Hi! So in this Video I will be explaining the technique of walking meditation.
Walking Meditation has many of the same benefits of sitting meditation.
So in the same way as when we do the sitting meditation
we’re going to try to keep the mind in the present moment
and aware of the phenomena as they arise.
To try to create a clear awareness of the reality around us.
But the question comes: "Why then do we have to switch to walking meditation?"
"Why is it not enough that we sit still and do sitting meditation?"
This is because walking meditation has several benefits which are not
found in the sitting meditation.
First of all we’re able to walk long distances.
We find that nowadays because we sit so much,
we’re sitting in cars or we’re sitting in an office or we’re sitting in school
or so on
we find that we are unable to undertake long journeys on foot.
For as in ancient times we would have been able to walk 20 or 30 kilometres a day
even,
nowadays we find that even a walk to the store is too much of a hassle.
The second benefit from walking meditation is that it gives us patience
and it gives us endurance.
Because it is something which is done very slowly and is very repetitious.
We find that it tests our patience
and if we’re practicing it on a daily bases it can
lift our patience and our endurance in any kind of work
or activity that we have to do which is perhaps unpleasant
even though it’s something that we know we have to do we might not
wish to do it.
Once we practice walking meditation we can overcome this.
The third is that it helps to overcome sicknesses which exist in the body.
If we have any sort of sickness, a disease or even diseases which are otherwise
incurable.
Sometimes people through the practice of meditation have cured cancer
have overcome many kinds of sicknesses in the body,
simply through the practice of meditation.
Because at the moment of walking meditation both your mind
is very focused and your body is very calm.
So just with other martial arts or other
methods of healing using the mind
walking meditation is something which as a by-product can help to heal the body.
The fourth benefit is the affect that it has on the digestive system.
So when we sit around all the time, when we’re not doing anything with the body
we find that sometimes our bodies ability to digest the food which we’ve eaten can
be limited.
When we do the walking meditation especially because it’s slow and repetitious
the body is giving a chance to work through the food which we’ve eaten
and digest it for the best benefit for our body.
The fifth benefit which is most important in the meditation practice
and the reason why we do the walking before we do the sitting
is that the concentration which comes from walking because it’s dynamic,
that it lasts into the sitting meditation, it lasts for a long time.
We can find that if we just do sitting meditation once we’re finished
our concentration dissipates very quickly.
When we’re practice walking meditation this is otherwise
and it continuous on into the sitting meditation.
So the concentration has much more strength and when we begin to do sitting meditation
after the walking
we find that we’re already ready, we’re already able to focus the mind very quickly
on the phenomena as they arise.
So these are the reasons, some of the reasons anyway
why we practice walking meditation as well as sitting meditation.
And now I’d like to give a demonstration on how exactly we do the walking meditation.
Walking meditation is performed with the feet close together.
The hands - right hand holding the left hand either in front or in behind.
The eyes are open and you’re looking at the floor in front of you about 2 metres out
and you’re going to walk in a line.
You can walk about four, three or four metres.
With your eyes looking at the floor, the ground in front of you
about 2 metres or six feet out.
You start with the right food and you move it one foot length with the heel just to be
in line with the toes of the back foot.
And then the same with the left foot. One food length each time.
As you do this you say to yourself as we have been from the beginning of the series.
You make a note of the motion as it occurs. So here we say to ourselves,
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left"
"step-ping right" and so on.
Making the acknowledgement, making the noting at the moment of the movement.
"Step-ping left"
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left"
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left"
"step-ping right" "step-ping left" and on
until you reach the end of the walking path.
Once you come to the end we have to turn around we’re going to walk in the other direction.
The method of turning round is to bring the back food up to stand next to the front foot.
As you do this you say to yourself
"stopping, stopping, stopping"
just coming aware of the fact that you’re stopping.
Once your standing still say to yourself,
"standing, standing, standing"
and when you go to turn around, the method of turning is to lift the right foot off the floor
and turn it 90° saying to yourself one time
"tur-ning"
and then the left food the same
"tur-ning"
and one more time
"tur-ning"
and then you’re facing the other direction.
When you’re standing in the other direction you start all over to say to yourself
"standing, standing, standing"
and then
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left"
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left"
and the most important part is that you’re making the acknowledgement as the foot moves.
So if you say to yourself "step-ping right" and then move
or you move first and then say "step-ping right"
this is incorrect because you’re not really aware of the action as it occurs.
To make it correct acknowledgement and to bring about the clarity of mind which
we’re hoping for
you have to move the foot as you make the acknowledgement,
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left" and as you’re walking if something comes into your mind,
say a thought or so on or a feeling or some emotion arises,
during that time instead of continuing to walk and letting your mind get distracted
bring your back foot up
and actually stop in the middle of your walking steps, say to yourself
"stopping, stopping, stopping"
and then become aware of the thought or aware of the emotion and say to yourself
"thinking, thinking, thinking"
or "angry" or "sad" or "bored" or "happy"
if you feel pain say "pain" and so on
and once it goes away then continue on your walking.
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left"
"step-ping right"
"step-ping left" and so on…
and the technique is to walk back and forth making the acknowledgment in your
‘til you come to the end and then bring the foot up again
"stopping, stopping, stopping"
"standing, standing, standing"
"tur-ning"
and then "standing, standing, standing" and so on,
to go back and forth for say 10 minutes
and here we try to balance the walking meditation with the sitting meditation.
So if suppose you were to do 10 minutes of walking meditation
then we would also expect that you would do 10 minutes of sitting meditation.
If you do 15 minutes of walking meditation then also do 15 minutes of sitting
meditation and so on…
This concludes the demonstration of "how to practice walking meditation".
I thank you for tuning in and wish you all the best.