to what
is taking place; avoid making judgments, decisions, or comments.
Observe the impermanent nature of your walking experience: the intention that precedes each movement,
the movement itself, and every breath which rises and falls from moment-to-moment. When your mind
shifts to another object of awareness, focus on seeing that it is also impermanent. Then, gently but
firmly, place your attention back on your walking movements, coordinating them with your breath."
- Matthew Flickstein, Journey to the Center: A Meditation
Workbook. Boston, Wisdom Publications,
1998. pp.127-132.
"I have two doctors, my left leg and
my right."
- G. M. Trevelyan
"While walking and noting the parts of the steps you will probably find the mind still thinking. Not to worry,
keep focused on the noting of the steps if the thoughts are experienced just as 'background thoughts'.
However, it you find you have been walking 'lost in thought' you must stop and vigorously note the thinking
as 'thinking', 'thinking', 'thinking'. Then re-establish your attention on the movement and carry on. Also
be careful that the mental noting does not become so mechanical that you lose the experience of the movement.
Try to do a minimum walking period of half an hour and build it up to a full hour. Strategically it is better to
do a walking period before a sitting session as it brings balance into the practice. If you can alternate
the walking and sitting sessions without any major breaks it will develop a continuity of awareness
that naturally carries through into the awareness of your daily activities."
- Insight Meditation:
Walking Meditation Practices
"My father considered a walk among the
mountains
as the equivalent of churchgoing."
- Aldous Huxley
"Start out walking a little faster than normal, and gradually slow down to a normal walking speed,
and then continue to slow down until you start to feel artificial or off balance. Speed up just enough
to feel comfortable, physically and psychologically. At first you may need to walk fairly fast to feel
smooth in your gait, but with practice, as your balance improves, you should be able to walk more
slowly. Be mindful of your breathing, without trying to control it. Allow the breath to become diaphragmatic
if possible, but always make sure your breathing feels natural, not artificial. Allow the breath to become
circular, and fluid.
Walk with 'soft vision' allowing the eyes to relax and focus upon nothing, while aware of everything.
Smile softly with your eyes. Gradually allow the smile to spread from your eyes to your face and
throughout your body. This is called an "organic smile" or a "thalamus smile". Imagine every cell
of your body smiling softly. Let all worry and sadness fall away from you as you walk.
Walk in silence, both internal and external. Be mindful of your walking, make each step a gesture,
so that you move in a state of grace, and each footprint is an impression of the peace and love you
feel for the universe. Walk with slow, small, deliberate, balanced, graceful foot steps."
- Charles MacInerney, Walking Meditation
"It is not talking but walking that
will bring us to heaven."
- Matthew Henry
"Walking meditation benefits you in many ways:
* Teaches you to stay centered and aware in the midst of other activities so that you're less influenced
by chaos around you in other situations.
* Increases your sensory awareness, including the profound delights of the sights and sounds of
the great outdoors.
* Gets you out into fresh air and sunlight.
* Helps you develop a deep meditative awareness of motion, something we often take for granted.
* Focuses your attention on rhythm, including your breath and your gait. By walking meditatively, you become
aware of how your hips move, how your feet touch the ground, and how your torso and arms sway.
* Integrates exercise and your emotional state. The purpose of a walking meditation is to simply be, not to
reach a destination or increase your cardiovascular capacity - although it may have that benefit.
Play with
the tempo of what feels good. If you feel energized, walk quickly. If you feel quiet and inward, walk slowly.
* Increases your sense of joy in knowing that walking is good for your body and spirit."
- Camille Maurine and Lorin Roche, "Meditation Secrets for Women" (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001).
"If you look for the truth outside
yourself,
It gets farther and farther away.
Today walking alone, I meet it everywhere I step.
It is the same as me, yet I am not it.
Only if you understand it in this way
Will you merge with the way things are."
