Walking Meditation: Guidelines, Benefits & Types

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You must have heard of meditation and you already know about walking. Now how about putting those two words together to form Walking meditation? While traditional meditation requires you to be seated in a quiet spot and focus on your inner self with your eyes closed, walking meditation requires a little bit more movement. During walking meditation, you walk slowly while coordinating your breathing and focusing practices. You get to interact with the outside world and be more aware of your body during walking meditation. Interestingly, many people find this to be a lot easier than the more traditional seated meditation.

Guidelines for Walking Meditation

Here are a few guidelines to help you get started on walking meditation: Location: Walking meditation may feel a bit awkward initially. So it might be a good idea to practice it in your backyard or another secluded location where you will not be disturbed. You need to pick a place that will not distract you.

Duration: The ideal length of a walking meditation session is about fifteen minutes. Since you are moving around, you will not feel any discomfort, unlike traditional meditation. According to the experts, you can practice walking meditation for longer periods as well.
Walking Pace: Your walking pace needs to slow but steady and even at the same time. If you are feeling agitated, experts suggest walking slowly to help you focus better.
Anchoring: Before you get started, you need to stand in a spot and breathe deeply to anchor your body. This helps your mind get ready for the walking meditation session as well.

Walking Meditation for Beginners

If this is your first time try out walking meditation, follow these steps carefully:

Draw an imaginary line of any length on your floor. The line can be of any length Experts suggest starting with 5 feet lines and then making it longer as you get better.
The next step is to walk along this imaginary line mindfully and slowly. You need to take your time and breathe naturally. Keep your hands either on your side, behind you, or clasped in the front. It is up to you.
Focus on your feet as you lift them one by one and move forward slowly. You need to finish one step before lifting your foot for the next step.
Take a pause and make a 180 degree turn and walk back along the same line once you reach the end of your imaginary line.
If you feel your attention wandering, bring back your attention and focus on the sensation in your feet.

Once you master this technique, you can give buddha meditation a try.

Benefits Offered by Walking Meditation

Lets take a look at some of the walking meditation benefits :

Boosts Blood Flow: Walking meditation gets your blood flowing and prevents you from feeling sluggish or stagnant. A morning walking meditation session is a great way to start your day.
Improves Digestion: Practicing guided walking meditation after a meal is an excellent way to boost digestion. It also helps prevent constipation.
Reduce Anxiety: Walking meditations have proven to help lower stress levels drastically. Calm walking meditation goes a long way in helping you de-stress after a hard day at work.
Lowers Blood Sugar Levels: Walking meditation helps lower your blood sugar level, having a positive effect on people with Type 2 diabetes. Buddhist walking meditation is a great way to get blood sugar levels under control.
Prevents Depression: Walking meditation improves your fitness levels and also keeps you active. This goes a long way in keeping depression at bay. In fact, many therapists recommend gratitude walking meditation to their clients.
Improves Well-being: Taking a guided meditation walk through the park or garden will enhance your mood and leave you feeling happier than before.
Improves Sleep Quality: Although walking meditation is not like other intense workouts, it still helps your body calm down and thereby improves your sleep quality.
Inspires creativity: The next time you experience a creative block, get up and try walking meditation. It will get your juices flowing and come up with amazing new ideas in no time.
Improves Balance: Mindful walking meditation has proven to help encourage better balance and coordination among the young and old alike.

Making mindful walking meditation a part of our daily life offers you plenty of benefits as seen above.

Different Types of Walking Meditation

There are several walking meditation techniques. Some of the popular ones include:

• Theravada Walking Meditation
• Zen Walking Meditation (Kinhin)
• Thich Nhat Hanh Walking Meditation
• Mindfulness Walking Meditation
• Yoga Walking Meditation
• Daoist Walking Meditation

They follow the same walking meditation technique which involves getting up and moving around while focusing on breathing techniques and paying attention to your inner self. You will soon enjoy the Buddhist walking meditation as well as the other techniques.

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