Try a walking meditation

Walking meditation suits people who find sitting practice unbearable, and it is a real practice rather than a lesser substitute. To try a walking meditation you walk very slowly along a short path, back and forth, with the sensations in your feet as the anchor instead of the breath.

Why try a walking meditation is worth an hour

The short repeated path is the key design choice. Walking somewhere new means navigating, and navigating occupies exactly the attention you are trying to place on the movement. A ten-pace stretch walked repeatedly removes all decisions about where to go, which is what allows the attention to settle on the sensation itself.

How to try a walking meditation step by step

1. 1

   Find a short path

   Ten or fifteen paces, indoors or out. Short and repeated, so navigation never occupies your attention.

2. 2

   Walk much slower than normal

   Deliberately slow enough that each phase of a step is separable. Normal pace is too fast to observe.

3. 3

   Anchor attention in the feet

   Lifting, moving, placing, weight shifting. The foot replaces the breath as the object of attention.

4. 4

   Pause and turn deliberately

   Stop fully at each end, turn slowly, begin again. The turn is part of the practice, not an interruption.

5. 5

   Return attention when it wanders

   Exactly as in seated practice. The wandering and returning is still the thing being trained.

Tips to get more out of it

• Indoors is easier to begin with. Outdoor environments supply more to look at and pull attention outward.
• Bare feet or thin soles give considerably more sensation to work with.
• Walking slowly in public attracts attention. A garden, hallway or quiet corner avoids the self-consciousness.

Ways to mix it up

If very slow walking feels absurd, walk at a normal pace and use the rhythm of your steps as the anchor instead; it is less precise and considerably more practical. If you want the outdoor version, forest bathing is a different and slower practice built around sensory attention rather than movement.

Try a walking meditation: frequently asked questions