- Tung-Shan
"Think of it like this... you are starting off on a trek, and you just landed in Katmandu, You are going up to
Mustang Valley....you are going to trek up one of these mountains, and there is the goal of reaching the top,
there's the desire to get there, and then there's the realization that there is a whole process of getting there,
and, along the way, more and more, there is the realization that the process is the goal. At first, you don't
have your walking body...you have been busy and confined, muscles aren't loose, bones are a bit stiff....it
takes a while for there to be a rhythm between mind and body, to get into that rhythm, to be carried by that
rhythm, so that the experience becomes being carried by the mountain, and then the second winds
come...and the body just feels in flow, it feels in harmony, it feels in sync with the mountain itself and the
movements up and down."
-
Steven Smith
"All truly great
thoughts are conceived by walking."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
"According to Jon Kabat-Zinn Director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts
Medical Center, one simple way to bring awareness into your life is through walking meditation. "This brings
your attention to the actual experience of walking as you are doing it, focusing on the sensations in your feet
and legs, feeling your whole body moving, " Dr. Kabat-Zinn explains. "You can also integrate awareness of
your breathing with the experience."
To do this exercise, focus the attention on each foot as it contacts the ground. When the mind wanders away
from the feet or legs, or the feeling of the body walking, refocus your attention. To deepen your concentration,
don't look around, but keep your gaze in front of you.
"One thing that you find out when you have been practicing mindfulness for a while is that nothing is quite as
simple as it appears, " says Dr. Kabat-Zinn. "This is as true for walking as it is for anything else. For one thing,
we carry our mind around with us when we walk, so we are usually absorbed in our own thoughts to one extent
or another. We are hardly ever just walking, even when we are just going out for a walk'. Walking meditation
involves intentionally attending to the experience of walking itself."
- Walking
Meditation Techniques
"Walking around
an
early spring garden--
going nowhere.
- Kyoshi
"Walking meditation means to enjoy walking without any intention to arrive. We don't need to arrive
anywhere. We just walk. We enjoy walking. That means walking is already stopping, and that needs
some training. Usually in our daily life we walk because we want to go somewhere. Walking is only
a means to an end, and that is why we do not enjoy every step we take. Walking meditation is different.
Walking is only for walking. You enjoy every step you take. So this is a kind of revolution in walking.
You allow yourself to enjoy every step you take.
The Zen master Ling Chi said that the miracle is not to walk on burning charcoal or in the thin air or
on the water; the miracle is just to walk on earth. You breathe in. You become aware of the fact that
you are alive. You are still alive and you are walking on this beautiful planet. That is already performing
a miracle. The greatest of all miracles is to be alive. We have to awaken ourselves to the truth that we
are here, alive. We are here making steps on this beautiful planet. This is already performing a miracle.
But we have to be here in order for the miracle to be possible. We have to bring ourselves back to the
here and the now."
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Resting in the River
"There is this to be
said for walking: It's the one mode of human
locomotion by which a man proceeds on his own two feet, upright,
erect, as a man should be, not squatting on his rear haunches
like a frog."
- Edward Abbey
"Walking meditation is best practiced on a designated path rather than casually walking about.
The path should be straight, level, and have a reasonably smooth surface. It is also helpful if the
path has a beginning and an end. You practice meditation by walking between these two points,
being attentive and mindful of each step. Although the length of the path is primarily determined
by individual preference, I have found that a path in the range of 10 to 20 yards is most useful.
I suggest you experiment with paths of different lengths and find one most suitable for your practice.
Choosing a path with a beginning and an end is important because these two points provide
structure for the meditation and foster sharper awareness. Each time you come to the end of
the path, you are automatically reminded to check to see whether the attention is indeed with
each step or whether the mind has wandered. In this way, you can re-establish focus more quickly
and thus sustain awareness."
- John Cianciosi, Mindful
Nature Walking
"Happy is the
man who has acquired
the love of walking for its own sake!"
- W.J.
Holland
"Combining a walk with meditation is an efficient and healthy way to relax. You can use this
technique anywhere — in a tranquil forest, on a city sidewalk or even inside a building where
you work. When you use this method, slow down the pace of walking so that you can focus on
each movement of your legs or feet. Don't focus on a particular destination. Concentrate on
your legs and feet, repeating action words such as "lifting," "moving" and "placing" as you lift
each foot, move your leg forward and place your foot on the ground. You can substitute other
words if you like. Some people prefer to signal the beginning and end of a walking meditation
with a ritual, such as the ringing of a bell, a ceremonial bow, silent prayer or spoken words
of thankfulness."
