Walking meditation

One of the things I like to do when I can is to use my walking as a form of meditation. It's a bit easier to do if you are not battling heavy wind or rain at first, though this sort of weather can come to be even better conditions in which to practise.

I start off by becoming aware of my actual body as I walk, the whole of my body at first, from my feet to my head, and bring awareness into the movement of my whole body. Interestingly, just at this early stage I find my walking has usually slowed down a pace. Then I bring awareness more specifically to my feet as I pick them up and down and the contact of the surface under my feet.
If I am walking somewhere, I keep some attention on the actual pavement and people/things around me as well. If I am just walking on the field I sometimes just focus on the immediate area in front of my feet and slow my pace right down.

In either case I feel my self relaxing and my awareness increasing and as always seems inexplicable I find I am happier and enjoying what ever my experience is at that time.

Walking down to the local nature reserve I was caught by these thistle type plants with their seed heads blowing loose in the breeze. I stood for ages watching the seed heads blow away and admiring the profusion of soft seeds. My mind slow enough to appreciate the delicate movements from my meditative walking.

The wisdom of the body

One of the aspects to meditation that I was immediately struck by was that of how body and mind are connected. My experience in meditation was not just a mental experience, I was not just in my head when I sat to meditate.
It was not just that my body made itself aware to me through all the various aches and pains that seemed to arise when I sat, but that my body seemed to experience or embody the state of mind through the practise.
At first it was more about me noticing my body as the other or secondary experience, but as I practised I was more and more aware that I could, as it were, start from the body, my body and listen to the awareness there before moving to my thoughts. Just by becoming aware of our breath we can gain precious understanding about how we are feeling, the breath tells us how relaxed or stressed we are for example. there is wisdom in the body and if we can sit with a growing awareness of our body, breath and mind we will be developing a holistic meditation practise.