Walking Meditation 4 – Awareness
Increase awareness through walking meditation
This Awareness Walking Meditation largely draws on the lessons that you have learned by practicing the previous 3 Walking Meditations, and from the general information in the Walking Meditation Introduction page.
However, as this follows on from the main Walking Meditation page, if you have not seen that page, then please click
Awareness Walking Meditation
to read it first.
Having spent time doing the other 3 Walking Meditations in this series, by now you will have a better knowledge about how your - Bodily Sensations,
- Feelings and
- Emotions function,-
.... and be beginning to get a sense of how you can be more in control of these aspects of yourself, in order to have more self awareness in your life, and therefore be more efficient.
This meditation will allow you to integrate what you have learned so far, and help you to be more aware of how external objects, or objects of consciousness, have affected your feelings and emotions in the past, - .... and how you can therefore choose how they will affect you in the future.
In other words - how to have more awareness i.e consciousness, and
therefore take better control of your life.
Awareness Walking Meditation GuideSo let’s start if you are ready for this particular Walking Meditation; -
Begin by just standing still as you did with the other Walking Meditations, and focus on the ground about 10 feet in front of you.
Look at what Sensations come into your consciousness –- …. the small muscle movements that you make to stay standing,
- …. feel your feet against the ground,
- …. do you feel hot or cold,
- …. what sights, sounds and smells are you aware of,
- …. can you feel any wind against your body ?
- …. and so on.
Now observe your Feelings, especially those that arise as a result of these Sensations – - …. are you comfortable or uncomfortable,
- …. are you bothered by the sights, sounds and smells around you
- …. are you tense or relaxed,
- …. is this a pleasant or unpleasant meditation ?
Just allow your conscious mind to touch on these Feelings – without trying to change anything, without trying to analyze the why or wherefore of any of these Feelings. Only observe them - – almost as if you are watching them happening to someone else
- – let your consciousness simply see the Feelings arising,
- - observe them,
- - and watch them passing.
Let these Feelings just happen and ‘let them be.’
Next move your concentration to your Emotions - - …. just observe whether you are happy or sad,
- …. angry or peaceful,
- …. fearful or calm,
- …. loving or hateful,
- … or any of the many other Emotions that you may notice.
Try to be notice if there are any connections between your - Sensations,
- your Feelings, and
- your Emotions
– how does one affect the other ? Once again, allow all of this to just enter into your awareness, but - without attaching any “labels” to it,
- without getting caught up in any of it
- – just observing,
- watching, and
- “letting it be.”
Now include the inputs from the environment around you,the sights, the sounds, andthe smells. See how they affect your body, your feelings and your emotions. Now slowly start to - walk, and
- gradually increase your speed to a relaxed natural pace
- – but this time allow your arms to hang by your sides and
- swing in a normal way.
- As you are walking,
- keep your concentration alternating between
- your body movements,
- your sensations,
- your feelings and
- your emotions.
Watching all, but without interfering in any way – just being aware of what is going on with these different parts of yourself at this moment in time. Each time that you realize that your awareness has drifted from this to something else, then gently bring it back again to just observing.
This may seem somewhat boring to begin with, but after a comparatively short time you will notice that you are developing an increased consciousness of how your mind works, namely - - …. how your bodily sensations affect your feelings,
- …. how your feelings affect your emotions,
- …. and how you can choose to be less affected by negative:
- sensations,
- feelings and
- emotions –
- …. while at the same time allowing your consciousness to concentrate more on the positive ones,
- …. and at the same time be more in the ‘present’ or the ‘here and now’.
In other words, taking more control of your ‘inner world’.
Gently walk in this way for about 20 minutes, and then peacefully come to a stop. Observe what is different for you, from the beginning of your Walking Meditation – how has your awareness changed ? Finally give a big stretch and then that brings you to the end of this 4th Walking Meditation.
You should now continue to do these Walking Meditations as often as you can, and changing the focus each time – so that you are alternating between - the Sensations,
- the Feelings,
- the Emotions and
- Awareness Walking Meditations.
Eventually you will find that you start to put yourself in one of these Walking Meditation states automatically
– whenever or wherever you are walking.
The changes within you are gradual and subtle but tend to be long lasting, and will slowly and inexorably bring greater consciousness to all aspects of your life.
So keep doing the Walking Meditations, even though it may take you a while before you recognize that subtle changes for the better are taking place in your general awareness – stay with it and be patient !
Finally I would like to finish this Walking Meditations section of my website by giving you a couple of relevant quotations: - Borgess Health "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
Jack Cornfield "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.” - Jack Cornfield
So I will finish here by wishing you “Happy Walking !”
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