Walking Meditation

Walking meditation is a contemplative meditation technique that you practice while walking instead of sitting. After sitting meditation, this is the next most popular technique based on the form of movement. It is a simple yet very effective way of doing meditation.

Focus Of The Walking Meditation

The main focus on this particular method is using the motion of walking when meditating. There are also standing and lying down meditations, which are practiced less.

Most exercises on this site are based on sitting meditation, however meditating while walking has its place here as well, since it is very beneficial to all of us.

When I meditate, I usually alternate between sitting and walking meditation so that I get the most benefits of my regular daily practice.

Most people associate meditation with sitting in a quiet place in motionless posture. Nowadays, however, more and more people are discovering the benefits of walking while meditating and are integrating it in their regular meditative program.

When walking, you become aware, mindful of what you experience during your walks, be it on the beach, in your own backyard, in the park or indoors, in one of your rooms.

Differences Between Walking Meditation And Sitting Meditation

There are several differences between the two types, besides the obvious distinction that one is done motionless and the other is performed while in motion.

• While meditating during walking we keep our eyes open. Most of the sitting meditations are done with the eyes fully closed or almost closed.
• In the sitting meditations, we usually withdraw from the world around us, focusing on something within us, such as our breathing, or getting our mind to be quiet when we practice mindfulness meditation. In walking meditations we are much more aware of the outside world.
  As a matter of fact by practicing meditation while walking we are learning to be more aware of everything that surrounds us. We train our mind to become sharper and more attentive while being in the now.
• Also during walking meditations we are making ourselves aware of our body due to it moving constantly. When you have your legs or arms moving, you can be more aware of them than when you are trying to keep your body still along with your mind.

Benefits Of Walking Meditation

 

We are living a rather sedentary lifestyle which makes us become easily tired when walking or running.

We are taking the lift or elevator to go home or out from the building instead of taking the stairs...

We are taking our car or a cab to go downtown shopping...

Even a walk around becomes a drive around these days...

Walking meditation is attempting to change all that gradually. It is trying to make you healthier without tiring you out. It is making you more fit and resistant to illnesses and to daily stress.

Here are some of the direct benefits that meditation through walking can give you when practiced regularly.

• It helps with doing regular tasks with less effort. By alternating walking and sitting meditation, you are helping not only your mind but also your body to release tension and become calmer and less stressed.
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• You will be able to walk longer without getting tired. Walking should be fun, however many of us have lost the joy at it due to our hectic, stressful modern lifestyle.
  By doing a 10 minutes walk with your awareness focused on your steps, your body motion and the world around you, you will be able to reconnect with that inherent joy and fun that you should be experiencing when you are outdoors.
  
  
• It helps with food digestion. Doing regular exercises helps with bowel movement and digestion, however not everyone is inclined to practice in a fitness studio.
  But everybody is capable of walking aroung the house, garden or a near park, downtown - or even the beach without any extra effort. This is less strenuous than working out for people of any age, from children to the senior citizen, yet it yields great benefits for the stomach, digestion and health overall.
  
  
• It makes you fit without really trying. Sure, it will take longer than when you lift weights or do aerobics, however by walking on a regular basis a few minutes every day, you will build up your fitness level and you will tone your body along with it as well.
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• And one of my favorite benefits - it will help you learn to meditate while you are going about your regular life, while you are busy doing your daily activities.
  You will be able to meditate at any time, anywhere without having to set a time and place aside for it. You can meditate while walking to and from work, while doing your grocery shopping, while enjoying the beach or while simply window shopping.
  
  
• Meditation means becoming more aware of our inner world and the world around us, so you WIll become more aware.
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• You will feel more alive, with a sense of greater joy for life in general and the people around you.

Suggested Reading

Walking Meditation w/DVD & CD-ROM by Thich Nhat Hanh

The Long Road Turns to Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanhand Robert Aitken

Meditation For Beginners

If you think that meditation for beginners is not a concept that can be easily reached, you might find it surprising to learn that it is indeed possible for everyone to learn to meditate, regardless of the level of experience, their age, gender, level of income or anything else that matter for people.

Meditation For Beginners - Everybody Can Learn To Meditate But You Need To Have The Right Attitude And Goals

Meditation was new once to me as well. I have been struggling to learn itfor a few years before I finally realized that I was going the wrong way about it.

