Daily Walking Meditation: Learn to Meditate Zen Yoga Style 201

Daily Walking Meditation is a daily activity all year around:

This blog will describe Mindful Walking Meditation and 10 Simple Rules. But these rules are not denominational and based in daily practice of spirituality of appreciating nature and practicing Zen Yoga style of breathing.

Walking meditation can be enjoyed all year around. Just as each season is distinct and different, daily walking meditation done outdoors should reflect the seasonality. This is the Zen Yoga Style. there is no ‘uniform’ or set way of attires. No robes or rosaries.

Walking meditation is often practiced by Buddhists between their sitting meditation sessions. Somehow this has come to be viewed as a kind of an intermission. Almost like a spiritual practice of a secondary importance.

Walking meditation allows everyone and anyone to meditate. Even if you have lower back issues, knee issues or hop joint issues.

Walking meditation puts you back into a natural connection without any dogma or isms to nature.
You are not dealing with a meditation hall.
No ornaments of a particular religious school.
No scriptures.

Seasons of Daily Walking Meditation:

Winter Walking on the snow:

Freshly fallen snow is wonderful to walk. Utilize all your senses. The sensation of sinking through the snow and being stopped when snow gets packed up. Notice the sound made by the snow particles being replaced. You are repeating this process with your right foot and then left foot. Notice the slower and heavier pace.

Notice the type of snow on the ground. Powder snow. Heavy wet snow. Icy snow. What is covered by snow. What is still naked. Just observe.

(Some safety cautions)
If you are going to walk in a forest, hill, or nearby pond, lake areas be sure to go with a group of people. Even though fresh snow is not slippery, it may be over black ice or holes or a large body of ice. Dress appropriately. Be sure to have waterproof boots. Your hands should be free.

Should you ever fall into a hole and it is filled with water. Stay calm. Don’t panic.

This is time to be more reflective and introspective. Begin to plan for a new season. Focus on evening at home with your loved ones.

Spring Walking among wild flowers:

Notice the vivid colors and fragrance. Marvel at a beginning cycle of life.
Notice all daily how young shoots are sticking their heads out. How branches are beginning to fill up with leaves. How buds are beginning to emerge. How flowers are beginning to blossom.
Enjoy abundance of the Mother Earth. Be grateful how the Sun and the Earth are working in harmony.

Notice the days are getting longer. The sun is getting warmer. The bird are chirping more cheerfully.
Do you see more creatures? Even if you live in a major city, can you notice some substantial changes?

Summer Walking on the Beach:

Carefree openness and expansion. Allow yourself to be passionate. Spread and wiggle your toes and enjoy walking bare feet. Listen to the sound of the ocean waves. Feel how you are connecting with the sky with voluminous clouds and the Earth. . Feel the ocean breeze. Smell the salt. Fell the tiny grains of the sand sticking to your skin. Wetness. Dryness of the sand.
Notice all the beach pebbles. Shells. Drift woods. Seaweeds.
Expand your awareness to the entire globe beyond the ocean.

Notice how the ocean and the sky meet in the horizon.

Or would you rather retreat to a cooler shaded area or even indoors? Do not just hide in an air-conditioned room. Allow yourself to walk first thing in the morning when the air is still cool.

Fall Walking on the fallen leaves:

The tradition of a long summer vacation comes from when America was mostly agricultural. Kids used to help on their family farm. In America the fall season is the beginning of new school year.

This may be different to what you are used and conditioned in school in this Industrialized Era.

Starting one month into the autumn season, leaves begin to change colors.
“Autumn is a second spring. When every leaf is a flower.”
Albert Camus

It’s a great time to enjoy the national parks, hills forest, and mountains.
The fall season is the culmination of the year, time to celebrate your harvest and accomplishment. Enjoy the cooling effect, softer breeze and beautiful panorama of colors. (If you are in the North Eastern region.)

When the fallen leaves pile up, you can jump into it. Like when you were a child. Enjoy the rustling sound of the leaves.

Celebrate your small wins and accomplishments always. Begin to review your year. Don’t necessarily process through your brain. But breathe in and out of all the things of the year.

Without judgment. Just observe and know. To plan your new move.

Meditation doesn’t mean that you draw a complete blank. And screen turned off.

Just stay in your reality. Breathe in and out as you take steps.

Your perception will transform. Your reality will be reveled to you. In different colors.