- Mayo
Clinic
"The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred
affections."
- Walt Whitman
"I have just returned from a walk alone. A walk so wonderful that I feel like reducing it to a universal
rule, that all people ought to take a walk every evening all alone, . . . and that during this entire walk
they ought to talk with God . . . and let God do most of the talking."
- Frank Laubach, Letters by a Modern Mystic
"You may also want to bring the practice of wogging
into your life.
Half slow walking (going uphill) and freely surrendered, speedy
jogging (going downhill), it may become your preferred meditation
posture or form of dance. The goal of the practice is not to
condition
the body aerobically; that happens as a natural byproduct. The goal
of the practice is to open to and merge with the breath, letting your
natural, surrendered breath determine how fast or slow your body
moves, to stay as loose and relaxed as possible, to let every part of
the body move as fluidly as possible, to surrender to the sensation
and energies of the body as you keep playing with balance, to keep
emptying the mind and staying in clear perception of vision and sound.
Full-bodied breath comes easier during a wog than during any other
activity. Sensations can be felt through the entire body. Vision
can
become very clear, and the mind can stay very empty."
- Will Johnson, Yoga of the Mahamudra, 2005, p. 134
"Research conducted at Harvard Medical School’s Mind/Body Medical Institute has found
that focused walking meditations are highly effective for reducing anxiety and producing
what’s called the “relaxation response.”
- Borgess Health
"Walking meditation is walking in full awareness of breath,
body and everything the senses present.
It is not an aerobic exercise - though it would be a fine lead-in to aerobic
walking. Rather, walking
meditation is done slowly and consciously, with each step fully feeling the
earth. During this
precious time, body and mind come together, joined in the present moment.
Although the benefits
of walking meditation will deepen over time, even from the start, you can
experience some measure
of the relaxation, balance and quiet energy that builds through this
practice."
- Ginny Whitelaw, Body Learning, p. 55.
"Now, walk gently, at a deliberate but "normal" pace, to the end of the path. Stop. Focus on the
body standing for the period of a couple of breaths. Turn, and walk back again. While walking,
be aware of the general flow of physical sensations, or more closely direct your attention to the
feet. The exercise for the mind is to keep bringing its attention back to the sensation of the feet
touching the ground, the spaces between each step, and the feelings of stopping and starting.
Of course, the mind will wander. So it is important to cultivate patience, and the resolve to begin
again. Adjust the pace to suit your state of mind -- vigorous when drowsy or trapped in obsessive
thought, firm but gentle when restless and impatient. At the end of the path, stop; breathe in and
out; "let go" of any restlessness, worry, calm, bliss, memories or opinions about yourself. The
"inner chatter" may stop momentarily, or fade out. Begin again. In this way you continually
refresh the mind, and allow it to settle at its own rate.
Walking brings energy and fluidity into the practice, so keep your pace steady and just let
changing conditions pass through the mind. Rather than expecting the mind to be as still as
it might be while sitting, contemplate the flow of phenomena. It is remarkable how many times
we can become engrossed in a train of thought -- arriving at the end of the path and "coming to"
with a start! -- but it is natural for our untrained minds to become absorbed in thoughts and
moods. So instead of giving in to impatience, learn how to let go, and begin again. A sense
of ease and calm may then arise, allowing the mind to become open and clear in a
natural, unforced way. "
-
Introduction To Insight Meditation, Amaravati Buddhist Centre, UK
"Walking with even breathing
Clears my mind
And now I'm feeling fine."
- Walking
Meditation for Children
"Walking meditation (cankama) has been one of the popular methods for mind development in
Buddhism, ever since the Buddha’s time up until the present time, because of its advantages for
both physical and mental health. Cankama literally means ‘steady walking’, that is to say, walking
along with mindfulness (sati). Because of the many benefits of Walking
Meditation, the Buddha
and his disciples used it regularly. The Buddha, even though already freed from defilements, still
used Walking Meditation for his physical exercise as evident in many written documents on
Buddhism.
