Walking with ease and with
peace of mind on the earth
is a wonderful miracle. Some
people say that only walking on burning coals or walking on
spikes or on water are miracles, but I find that simply
walking on the earth is a miracle.
--Thich Nhat Hahn
"I like walking because it is slow, and I suspect that the mind, like the
feet,
works at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern
life is moving
faster than the speed of thought or thoughtfulness.”
Rebecca Solnit,
Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Although she'd never been instructed in "formal" walking practice, she obviously hadn't needed it. Linda was experienced in meditation, and she had been an aerobics instructor for years. This woman knew how to bring her full attention into her body -- and ZAP! She was there!
As she spoke of her upright posture feeling regal, and the walking itself feeling sacred, I thought, "Zen Mind, Beginners Mind. I love it when this happens. "
I'd experience that same glow, the look of wonder in a person's eyes back at Community Yoga and Wellness Center a few years ago. After a brief instruction in South Asian slow-walking meditation, she and I walked slowly across the polished wooden floors of the studio for about ten minutes. That's all it took.
Zap!
The same glow, that look of wonder in her eyes. A shift in consciousness had occurred. At that moment, she was Present to Life in a fuller and more complete way.
Walking and Waking Up
The
spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff claimed that most humans are
"sleepwalking" through their lives. I think he nailed it. Sleepwalking
is a perfect metaphor for the semi-conscious manner in which most of
us have learned to move through our lives.
In a materialistic society that stresses speed, production, and the accumulation of goods and status, we have been conditioned to scurry ahead without being fully aware of the present moment. Distracted, lost in our thoughts much of the time, the miraculous sea of sensations and energies that constitute Life As It Is each moment remains beneath the level of consciousness.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to sleepwalk through our lives. We each have the ability to awaken. It can happen with the very next step.
(READ MORE)
In a materialistic society that stresses speed, production, and the accumulation of goods and status, we have been conditioned to scurry ahead without being fully aware of the present moment. Distracted, lost in our thoughts much of the time, the miraculous sea of sensations and energies that constitute Life As It Is each moment remains beneath the level of consciousness.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to sleepwalk through our lives. We each have the ability to awaken. It can happen with the very next step.
(READ MORE)