If you can walk unaided, you almost certainly take the act of walking for granted.
Your memory of learning to walk is lost in your early childhood. As a baby, you graduated from lying to rolling over, then sitting, crawling on your hands and knees, wobbling as you stood, and finally taking your first steps. Your body learned to embrace the evolutionary process that helped your ancestors become mobile on two legs. You found your feet and never looked back.
But try now to take the slowest step that you possibly can. Stand up from where you are. Concentrate intently on lifting one foot, then move your leg slowly forward and carefully place the same foot on the ground again. If you reach out a hand to steady yourself, you’re not unusual. Moving so deliberately, your centre of gravity can shift noticeably and make you feel unbalanced.
No wonder Jacquelin Perry, the American physician who dedicated her career to helping people recover from the debilitating effects of polio, described walking as “controlled falling.”
Speed keeps you upright. But it’s not the only way to walk.
One step at a time
Mindful walking is ancient practice that is rooted in Buddhism. The Buddha himself taught mindful walking in the Cankama Sutta, extolling five benefits of simply walking up and down a prescribed path: fitness for walking long distances, capability to approach the spiritual life with discipline, freedom from disease, ease of digestion and mental composure.
In modern times, the Zen Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh wrote extensively on the practice of mindful walking. And teachings on the subject are incorporated in the syllabus of secular Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, offered as another way to gain a deeper awareness of the present moment.
So, if you want to experience the benefits of mindful walking, what are the essential steps?
Find a place to walk. Mindful walking means moving at a slower pace than normal, so a busy path is not the place to explore this practice. You do not need to travel far in mindful walking, so your backyard or a quiet grassy area might be the perfect spot. Imagine a short, straight line to a not-too-distant point. This is the path you will walk and return along.
Start by standing. All walking begins with being stationary. Scanning your body from bottom to top, take a moment to notice how you hold yourself. Find a comfortable posture that balances the stress of your muscles against the pull of gravity. Feel the weight of your body through your spine, hips, legs, ankles and feet. Settle into this moment of beginning.
Lift one foot. Raise your heel and feel your foot roll forward until your toes leave the ground. As your foot moves, your centre of gravity will shift towards the opposite hip. Be careful not to go so slowly that you lose your balance.
Bring your knee forward. Feel your muscles tighten as you bend and then straighten your leg to move just a little way forward. Mindful walking is easier if you shorten your stride. Your goal is not the end of the path but rather your present awareness of each step.
Place your foot on the ground. Plant your heel gently, and roll forward towards your toes until the whole of your foot makes contact with the earth. You may find the instinct to begin lifting your stationary foot is strong, but try to keep contact with the ground. Feel your centre of gravity shift again towards the centre of your body.
You have taken a single step. Keep moving in this way until you reach the end of your path. Notice your breathing, and see if it finds a rhythm as you progress. Your mind will wander, but you can gently bring your attention back to the motion of walking without self-judgement.
Finding the right pace is the key to mindful walking: too slow and you fall; too fast and you lose focus. But like sitting meditation, mindful walking is powerful practice that brings your mind into your body. You recognise that you are not a collection of thoughts carried on a meat skeleton that hurries from one place to another. You are a whole being who walks.
If you cannot stand or walk unaided, the principles of mindful walking can still be applied. See your forward movement as a series of small, interconnected steps, and focus in detail on the elements that bring you from one point to another. Move slowly through them and notice what happens.
All of us are beginners in the art of mindful walking, so do not set yourself up to fail by embarking on an extended journey. Committing to five minutes of mindful walking is a good place to start. But even a single step can shift your consciousness.
Walking meditation
Another practice of mindful walking simply takes the practice of sitting meditation and makes it mobile.
I’ve never been much of a sitting meditator. My mind craves stimulation, and I’m too easily distracted. But for me, walking meditation encourages the same present-moment awareness that many people find while sitting.
As I walk with my eyes open, I notice my body, my thoughts, my feelings. When my mind wanders from the path, the rhythm of walking is an anchor for my attention, bringing me back to the now. I feel the movement of my breath, rising and falling as I take each step.
Research has shown that walking meditation can improve your mood and reduce distress, and I feel both these benefits when I walk with intention. Walking in nature enhances these effects, too; a change of scenery really does do me good.
Like mindful walking, this type of meditation is easily adaptable if you have difficulties with mobility. Find a beautiful place in nature that you can access, and simply observe the movement of the world around you. Connect with your senses, and notice the movement of your breath in your body. Observe without judgment.
I find walking meditation calming. But sometimes, the movement of my body isn’t enough to anchor my attention in the present moment, especially when my conscious mind is a jumble of anxious thoughts. I can go through the motions of walking, but my mind takes an entirely different path.
The gift of presence
“It is of no use to direct our steps to the woods, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit... But it sometimes happens that I cannot easily shake off the village. The thought of some work will run in my head and I am not where my body is—I am out of my senses…
What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?”
Walking by Henry David Thoreau
My experience of aphantasia makes my mind hungry for external stimuli, and having my eyes closed in sitting meditation can feel like a punishment. I long to experience the world through my senses. So, I have found real freedom in turning my attention outward when I walk and approaching the world with curiosity and without judgment.
In his seminal book, Walden, Thoreau writes rather dismissively that people “who come rarely to the woods take some little piece of the forest into their hands to play with.” But I find a great deal of comfort in this simple practice. Especially when my mind is busy, it can feel like a relief to shift my attention from my anxious thoughts to the search for a shell that nestles perfectly in my palm, or a stone with the exactly right colour, shape and texture.
I can lose myself for hours in the act of looking. Finding something beautiful lifts me out of the isolation of my busy mind and grounds me in the world around me. The search helps me to slow down and become more present.
My home is filled with treasures like these three pebbles, tangible reminders of mindful walks that took me beyond the pressures of everyday living. These extraordinary, ordinary gifts of nature are prompts to steady my pace, to notice, and to be in the present moment as completely as I can. Simple stones are filled with stories that hint at another way of being. They remind me to walk slowly.
There are so many ways that a walk can shift your perspective. Whether you inch your way into mindful walking, meditate on your feet, or search for something beautiful in nature, take time to slow down.
The path may stretch endlessly ahead of you, but all that matters is what you discover in the next step.
Inspiring. I enjoyed reading it… and I’ve deleted my ‘step-counter’ app because of it - thanks!