All the books I've read on beginner meditations were telling me that I would have to go to a Buddhist temple to learn to meditate, or join a meditation group to follow a guru guide, or at least spend the rest of my life in quiet contemplation and retreat in order to gain the insight.

At the same time they were telling me about all these wonderful gifts that I would get once I was a regular meditator (some of which I will mention below). Of course, I became in love with the notion of meditation and began practicing it ... only to miserably fail.

The reason I've been going about it the wrong way was because I had higher goals in my mind than I actually needed. I wanted to meditate for all the wrong reasons:

• I wanted to attain enlightenment, to become as 'cool' as the Zen monks in the Hollywood movies.
• I wanted to become psychic and was hoping that through meditation my spirit guides and angels will hold conversations with me on a regular basis - sad to say that they never really appeared.
• I wanted to become the center of attention among my circle of friends, so I can say 'yes, I'm meditating and I've gains all these many benefits from it'. They others would say 'wow I want to learn meditation for beginners too'.

Basically I started the entire idea on the wrong foot. I had the wrong expectations about the benefits of meditation and my goals for learning it.

Then I gave up for a while.

And eventually I picked it up again. This was a few years after, when I was in a major depression at work (it was a few years before I quit my job and started out as self-employed).

I found it unbearable to wake up to go to work every morning, and I found it unbearable to sit through at work every day.

I was going home depressed and I was letting all my anger and frustration on my hubby.

I just wanted to get away from it all, at least for a short time.

Somehow at some point, maybe guided by instinct, I picked up an old guided meditation CD, put on my headphones one evening and simply started to listen to it and follow its instructions without any preconceived notion about what I wanted to get out of it. I just simply let it guide me.

Much to my surprise, after the meditation session, I was much calmer, more relaxed and while I still dreaded going to work the next day, I felt that something changed in me. Something shifted.

This was my turning point.

I realized that meditation for beginners is quite possible. Afteral, I was a beginner again, after not having meditated for a few years.

Also I was a beginner because I no longer had all those inflated notions, goals and expectations about what I would gain from a meditation session. I was free to accept everything that the practice would offer me without bias and false hopes.

I was ready.

From this point onwards I was meditating regularly simply for the sheer fun of it and for the calmness and peace it was offering me after a 20 minutes session. I really started to enjoy the process instead of waiting for its benefits.

Suggested Reading


Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield



Quiet Mind: A Beginner's Guide to Meditation by Sharon Salzberg, Sakyong Mipham, Tulku Thondup and Larry Rosenberg



Meditation for Beginners: Techniques for Awareness, Mindfulness & Relaxation (For Beginners (Llewellyn's)) by Stephanie Jean Clement



Meditation: A Beginner's Guide to Start Meditating Now by Shinzen Young



The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation by Arinna Weisman and Jean Smith



The Joy of Meditating: A Beginner's Guide to the Art of Meditation by Salle Merrill Redfield



The Best Guide to Meditation by Victor N. Davich

History Of Meditation

Have you ever wondered where did it all start, what is the history of meditation? During my conversation with people interested in learning to meditate, I've noticed that most people placed its history in ancient India. While they were close in their assumption, they were not 'quite right'.

Meditation In The Shamanic Hunter-Gatherer Cultures

Did you kown that meditation is actually much older and it has been practiced earlier than people in ancient India? Shamans have been using it successfully in ancient tribal times, which makes this practice approximately 15,000 years old.
In the old times of the hunter-gatherer cultures, shamans have been using it while sitting around the fire to enter a state of trance by using drumming, chanting and dancing to have what we call now out of body experiences, or journeys to the other world.
By making these journeys (many times also helped by various hallucinogenic herbs and plants), they were bringing back to their tribes the ability to heal their various ailments, gained wisdom and blessing from the spirits.
While this is not the meditation type that we are used to, it is considered the starting point of the history of meditation as it does put a person in an altered state of consciousness which, afterall, is achieved through traditional meditation just the same.