Take for example the Buddha’s Walk (Path) in Jeta’s Grove in Savatthi (Sanskrit : Sravasti), which
at present is in the northeast of India. This Walk is still apparent as one walks near the Buddha’s
residence (Gandha-Kuti). Anatha Pindhika, a millionaire who was the Buddha’s Noble Disciple,
had this Walk made especially for the Buddha at the time he built the temple. The Walk was made
of bricks and was about 2 meters wide, 75 centimeters above the ground, and approximately 25
paces long. The temple was deserted for hundreds of years and the Walk stayed buried
underground until 150 years ago when the British Government, which ruled India at that time,
ordered the ancient remains at Jeta’s Grove to be restored. Hence, many of the ancient
remains have been well-preserved until now. The author has visited this Walk four times
while paying homage to the Buddhist sacred places in India."
- Walking
Meditation
"My God is the God of walkers. If you walk hard enough you probably don't need any other God."
- Bruce Chatwin
"Walking meditation is not just for stretching our legs. It is a technique just as powerful as sitting. Within the
Buddhist world there are many styles of walking meditation: the formal kinhin of Zen, the
kaihogyo of Mt. Hiei,
the rlung-sgom of Tibet, etc.
Walk slowly but naturally. Try to register as much information as possible about the sensation in each foot
as it moves. Break the movement into distinct components and note each one. Distinguish the lifting, swinging
and down-tread. Experience each change in tactile sensation against the floor as you lift and touch down. Try to
feel the many tiny jerks of muscles involved in the foot's seemingly smooth motion. Try to see that each component
and sub-component of the foot's motion has its own distinct beginning, middle and end.
At first you may want to make explicit mental note of the components by saying to yourself something like "Begin
lift, lifting, end lift, begin swing, swinging, end swing, begin coming down, coming down, begin touching ground,
touching..." However, as you become more and more aware of subtle events, you will not have time to characterize
each with words. In any event, keep an unbroken stream of awareness about the foot. If your attention wanders,
be aware of that fact and return to the foot. Remember, it is very important to keep the rest of the body relaxed
while you do this.
Our sense of solidity and separateness comes about because we habitually grasp and freeze each moment of
sensation. The vipassana walking exercise is designed to so completely flood your consciousness with reality
moments that there simply is no time left for grasping and freezing. As soon as a piece of data is registered,
move on to the next piece of data without allowing the memory of the former piece of data to congeal."
- Walking
Meditation, Shinzen Young
"The ability to walk upright is one of the key characteristics which separates us from our nearest evolutionary
cousins. Looking at those charts which show how humans evolved from a chain of hunched and swarthy hominids -
Australopithecus, Pithecanthropus, Neanderthal man and so on - our path follows a line of increasing uprightness,
as if seeking out the posture of the walker. In the last frame, where Homo sapiens has finally emerged, naked,
tall, unhairy, recognizable as us, it's as if we had stood up straight and walked away from hunched, uncertain
beginnings, a long hatching from some unimaginable egg, slow progress from a string of crawling, crouching,
scampering metamorphoses. What a weight of history has been carried forward on our steps! We may be
clumsy beside the grace of a gazelle, slow when compared to the speed of a sabre-toothed tiger's spring,
feeble if measured against the massive tread of dinosaurs or mammoths (or of elephants and rhinos), but
our walking has outpaced them all. We have walked our way across the world and beyond it; our steps
have led to civilisations, commerce, art, science, warfare."
- Chris Arthur, Walking Meditation
"Life's work is nothing but the slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great
and simple images in whose presence one's heart first opened."
- Albert Camus
"In walking naturally the lifting movement, pushing movement, dropping movement of the foot is very prominent,
very distinct to your mind so that you can easily note it.
When the object of meditation is prominent or predominant then you can easily note it. You can easily watch it.
