Mindful walking - my way of doing it (wrong??)

Dairwolf

I was wondering if it is also a way to practice mindfulness while walking if you try to pay attention to how your feet are touching the ground, how the wind is touching your hands or how your hands feel in your pocket, how your back pack feels on your shoulders and what you are seeing and hearing.

The reason I am wondering is that I´ve seen videos on youtube where mindful walking is being described and it seemed that your really need a LOT of time if you want to get from A to B because the focus is on the meditation and not the walking. But I would rather want to incorporate more mindfulness practice into my everyday life. Is the above a good way of doing it?

Jeffrey

My booklet says to feel your feet on the floor as a suggestion to prevent yourself from totally day dreaming. You want your senses in contact with the environment including mind sense. Its not bare awareness IMO but you notice the discursive mind is just thinking and you gently let it rise and dissipate without getting hooked. If you do your alignment with your feet or whatever stabilizer will be a bell to wake you to the experience of thoughts as thoughts rather than a world you are in.

nanadhaja

I was wondering if it is also a way to practice mindfulness while walking if you try to pay attention to how your feet are touching the ground, how the wind is touching your hands or how your hands feel in your pocket, how your back pack feels on your shoulders and what you are seeing and hearing.

The reason I am wondering is that I´ve seen videos on youtube where mindful walking is being described and it seemed that your really need a LOT of time if you want to get from A to B because the focus is on the meditation and not the walking. But I would rather want to incorporate more mindfulness practice into my everyday life. Is the above a good way of doing it?

hi Dairwolf.I don't know what youtube vids you have watched so can't comment on that,so i will come from my own angle.When doing walking meditation we tend to be mindfull of the whole movement of the foot.This may be why the videos you are watching appear to show it taking a long time getting from point A to point B.
If your mind goes to the feel of the wind on your heel or you hear a noise,see a butterfly etc,then we note this,seeing,seeing,seeing-feeling,feeling,feeling and then go back to the object of our meditation,in this case walking.Yes you can incorporate this into your everyday life,infact you should incorporate this into your everyday life.
Keep up the practice.
With metta,
Phra Greg

StudentAndMaster

Mindfulness in every day life can be charcterized as an Unjudgemental, Non Ego directed Acceptance of all that is as it is. Gratitude of Life, and the recognition of everything and everybody as an expression of the Greater can free you to achieve the state of mind you seek.

While Videos and readings on the 'net can help, do not stop and consider this to be the 'end all' approach.

Simply put, being truly 'Present' simply asks that you release yourself into a greater understanding that the world is as it is, without the Cloak of murkiness of Judgement, Ego and Presumption that is so prevalant today.

In Mindfullness, we are aware of our interaction with the World, and being careful that we do not attempt Control. It is like doing all by doing NOTHING.....

DhammaDhatu

...if you try to pay attention to how your feet are touching the ground, how the wind is touching your hands or how your hands feel in your pocket, how your back pack feels on your shoulders and what you are seeing and hearing...

ask yourself, why must you do this?

for example, if we do not try to pay attention to anything, will our mind be aware of nothing?

or will our mind's awareness or consciousness naturally connect with an object (such as the in & out breathing)?

my opinion is, when practicing formal walking meditation (that is, 'back & forth', along a pre-determined 20 to 30 pace long path), it is best to 'just walk'

mindfulness in buddhism means to keep the mind free from judging, craving & attachment. this way, we can practise walking medition to cultivate samma samadhi (right concentration)

my opinion is all of this feeling the touching of the feet is basically useless

imitating a robot or zombie will not bring much spiritual progress

it is important to understand monks must walk in a composed manner and that monks basically wear dresses

so, just like a catwalk model, monks train in deportment via paying attention to parts of the body walking meditation

just for public image, monks must train in being aware of their bodily movements

but for the purpose of enlightenment, it is best to just walk...just walk

all the best

DD

buddhajunkie

Obviously bringing more mindfulness into your every-day activities is probably a good thing.

However, replacing strict walking meditation with a more free-spirited, wandering one, has some ramifications which may not serve your purposes:

- You have to think about what to be mindful of. Or, if you don't do that, then your wandering mindfulness takes on some traits of wandering mind.

- It is difficult to assess the shifting of the mind when the meditation object itself is constantly shifting.

- You are being more mindful of external stimulation, rather than internal, mental events.

- When walking to get from A to B you have to think about where you're going and how to navigate past obstacles. You also don't have the turn-around point, as in conventional walking meditation, which plays a key role in assessing how your concentration and mindfulness is going.

- Overall, you probably won't be able to achieve the same level of concentration or mindfulness is you let your attention wander.


My recommendation is to maintain some practice of conventional walking meditation. It takes discipline, but it pays off.