Meditation In The East

The Vedas
The meditation that we are mostly used to, if not by practicing, at least by hearing about it, has its roots in India, and it's 5000 years old. This is where the wise yogis were practicing it based on the Vedas, which are the first Indian scriptures found.
The Hindu tradition said that the Vedas were not conceived by humans, because they have been revealed to them during deep meditation.
The more advanced forms of Vedas are the Tantras, which are a known to be a later development within Hinduism, along with Buddhism andYoga. However various Hindu schools also say that the Tantric teachings are as ancient in the history of meditation as the Veda itself.
Yoga
Yoga meditation in its classical form speaks about completely withdrawing from the material world to merge instead with the higher consciousness.
Yogis were using the asanas (the yoga positions) to prepare the body, after which they were removing any distractions from the external world while focusing on a particular mantra to achieve a state of consciousness called Samsadhi.
This was the state where the yogi would merge with the consciousness and completely separate from the material world.
Buddhism and Buddha
Buddha is the biggest name associated with meditation in the past as well as today, and the Buddhist meditation is maybe the best known technique even today. His teachings have become popular in the Eastern world, however eventually each country adopted their own meditation techniques of practice.
Buddha started out with yoga as well, but eventually he came to the conclusion that simply rejecting the material world entirely is not the way to find full understanding and enlightenment.
So he changed his way of meditation by simply sitting under a tree and focusing on his mind. This allowed him to enter a deep state of meditation that lasted for several days and nights.
When he woke up, he knew, he understood the nature of existence. This is why he is called Buddha, which means 'the awakened one'.
Buddha showed us that we don't have to reject the material world, but merely to understand that it's not permanent. He showed us that we need to understand that all external things change, including our thoughts.
By eliminating fear, worry, anger and other negative thoughts from our mind, we are learning to become truly happy and spiritual in nature.
While this practice has taken a specific format in various countries, the general idea of meditation does draw its roots from the teachings of Buddha.
Continuing the history of meditation journey, it also spread in the Middle East starting various sects such as the famous Sufi, the Sunni, Shiah and Baha'i. In Judaism, it started with Abraham, who is the founder of Judaism. It is also found in the old testament.

Modern Meditation In The Western World

Meditation took several thousands of years to spread to our Western society. It really became first popular in the 1960-1970s when it has been embraced by professors and various researchers who, after several tests and careful research, have started to understand the health benefits of practicing meditation on a regular basis.
It is interesting to note that its various aspects focusing on the metaphyisical existed in the US and Europe before the 1960s, which makes it an integral part of the history of meditation.
The Master Key System by Charles Haanel was a set of teachings that was emphasizing the need to eliminate religion so that the person can become self-actualized all on his own, without the need of a middle-man to bring us closer to the divine and the universe.
This made this document quite controversial in a time when religion had quite a strong influence in the society.

How To Meditate

If anyone told you that learning meditation is hard and you need to either have some special talents, or infinite patience to learn it, they've either tried to sell you something, or to show their superiority. People often remain confuse as how to meditate. There are many people with higher egos around and learning to avoid getting intimidated by them can be quite difficult at times.


Learning meditation can be fun, rewarding, and it can actually become a life long passion, as it has become for me, if you choose it to be.


I am still self learning meditation, and this learning will never stop. I am always amazed to find new AHA moments on my journey and new answers to some of my questions. I am still learning about doing meditation better, to become a better person overall, using meditation as my personal guide.
Learning meditation can be a fun activity, one that can be as much, or as little as you choose it to be. You can make it a full part of your life, or simply a hobby or a past-time that allows you to relax, to reduce stress and to invite more good in your life.

Relaxing Through Meditation

While many people are scared of the notion of 'meditation', but they are all well aware of - and welcoming - relaxation, I realized at some point that this is one of the best ways to teach something more about how to learn meditation using tools of the mind.
Think about it as relaxing using a particular technique.
Have you ever tried to relax before a major exam at school? Do you remember how you simply sat there, took a few deep breaths to calm down your nerves and slow down your heart beating, while focusing on your breathing and concentrating on doing the best you could during the exams?
I bet you can relate to this experience because at some point or another, we all had it.
What if I tell you that this, in fact, was an introduction to meditation? Sure, it was not a full-blown meditation session, but you were going in the right direction unconsciously.

We are all predisposed to meditation, we can all do it. While there are tons of meditation techniques and exercises out there, many which I show on this site, there are always a few general principles that you can apply to the technique of your choice.

And this is the secret to learning meditation: once you learn a few basic principles, you will soon realize how fun it is to try different techniques and go with the one that you mostly enjoy.

Learning Meditation - 7 Basic Principles

When you are learning to meditate you are effectively learning to relax. Regardless of what other benefits or goals you have for your meditation practice, relaxation is the primary one.
The more relaxed you are, the easier it will become to meditate. And the more you meditate, the easier it will become to relax. This is a healthy catch 22, one that is always to your advantage.

