“Walking meditation has no destination…except awareness.”
My walking meditations usually occur at the trailing end of my dog’s leash. On four or five daily strolls of between ten and thirty minutes, I enjoy the opportunity to focus my thinking in a controlled manner while my small, white, curly-haired dog follows one of her several predetermined paths that always seem to be circular in nature, taking us back to our exact point of departure. Since the dog determines the course of my walk, my mind is free to focus on a thought of my own choice – a thought free from the disruptions of the hyper-mindlessness that usually clutters my consciousness. I’m no longer the victim of all those unpleasant thoughts that originate randomly. Mindful meditation has become the motivation for my walking, and awareness is the product of my focused mind. Focus reduces the unnecessary stress, frustrations, and false emotions presented to me by my equally false perceptions and responses to an impermanent external world.
In truth, the type of meditation that I prefer would put me in the corpse position. My advanced age and ample girth make nearly all of the seated meditative positions nearly impossible. However, the fault of the corpse position is that it gives way to drowsiness and eventually sleep. Sleep is good…but it doesn’t provide me the opportunity to control the thought process necessary for mindful meditation. In fact, the dreams that often accompany my sleep are exactly like those thoughts of undetermined origin that generate my state of mindlessness when awake. It takes some conscious effort to reach a state of mind conducive to achieving a clear and focused place within my mind – a place of self-awareness. Considering my options, walking meditation will do quite well.
Since I was introduced to the practice of meditation, I have become aware that meditation is a somewhat natural behavior for me. I have never found it difficult to tune out distractions that interfere with my focus and concentration. I didn’t, however, immediately recognize the benefits to my mental health that meditation could provide when consciously utilized on a regular basis. Now, I understand why those walks in a secluded wooded area or among the dunes along Lake Michigan were so deeply gratifying and refreshing to me in years past. Any place free from man-made conventions or free from social interaction is pleasant and regenerative to my state of mind.
For me, mindful meditation is a process and not a destination. The success I feel is not reduced by my occasional descents into mindlessness, but rather success is measured by those instances when I can consciously reject thoughts that are useless in my desire to be happy. It is comforting to be accepting of the consequences of the experiences of my lifetime’s choices and not to dwell on the past and what might have been. The success of mindful meditating requires a reinterpretation of failure, a new emphasis on self-forgiveness, and a purposeful attempt at living only in the present.
The substance of my walking meditations takes many forms. Sometimes, I concentrate on just how I’m feeling as I trudge along my daily path. Other times, I think about a happy experience from the past, or a place that once gave me sensual pleasure, or a person that I loved and who loved me in return. Sometimes I focus on the environmental sensations that I am experiencing at the moment: a cool, still morning; the warm touch of the afternoon Florida sun; or the damp chill of a dark moonless night. And there are other occasions, when I generate great speeches that will never be performed, or I formulate a short story, an essay, a screen play, or a novel that will never be written… and sometimes, I generate a simple Haiku…
No destination
has walking meditation,
except awareness