Because you can easily watch it your mind becomes very quickly concentrated on it. Then that concentration
becomes also deep so it will last very long. One of the benefits of walking is to attain a long lasting concentration
of the mind. Naturally some of you practise walking meditation systematically and diligently so you have had
some concentration of the mind which is somewhat deep, better than you have had in sitting meditation.
You know it through your experience.
That's what the Buddha said, you can attain long lasting concentration by means of walking. So when you are
aware of each individual movement of the foot, and sometimes the intention too, then the mind becomes
gradually concentrated on the movement of the foot very well. And the more energetically you note the
movement the more deep is the concentration of the mind. Then when concentration becomes deeper
and deeper you feel your feet become light as they automatically lift, automatically push forward,
automatically drop down. You come to realise it. Sometimes you get startled at the experience of
this automatic lifting and pushing and dropping of the foot. and as soon as you feel it you say to
yourself, 'Hah, what's that? Am I mad or not?' In this way you get startled at the unusual experience
of the movement of the foot."
- Walking
Meditation. By Ven. Sayadaw U Janaka.
"Now raise your hands up up
And hear the tones go higher
Now drop your hands down down
And hear the tones go lower
Then listen to your body most carefully
It’s a natural little scale
Which your striding gait can play
Where the legs will mark the meter
And the arms will play the tune
It’s a changing moving music
Which will make the body sway
It’s the Dao Re Mi
That sets you on the way
On the way on the way on the way."
- The Dao Re Mi,
by Dennis Roth
"It is solved by walking."
- Latin Proverb
"According to Native American tradition, "Walking the
Red Road" is a metaphor for living within the Creator’s
rules—a life of truth, friendship, respect, spirituality, and
humanitarianism. For centuries, Native American elders,
parents, teachers, and spiritual leaders have handed down their wisdom and
values from generation to generation,
leading others down the path of self-discovery and enlightenment."
- 365 Days of Walking the Red Road, by Terri Jean.
"One step at a time is good walking."
- Chinese Proverb
"Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees."
- Karle Wilson Baker
"The Buddhist pilgrimage to the eighty-eight temples on Shikoku Island, Japan is a representative circular pilgrimage
covering nearly 1400 kilometres (960 miles). Associated with K. B. Daishi (774-835 A.D.), the Shikoku pilgrimage has
been popular si nce the beginning of the seventeenth century and continues to attract increasing numbers of pilgrims
from all walks of life. Its endurance and undiminished social significance is due in part to its having been able to
accommodate those changes necessary to keep pace with modernization while not abandoning traditional ties.
Exploration of the adjustments that have been made by pilgrims, pilgrim leaders, priests, area residents and
transportation providers alike in the attempt to resolve the conflict be tween tradition and modernization reveals
the underlying strength of the ongoing popularity of this pilgrimage. The emergence of the pilgrimage as a spatial-symbolic
system, the changing nature of the way in which the pilgrimage is made (acceptance of mo dern modes of transportation,
order of temple visits, establishment of miniature pilgrimages), changes in the ritual conduct at each sacred site,
and the responsive maintenance of temples reflect Japanese cultural preference."
- Hiroshi Tanaka Shimazaki, Pilgrimage
and Complexity:
A night mountain walk, kaihogyo, with the Shugendo marathon monks on Mt Hei.
“Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning
and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.”
- Erich Fromm
"Every year, thousands make a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash following a tradition going back hundreds of years. Pilgrims
of several religions believe that circumambulating Mount Kailash on foot is a holy ritual that will bring good fortune. The
peregrination is made in a clockwise direction by Hindus and Buddhists. Followers of the Jain and Bönpo religions
circumambulate the mountain on foot in a counterclockwise direction. The path around Mount Kailasa is 52 km (32 mi) long.
Some pilgrims believe that the entire walk around Kailas should be made in a single day. This is not easy; a person in
good shape walking fast would take perhaps 15 hours to complete the 52 km trek.
Many of the devout do accomplish
this feat, little daunted by the uneven terrain, altitude sickness and harsh conditions faced in the process.
According to Hindu mythology, Shiva, the God of destruction and regeneration, resides at the summit of a legendary
mountain named Kailasa. This Kailasa is regarded in many sects of Hinduism as paradise, the ultimate destination of
souls and the spiritual center of the world."