I would like to modify Lao Tzu’s quote:

“The Journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step with intention.”
Yukiko Iino
What if you live in a region without changing seasons?

Even you don’t have distinct seasonal changes; there is some type of changes happening in your region.
Identify and create walking meditation reflecting your environment and climate changes.
It is impossible that the climate situation is exactly the same all year around.

Mindful Walking Meditation:

In the traditional teaching of Zen walking meditation, the practitioners use the experience of walking as their focus. In the experience, mindfulness is developed. The basic teaching involves their awareness of breathing, step they take and the pace of walking. The students find walking meditation difficult. It is too deliberate and too slow. They begin to notice their mind racing and feel extremely impatient and uncomfortable.

Here is a simple introduction to meditation done in a certain way.
I have found a way to turn people’s daily walking into Zen Walking Meditation. This is mindful walking. When you walk daily as the way described, you will transform your life. Taking a single step with mindfulness and intention every day.

Over the years as I taught Zen Yoga and meditation, I have found that many students found very difficult to do mindful walking meditation. This is a deliberate form of walking. In walking meditation, your purpose is to focus on your being through walking, touching the ground. Focusing on the feet and the breath.

Health practitioners and scientists have found many benefits of walking and walking meditation. They probably still do not know about many more benefits.

10 Rules of Meditation Walking in Your daily Walk:

When you walk following these steps with intention, we are practicing meditation:

[1] What to Wear:

Wear weather appropriate clothing and comfortable walking shoes.

[2] How Long to Walk:

Select how long you should walk; 15 minutes, 30 minutes or up to one hour of walk daily outside in a park, by a side of a river, on the beach, hill or mountain side in nature.

[3] What not to Bring:

Leave behind in your car or at home your digital devises; no cell phone, ear plugs, no head phone, no music, no educational audio. No electronics.

[4] Where to Walk:

Choose the type of place you want to go. Be dictated by your mood for the day. Mark and select several different routes, flat, uphill, downhill, etc. This allows different dynamics of body exercises.

[5] What to Focus on:

Focus and tune into nature’s blessings; sky, clouds, tree formations, branches, flowers, birds chirping, wind whistling, river and streams sizzling, etc.

Focus and tune in. All types of flowers and creatures around. The blessings of Nature.

[6] How to Walk:

Vary the speed of walking, slow, normal or brisk as your body dictates.
Walk backwards. This stimulates the various sections of the brain. Walk sideways like crabs.
Allow different muscle coordination.

The important thing is to let go. Your mind is too busy. Especially in this Internet, digital age, you are bombarded with information.
(Relax your shoulders, arms and hands.)
(By the way, soak you hands in hot or warm water if sea salt for 10- 20 minutes at night if you are getting tendinitis in your fingers.)

There are connections between fingers and the brain function. When your fingers are tired, your brain also gets tense and tired. This is from the Correspondence Points of Body Part Relationship honored and practiced in the Asian Healing Arts.

[7] Who to Walk with:

If you have company or friends. Don’t’ have a busy conversation. This is not time to yap or gossip.
If you walk your dog daily, be sure to have one small walk just for yourself.

[8] What to Do with Young Children:

If you are walking with young children, see and view things from their perspective. Their eye levels. They see things differently than you do. Their vision is at a lower level. They notice different things. So experience the world as they do. The important thing is for you to get away from your own thinking. Just hold hands. This is a great connection you are making.

[9] How to Breathe:

While you walk, breathe in deeply. Exhale through your mouth. Saying “ha—-.“
Releasing negative feelings and toxins from your body. So you get out all the negativity and toxins by breathing out consciously. Everything that is negative like dirt and dust tend to cling to our body cells.

Breathe in and out deeply and consciously. Exhale through the mouth and release one negative feeling or thought as it rises in your mind.

[10] How to Connect to Nature:

Breath in the beauty. The old wisdom. Hag the tree. Listen the trees have been here for a long time. Inhale and take in the energy of being alive here and now.
If little creatures are around, observe how different they move and enjoy. ( A little rabbit passing by.)
Exhale unleashing your joy, hope and gratitude to all the countless blessings you receive.

Don’t worry about trying to get speedy and to burn calories.
You are using your neuro-muscular system differently.
You are changing your perception.
You are learning from nature.
You are increasing your capacity to receive the Universal wisdom and knowledge.
Mindful walking is a wonderful gift given to the human kind.