What it is, and what it isn't

Walking meditation is a formal practice: a short path, a slow deliberate pace, attention resting on the sensation of the feet. It is not a mindful stroll, and it is not exercise. You will cover perhaps fifteen metres in ten minutes.

That slowness is deliberate. At walking speed the body handles everything automatically and there is nothing for attention to grip. Slowed to a quarter pace, each step separates into distinct events — lifting, moving, placing, shifting weight — and suddenly there is something specific to attend to.

The path matters more than you'd think

Start with the line

Ten to twenty paces, indoors or out. Walk to one end, pause, turn deliberately, walk back. The shortness is a feature — a long route invites you to go somewhere, and going somewhere is a plan, and a plan is thinking.

Then the loop

Once the practice is familiar, a garden circuit removes even the turn. This is where a meditation garden earns its keep: a path that returns to itself, wide enough not to think about, with something to feel underfoot.

The labyrinth, if you have one

A labyrinth is not a maze — there are no wrong turns and no choices. Cathedral and garden labyrinths have been walked as a contemplative practice for centuries for exactly the reason above: the route does the deciding, so you don't have to.

How to do it

1. Stand still first, for thirty seconds. Feel your weight on both feet. This is the practice starting, not a preamble.
2. Walk at about a quarter of your normal pace. Slow enough to feel odd. Hands wherever they're comfortable — clasped in front is traditional and stops them swinging.
3. Rest attention on the soles of your feet. Not your legs, not your breath, not the scenery. The soles.
4. Notice four moments in each step if you want more structure: lifting, moving, placing, shifting.
5. At the end of the line, stop completely. Stand, breathe once, turn, and start again. The pause is where most people notice their mind has been elsewhere for six paces.
6. Ten minutes to start. It will feel much longer than ten minutes of sitting.

Who it particularly suits

• Anyone who gets sleepy sitting. The post-lunch practice that actually works.
• Restless bodies and restless days. Movement gives agitation something to do while attention gets on with its job.
• People in physical pain. Where sitting is unbearable, walking is often not.
• Anyone with a garden, obviously — and anyone with a hallway, less obviously.

The commonest mistake

Walking too fast, and then somewhere. Within ninety seconds you're covering ground, planning your day and calling it mindfulness. If you can see where you'll be in two minutes, the path is too long. Shorten it.

Related

• The meditation garden — designing a path worth walking.
• Other techniques — how to choose between them.
• Grounding — the seated cousin of this practice.

Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — Labyrinth, on the distinction from a maze.
• NCCIH — Meditation and mindfulness, on movement-based practices.