How to Do Walking Meditation
By Tergar Meditation Community • 3 min read
Walking meditation is a great way to start meditating if you’re a beginner. Even if you’re brand new to meditation, there’s one sensation you are sure to be familiar with: the stiff, achy feeling of having been sitting in one position for a long time. Even the most seasoned practitioner will tell you that protracted sessions of meditation can have the side effect of creaky knees and a numb bottom! Here’s the good news: this presents a wonderful opportunity to try walking meditation.
When doing body-awareness meditation, you sit still and bring the mind into the body. Walking meditation is the same, but in motion. Simply invite your awareness to the movements you’re making. Feet moving left, right, left. Maybe arms swinging slightly. Any sensation at all that arises — the air with its coolness or warmth, or the breeze you create as you move through space. The feeling of your shoes striking the ground. Whatever you experience, just be aware of it. Walk normally. You don’t need to slow your steps. Be natural, holding mind and body together.
For many people, walking meditation is somewhat more difficult than a session on the cushion. It can take practice to get used to maintaining awareness while you’re out in the world, with all its sights and sounds, not to mention other people. So for some people, walking meditation is not quite as easy as sitting, but on the other hand, it is not as chaotic as ordinary action, either. Because it takes place in the junction between those two states, it is especially useful in helping to integrate meditation into your everyday life. This makes it a highly beneficial practice.
Begin session
Main practice
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In this video, Mingyur Rinpoche discusses why walking meditation is beneficial but also why it can be challenging.
Try to apply this walking guided meditation by Tergar Instructor Myoshin Kelley in your everyday life.
Learn meditation under the skillful guidance of world-renowned teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche at your own pace.
Tergar Meditation Community supports individuals, practice groups, and meditation communities around the world in learning to live with awareness, compassion, and wisdom. Grounded in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage of our guiding teacher, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, our online and in-person programs are accessible to people of all cultures and faiths, and support a lifelong path toward the application of these principles in everyday life.
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