1. You need to have your own place for meditation, one that you will use all the time, routine like.
2. Don't try to meditate when you are feeling down, whether due to illness, extreme anger/stress/distress. First get to a rather neutral (or positive) state of mind and body, and then practice meditation.
3. Keep a regular time for your daily practices. If you find that your mind is free from the daily worries at a particular time more than during other hours, use this time for meditating.
4. Work with your mind instead of against it. When you start your session, let your mind finish the thought it is currently busy with.
   After a few momments, instruct your mind to stay quiet for the duration of your session, however when it starts to wander, don't admonish it. Rather gently bring it back to the task at hand, or being calm and quiet.
5. Keep a relaxed, yet erect posture. If you sit on a chair, have your back straight and your legs firmly on the floor. If you already use one of the lotus positions, then you are already doing the right thing.
6. Depending on the technique you have chosen to use, focus on the respective object during the entire session. This can be your breathing, a candle, a mantra, your awareness on your body, or anything that the meditation is telling you to focus on.
7. Do not get frustrated if you feel that you haven't achieved much during your current session. Afterall, the most important thing you need to achieve is relaxation and calm, so that you can let go of stress.
   If you are more relaxed after the session than before it, you have already achieved your current goal, your current building stone. The others will build on this with time.

Learning meditation can be fun, it can be entertaining, it can be relaxing, and it can be life altering. It can be anything you want it to be.

If the notion of learning about meditation still scares you and brings you to a place where you think that you can't learn it, then replace the word withrelaxation and keep practicing your daily session. After a while you will realize that when the time for relaxation is coming, your mind will start looking forward to it and will help you instead of trying to fight you.

Suggested Reading

Beginner's Guide to Meditation by Goswami Kriyananda



Simple Meditation: A Spiritual Connection for Transforming Your Life by Curt Paul Remington



Close Your Eyes and Open Your Mind An Introduction to Spiritual Meditationby Dada Nabhaniilananda

Meditation Techniques

Learning Meditation Techniques Can Be Easy!

And Contrary To Popular Belief, Everyone Can Learn To Meditate!

We are living in a very fast paced world where we simply don't have a minute to stop and relax our overworked brain cells. And even if we do get a few moments after the kids are safely tucked in bed, what do we do? We sit down on the couch to watch the latest rerun of an old sitcom or soap opera.There are various meditation techniques that can be used in one or another time.

The mind first gets in stress and overdrive and then it gets all mushy from watching too much TV!

You will learn various techniques that are easy to do - by everyone

You don't have to be an esoteric guru to learn to meditate. You don't have to wake up at 5 am to start with it. And you don't have to be a monk to find inner peace. All you need is follow along with the exercises and techniques on this site, and you will be able to find that quiet in your mind with just a little practice every day.

Imagine waking up every morning refreshed and ready to tackle the day ahead.

Wouldn't it be nice to sit in a meeting without your mind wandering around bored out of its wits? Or be able to find yourself still full of energy during the evening when you can turn your attention to quality time with your family without yawning secretly all the time?

Well I'd like to show you that you can achieve this and more

I have been meditating for several years already, and when I first started out, there were no easy guides on how to learn the right posture with ease, how to calm the mind and put it in a state of relaxation without actually learning the dreaded lotus position and spending years to achieve to a state of zen.

Eventually, with practice, I've realized that meditation doesn't necessarily have to mean that bliss or hard to reach zen state of mind. What we, Westerners, really want is being able to relax, to unwind and to de-stress at the end of the day using a simple meditation such as the mindfulness meditation.

Meditation should simply become a fun part of life, one that you should be looking forward to each and every day, because it's easy to do and it's easy to incorporate even in the busiest of lifestyles of the modern woman or man of today.

Applying just a few minutes of easy meditation techniques to your daily or nightly routine will do wonder to your mental, emotional and spiritual health and balance in the long run.

Applying Easy Meditation Techniques

• You will learn to de-stress your life by using easy techniques of meditation which are powerful and fun to do as well. Yes, meditation CAN BE fun!
• You will learn about the meaning of meditation for busy people. You will learn about the benefits of meditation and advantages of applying it to your life right now.
• You will be able to choose from the various meditation techniques for beginners described here and use the one you feel that mostly suits your personality, style and preferences in your daily life.
• You will learn to enjoy life so much more.

So let's get started with learning stress free powerful meditation techniques for everyone!

Suggested Reading:

Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche



Meditation Made Easy by Gerry Thompson