Sunday, 01/26/2025
Education
Thich Nhat Hanh: The Power Of Walking Mindfulness Meditation
Update: 28/06/2016
Mindfulness – the art of focusing your attention to the\r\npresent moment - is a way to develop peace and happiness in our lives\r\naccording to Thich Nhat Hanh.
\r\n\r\nHanh is a spiritual leader who has published more than 100\r\ntitles on meditation and mindfulness, and his most recent book – Silence –\r\nfocuses on how to remain quiet in a world full of noise.
\r\n\r\nIn the chapter “Mindfulness Means Reclaiming Attentionâ€,\r\nHanh discusses how to practice meditation through walking,\r\nencouraging those who believe they simply can’t do it, that in fact it’s really\r\neasy.
\r\n\r\nHe gives guidance on how to focus when your mind is full of\r\nthoughts as well as showing how to meditate anytime and anywhere.
\r\n\r\nThe following extract is taken from Thich Nhat Hanh’s\r\nSilence:
\r\n\r\n" Non-thinking is an art, and like any art, it requires\r\npatience and practice.
\r\n\r\nReclaiming your attention and bringing your mind and body back\r\ntogether for even just ten breaths can be very difficult at first.
\r\n\r\nBut with continued practice, you can reclaim your ability to\r\nbe present and learn just to be.
\r\n\r\nFinding a few minutes to sit quietly is the easiest way to\r\nstart training yourself to let go of your habitual thinking.
\r\n\r\nWhen you sit quietly, you can observe how your thoughts rush\r\nin, and you can practice not ruminating on them and instead let them just come\r\nand go as you focus on your breath and on the silence inside.
\r\n\r\nOne woman I know decided she could never meditate\r\nbecause it just ‘didn’t work.â€
\r\n\r\nSo I asked her to take a walk with me.
\r\n\r\nI didn’t call it “walking meditation,†but we walked slowly\r\nwith awareness, enjoying the air and the feel of our feet on the ground.
\r\n\r\nWhen we came back, her eyes were bright and she seemed\r\nrefreshed and clear.
\r\n\r\nIf you can take just a few minutes for yourself to calm your\r\nbody, your feelings, and your perceptions in this way, joy becomes possible.
\r\n\r\nWalking is a wonderful way to clear the mind without\r\ntrying to clear the mind. You don’t say, “Now I am going to practice\r\nmeditation!†or “Now I am going to not think!†You just walk, and while you’re\r\nfocusing on the walking, joy and awareness come naturally.
\r\n\r\nIn order to really enjoy the steps you make while walking,\r\nallow your mind to completely let go of any worry or plan. You don’t need to\r\nput in a lot of time and effort to prepare yourself to stop thinking. With one\r\nin-breath, you have already stopped. You breathe in, and you make a step.
\r\n\r\nIn the beginning, you may need a little more time, maybe ten\r\nor 20 seconds of mindful breathing, before you can let your thinking go.
\r\n\r\nYou can take one step with each in-breath and one step with\r\neach out breath. If your attention wanders, gently bring it back to your\r\nbreathing.
\r\n\r\nTen or 20 seconds is not a lot of time. One nerve impulse,\r\none action potential, needs only a millisecond. If you want, you can give\r\nyourself even more time. In that short amount of time you can experience the\r\nbliss, the joy, the happiness of stopping.
\r\n\r\nDuring that time of stopping, your body is able to heal\r\nitself. Your mind also has the capacity to heal itself. There is nothing and no\r\none to prevent you from continuing the joy you’ve produced with a second step,\r\na second breath.
\r\n\r\nYour steps and your breath are always there to help you heal\r\nyourself."
\r\n\r\nSource from: Huffington Post UK
Amy Packham