Approach walking meditation like swimming, feeling the body moving through space. There’s a swing, a pleasant fluidity. Hold any concerns that arise in your embodiment, giving the heart a foundation to listen from. It will eventually speak for itself.
The mobility of walking helps soothe feelings of tension and aggression. The loose and the strong aspects as you walk create a feedback loop to circulate energy. A comfortable collectedness of energy can result.
Working with feeling foggy in meditation; firmness and openness in walking meditation; relationship between emotions and bodily tension; working with doubt; releasing energy through hands, feet and head; cultivating generosity triggers constriction.
Instructions for experiencing unrestricted awareness while walking: give attention to the flow of energy from firmness to openness. Notice the restrictions of visual and mental consciousness creeping in, and bring attention back to the rhythmic play of energy.
Walking meditation is a whole body experience. Set up the upright and lateral frame, and extend the web of energy across the whole body. ‘Listen’ with the skin as you walk, taking in the space. When the body feels its wholeness it becomes more balanced and relaxed, conducing to release.
Practice with keeping the front center of the body open, as if the skin boundary is feeling and reading the movement through space. Mind opens, drops some of its congestion. Thought patterns can be ventilated. Most important is to remain open and moored to a firm center.
