A shared practice
A Walking Practice
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Created bySean Fargo
From Sean's walking collection — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice8 min
Read along — the full script
As we've explored in other sessions, you can bring mindfulness to just about anything. Mindfulness is simply the act of paying attention on purpose in the present moment, non-judgmentally. In other words, we're bringing a kind, curious awareness to our experience.
One thing that most of us do every day is walking. It's interesting that most of us don't pay much attention to walking, at least the sensations of it. So in this session, we'll explore what it means to bring mindfulness to various aspects of normal, everyday walking.
I invite you to listen to this exercise wearing earbuds or headphones so that you can walk around as you listen to this guided exercise. You can pause if you'd like to prepare. So let's begin by standing with both feet flat on the ground, facing a direction that you can comfortably walk in for about five to ten paces, maybe a little more.
We'll be going back and forth as we do this exercise. So for now, as you stand, notice your feet on the ground, feeling the weight of your body on the bottoms of your feet. As with the standing practice, notice whether you're leaning forward or to the side or backward.
So relaxing your belly, dropping your shoulders, softening the muscles of your face and jaw. Notice where your hands are. Look forward towards the ground a few paces ahead. Now, before I invite you to take your first step, just notice which foot you're inclined to move first.
Okay. Now move your left foot, bringing it up slightly, moving it forward, and stepping one simple step on the ground, bringing awareness to the sensations of the bottom of your foot as you step forward. And with your right foot, bring awareness to the foot rising off the ground, swinging forward, touching the ground as you step.
Notice how your body is shifting with each step, bringing momentum to each foot and leg. And with each foot, noticing the sensations of the bottom of the foot as it touches the ground, noticing the shift of your body weight as it moves across the room. Bringing each foot up slowly, noticing it move forward through the air, feeling the bend of the knee, the transference of the weight of your body onto one foot as you bring the forward foot down onto the ground again.
So just notice, bringing the next foot forward, feeling what it feels like to meet the other standing foot. Now stand upright, both feet flat on the ground, side by side, in a safe, balanced, and comfortable position. Just pausing our walking practice momentarily just to notice what came up for you.
As we walk in general, we don't tend to notice the transference of our weight. Walking is so normal for us that we tend not to pay much attention to it. Now, I invite you to turn around, but notice which direction you're inclined to turn towards, whether it's to the left or the right, clockwise or counterclockwise.
Just noticing which feet move first and how many steps it takes to turn around. I invite you to practice mindful walking back to where you started by lifting your knee and your foot, bringing it forward, stepping on the ground, noticing the sensations of the bottom of the feet on the ground as you move your weight forward. And then noticing the back leg moving up, forward, down on the ground, sensing into the bottom of the foot as the weight transfers.
And just repeating this process several more times on your own. Noticing the sensations in the legs, the bottoms of each foot, each step different than the next. And if you notice yourself judging this practice or judging the experience of walking, that's okay.
Just notice the judging, and then simply come back to the sensations of walking with an attitude of curiosity for the sensations, moment by moment, step by step. Noticing where your hands go, where your eyes go, with a sense of curious, kind awareness to your experience. With each step, just noticing the sensations.
And now, bringing both feet side by side, standing in a comfortable, safe posture. Just standing. Wonderful. That's mindful walking. It's a very simple exercise, but a very powerful one. There's so many experiences in the body and in the mind as we walk that we tend not to pay attention to.
So I invite you to bring more mindfulness to walking in daily life. I think you'll be surprised by how much you notice in your experience as you bring more mindfulness to it. But thank you for your mindfulness.
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