Almost everyone knows the life-changing benefits of meditation, but putting it into practice can still be challenging. People often think that it needs to be perfect and give up way too easily. Over decades of teaching it, I’ve heard all the excuses.
“I can’t clear my mind”
“My body is uncomfortable”
“I can’t sit still”
“I’m distracted by my family”
The most common excuse by far is…
“I don’t have enough time”
You know what? I don’t have a lot of time either! But I do manage to prioritize meditation everyday. It just takes on a different form from the disciplined seated practice most people assume you need to do for it to be “real meditation”.
While a 20 minute seated practice upon rising is what starts my day off best, there are some days, like today, where that just wasn’t possible. I had to get out the door quick to teach a yoga class. Of course I couldn’t enter the room with frantic energy. I needed to ground, to focus my mind, and give myself space to let my creative sequencing juices flow. How did I do this from the car to the class?
WALKING MEDITATION
That’s right. You can quiet your mind with the simple movement you do every single day as you transition from one space to the next.
This simple 3-minute walking meditation helped me teach one of my best classes. I know walking meditation can help you as well when you need to anchor fully into the present moment.
The technique is super easy.
Instructions for Walking Meditation
- Focus on the sensation of each foot, one at a time, connecting with the ground from heel to toe. Over and over, heel-arch-toe, heel-arch-toe, heel-arch-toe…
- You can do this at any pace, but most people can focus easier the slower you go.
- You’re not clearing the mind, you’re focusing the mind. We brush off distracting thoughts that are not focused on what you’re doing in the present moment, which is simply walking on the earth.
- You can strengthen your mind even more by using your imagination to ground your energy. Imagine that you’re walking through mud, or that you’re rooted underneath the earth and these roots are traveling with you.
I invite you to try this method! I promise it will help you prepare your mind for your daily activities. Brilliance lives in the present moment – not from time spent imagining what might happen in the future.
It’s still worth it to practice seated meditation whenever you can though. That experience can prepare you to drop in even quicker when you need to do a walking meditation instead. You can browse my free guided meditations here to help you along.
Namasté