- Mount Kailash,
Wikipedia
Walking on Air
Walking on Eggshells
Walking on Cloud Nine
Walking on Water
Walking the Red Road
Walking through Walls
Walking Wisely
Journey Within
Life is a Journey
"Like breathing meditation, walking meditation is a simple and universal practice for developing calm,
connectedness, and awareness. It can be practiced regularly, before or after sitting meditation or any
time on its own, such as after a busy day at work or on a lazy Sunday morning. The art of walking
meditation is to learn to be aware as you walk, to use the natural movement of walking to cultivate
mindfulness and wakeful presence.
Select a quiet place where you can walk comfortably back and forth, indoors or out, about ten to
thirty paces in length. Begin by standing at one end of this "walking path," with your feet firmly planted
on the ground. Let your hands rest easily, wherever they are comfortable. Close your eyes for a moment,
center yourself, and feel your body standing on the earth. Feel the pressure on the bottoms of your
feet and the other natural sensations of standing. Then open your eyes and let yourself be present
and alert.
Begin to walk slowly. Let yourself walk with a sense of ease and dignity. Pay attention to your body. With
each step feel the sensations of lifting your foot and leg off of the earth. Be aware as you place each foot
on the earth. Relax and let your walking be easy and natural. Feel each step mindfully as you walk. When
you reach the end of your path, pause for a moment. Center yourself, carefully turn around, pause again so
that you can be aware of the first step as you walk back. You can experiment with the speed, walking at
whatever pace keeps you most present.
Continue to walk back and forth for ten or twenty minutes or longer. As with the breath in sitting, your mind
will wander away many, many times. As soon as you notice this, acknowledge where it went softly:
"wandering," "thinking," "hearing," "planning." Then return to feel the next step. Like training the puppy,
you will need to come back a thousand times. Whether you have been away for one second or for
ten minutes, simply acknowledge where you have been and then come back to being alive here and
now with the next step you take.
After some practice with walking meditation, you will learn to use it to calm and collect yourself and to
live more wakefully in your body. You can then extend your walking practice in an informal way when
you go shopping, whenever you walk down the street or walk to or from your car. You can learn to
enjoy walking for its own sake instead of the usual planning and thinking and, in this simple way,
begin to be truly present, to bring your body, heart, and mind together as you move through your life."
- Jack Cornfield, A Path With Heart
“What is there that confers the noblest delight? What is that which swells a man's breast with pride above
that which any other experience can bring to him? Discovery! To know that you are walking where none
others have walked”
- Mark Twain
"The Philosopher's Walk is a cherry-tree lined 2 km public path located in Kyoto, Japan.
It gets its name
because Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida used to walk the path to meditate."
- Wikipedia
"If you want to know if your brain is flabby, feel your
legs."
- Bruce Barton
"Begin by walking your normal walk a little more
slowly. Become aware of your breath, breathing
through you nose, and count the number of steps that you go with your
inhale. Count the number
of steps that you go with your exhale. Continue for several minutes in
this way, blending your
breathing with your walking, and your walking with your breathing.
Drop your shoulders and keep your back straight. Let the
tension in your body fall to your center,
where it blends with your breathing. Let your breathing sink to your
center as your muscles relax.
Use the same kind of breathing pattern as you practiced in lying-down
meditation: relax on the inhale,
set the hara as the start of the exhale. Practice bringing this
rhythm into your walking. To set the
hara for walking, place your hand on your lower abdomen (below your
navel). Keeping your knees
slightly flexed, tuck your tailbone ever so slightly forward. This should
have the effect of rocking your
hand slightly inward, creating a sense of roundness in your lower abdomen.
Don't tuck too much,
otherwise walking will be uncomfortable. With the slightest tuck, imagine
your center becoming a
perfectly round globe, which then becomes the center of your walking
motion.
Allow the number of steps that go with each breath to increase
as feels natural; as your body relaxes,
your breathing will tend to slow down. In particular, let your exhale
lengthen, growing two or three
times as long as your inhale. Don't force your breath to lengthen; simply
invite it to stretch out.
