Meditation in Motion

Meditating in stillness helps gather and settle the mind. However, stillness is not possible for some people due to bodily or neurological limitations. Luckily, it is possible to practice meditation while in motion. Meditating moving is not only for people who struggle with stillness — it is something all meditators can benefit from.

Walking Meditation

The quintessential form of movement-based meditation is walking meditation. In this practice, we simply practice mindfulness while walking. We pay attention physical sensations, our breath, emotions, sounds, and thoughts, noticing these objects of experience arise and pass away as we walk. This multisensory approach aligns with the practice of vipassana, which you can learn more about on the Meditation for Spirituality page. In seated vipassana, we typically start with mindfulness of breath and maintain the breath as an anchor point for our attention. Similarly, in walking meditation, we focus predominantly on the physical sensations of walking itself, starting with the bottoms of the feet. As your mind becomes more focused, you can “zoom out” your awareness to include your legs and eventually your whole body. It is fine and even recommended to experiment with various “apertures” depending on how sharp your attention is during each walking session. Whenever your attention wanders or you find yourself lost in thought, just notice this, then gently bring your attention back to the experience of walking.

You can walk at any speed that helps you connect with your experience, but many people find going at a slow pace (sometimes very slow) to be ideal. See what works for you. Additionally, you can practice walking meditation any time you are walking in a safe environment. However, when practicing formally, it is helpful to find a place where you can walk about 15-20 paces back and forth. Walk for about 15-20 paces (you do not have to count this), then stop, turn around, and walk back to where you started. Then repeat, walking back and forth in a straight line. Stopping and turning around at regular intervals is like a little reset that helps you catch your mind wandering, giving you an opportunity to bring your awareness back to physical sensations or whatever experiential phenomena you are including in your practice.

Check out this guided walking meditation from Melanie Whitney, intended to be listened to while walking:

Mindfulness Throughout Daily Life

You can practice meditation in motion while performing any passive physical task that comes up in your life. This is especially valuable when the business of life makes it difficult or impossible to practice formally. While eating, washing the dishes, showering, getting dressed, brushing your teeth, waiting in line, etc. you can practice mindfulness of the physical sensations that come up. Even if you do formally meditate, these sporadic mini-meditations will create a continuity of mindfulness that will benefit your sitting practice. Informal mindfulness practice is also much better for your mental health than scrolling endlessly on your phone.