Continue to breathe with your walk, allowing your body to move evenly from your
center.
Feel your feet touch the earth. Feel the stability of each
step as your weight rolls from heel to toe,
from heel to toe.
Keep your head erect. Don't watch your feet or the ground
as you walk. Let you eyes take in all
that is around you, keeping your vision as broad as possible. Rather than
focusing narrowly on
each object with the center of your eye, see everything all at once by using
peripheral vision.
Take in the sounds, the smells, the beautiful, the not-so-beautiful; take in
everything evenly -
and be caught in none of it. If you find your attention wandering off,
come back to your breath
and blend it back with your step. Come back to your center. Come
back to your feet feeling
the earth. Come back to your senses.
Continue to walk. Enjoy your breath, body and mind -
moving in this simple harmony, alive in
this moment, and awake to what this moment offers."
- Ginny Whitelaw, Body Learning, (Berkeley Pub. Co., 1998), p.
56.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new
landscapes
but in seeing with new eyes."
- Marcel Proust
"One known Taoist who created a type of circular meditative
walk was Qiu Chang Chun, founder of the
Long Men (Dragon Gate) sect. Followers of this branch were interested in
blending with the earth's
surroundings to absorb chi energy from nature. They believed that
movement during meditation would
help achieve these goals. In addition, their philosophy held that nothing
in nature stands still, so their
circular walks were simply mimicking the way of the world.
Another Taoist, Dong Men-Lin, from the Jiu Hua Mountains, is
said to have taught circular walking
practices to several students. Dong was known as The Yellow Cape Taoist
within religious circles.
Depending on the source, either Qiu or Dong was the teacher of
Tung Hai Ch'uan, the man who is
most credited with transforming the early Taoist circular walks into the ba
gua martial arts form in
the nineteenth century."
- Jacques MoraMarco, The Way of Walking, p. 124
"Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is."
- Black Elk
"A person's heart and mind are in chaos.
Concentration on one thing makes the mind pure.
If one aspires to reach the Tao,
one should practice walking in a circle."
- Taoist Canon
"In Bodh Gaya, India, there is an old Bodhi tree that shades the
very spot where the Buddha is believed
to have sat in meditation on the night of his enlightenment. Close by is a
raised walking path about 17
steps in length, where the Buddha mindfully paced up and down in walking
meditation after becoming
enlightened, experiencing the joy of a liberated heart.
In his teachings, the Buddha stressed the importance of developing mindfulness
in all postures, including
standing, sitting, lying down, and even walking. When reading accounts about the
lives of monks and
nuns in the time of the Buddha, you find that many attained various stages of
enlightenment while
doing walking meditation.
In walking meditation, the primary object of attention is the process of walking
itself. In other words,
to sharpen awareness and train the mind to concentrate, you pay close attention
to the physical act
of walking, the way you take one step after another. Thus the object is more
obvious and tangible
than in the more refined meditation techniques, such as focusing on the breath
or a mantra, which
are often used in traditional sitting meditation. Focusing the mind on this more
obvious object helps
to avoid sleepiness (or restlessness) that meditators sometimes experience
during their sitting
meditation.
The guidelines for walking meditation are similar to that of sitting meditation:
Choose an appropriate
time and decide how long to meditate; for beginners 15 to 30 minutes may be
suitable. The walking
path can be either inside or outside, depending upon your preference and the
area available. Also,
whenever possible, it is better to practice in bare feet, although this is not
essential.
Stand at one end of the path and hold your hands gently together in front of
your body. The eyes remain
open, gazing down along the path about two yards ahead. The intention is not to
be looking at anything
in particular but simply to see that you remain on the path and know when to
turn around.
You should now try to center yourself by putting aside all concern for the past
and future. In order to
calm the mind and establish awareness in the present, abandon any preoccupation
with work, home,
and relationships, and bring the attention to the body. The meditation exercise
is simply to walk at a
slow, relaxed pace, being fully aware of each step until you reach the end of
the path. When you
arrive at the end of the path, stop for a moment and check to see what the mind
is doing. Is it being
attentive? If necessary, reestablish awareness. Then turn and walk back to the
other end in a similar
fashion, remaining mindful and alert. Continue to pace up and down for the
duration of the meditation
period, gently making an effort to sustain awareness and focus attention on the
process of walking."
- John Cianciosi,
Yoga Journal
Green Way Wisdom - Walking Meditation
"Many of the Anglican meditation manuals used by
Druids in the early years of the Revival gave special instructions for
meditating while walking in a garden or some other quiet area. To meditate
while walking, choose a route over level ground where you won't have to bend,
climb stairs, duck around trees, or do anything else that will interrupt your
thoughts. A paved or gravel path in a garden is ideal. It
should lead in a circle, so that you can keep walking as long as necessary.
Walk slowly and smoothly, taking relatively small steps at a steady rhythm.
As with the seated posture, you spine should be straight without being stiff,
the crown of your head level, and your eyes lowered. Let your arms move
easily and naturally at your sides."
- John Michael Greer, The Druidry Handbook: Spiritual Practice
Rooted in the Living Earth, p. 210
Walking Meditation Practices
Bagua Zhang Circle Walking Qigong
Valley
Spirit Tai Chi Chuan Club
Red Bluff, Tehama County,
North Sacramento Valley, Northern California, U.S.A.
Cities in the area: Oroville, Paradise, Durham, Chico, Hamilton City, Orland,
Corning,
Rancho Tehama, Los Molinos, Tehama, Gerber, Manton, Cottonwood,
Anderson, Shasta Lake, Palo Cedro, and Redding, CA
© Michael P. Garofalo, 2007, All Rights Reserved
Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems
Alphabetical Index to the Cloud Hands Website
Cloud Hands: T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Chi Kung Website
Alphabetical Subject Index
Cloud
Hands Website
Taijiquan, Qigong, Taoism, Classics,
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2,700 Quotes Arranged by 130 Topics,
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Red Bluff, California
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Michael and Karen Garofalo
Red Bluff, California
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Alphabetical Subject Index
Alphabetical Subject Index to the Cloud Hands Website
Ancient Goddesses - Quotations, Poems, Sayings, Prayers, Songs
Animal Frolics (Wu Qin Xi): Tiger, Bear, Crane, Deer, and Monkey
Arthritis Therapy - Exercise: T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Chi Kung
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Bear, Standing Bear, Level 1 Ranking, Valley Spirit Taijiquan
The Bear: The Five Animal Frolics (Wu Qin Xi)
Bicycling in Northern California
Bird - Five Animal Frolics (Wu Qin Xi)
Blog - Cloud Hands: Taijiquan and Qigong by Michael P. Garofalo
Blog - Green Way by Michael P. Garofalo
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Book of Changes (I Ching) and Qigong (Dao-yin)
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California (Northern) T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Qigong Directory: Instructors, Schools, Information
Charkas (Energy Centers of the Subtle Body)
Ch'i Kung: Bibliography and Links
Ch'i Kung Instructor: Michael P. Garofalo in Red Bluff, California
Chi Kung: Valley Spirit Center Red Bluff, California
Circle Walking - Bagua Zhang (Eight Trigrams Boxing)
Classes, Valley Spirit Taijiquan, Instructional Program
Cloud Hands: T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Ch'i Kung
Cloud Hands T'ai Chi Ch'uan Journal
Comments and Notes on the Yang Style Taijiquan
Confucius (K'ung Fu-tzu) (551 - 479 BCE)
Crane - Bird - Five Animal Frolics (Wu Qin Xi)
Crane, Soaring Crane, Intermediate Program, Level 3, Valley Spirit T'ai Chi Ch'uan
Cuttings: Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo
The Deer: The Five Animal Frolics (Wu Qin Xi)
Diabetes Therapy - Exercise: Taijiquan and Qigong
Direction of Movements in Taijiquan and Qigong
Disclaimer of the Cloud Hands Website
Eight Ox Herding Songs - A Ch'an/Zen Parable
Eight Section Brocade Ch'i Kung