By Nancy Rynes, author of Awakenings from the Light
Article copyright Nancy Rynes
Basic Mindful Walks
Goal: This practice is a gentle way to teach you a few things:
- that you can focus your awareness, even if for just a few minutes at a time
- that you have control over how and where you focus your awareness
- that you can shift the focus of your awareness
- that you can observe and experience the world around you without judgement
Walking in a mindful way will help you practice present-moment awareness, and also demonstrates to you that you can choose the focus of your awareness.
First, choose a safe location. You can select an easy walk in a natural setting out in the country as long as you feel safe there. Or maybe your preference is a quiet city park, botanic garden, waterfront, or even shopping mall.
Next, select a physical sense on which you wish to focus for this walk: sight, sound, or smell. Choosing one of these is an easy way to get started. For the first time out, I suggest you try using your most dominant sense. For many this will be sight.
Walk for any length of time you wish but when you are new to this exercise, I suggest you start with five minutes of active focusing on each walk. This will give you enough time to experience the benefits of this practice without taxing your attention span too much. As you repeat this exercise, increase the length of your focused time so that you build up to 30 minutes of focus, or even more.
Mindful walking is easy. Start off on your walk a bit slower than your usual pace, placing your awareness on your chosen sense. Let’s assume you use sight. As you walk, you would pick something in your field of view on which to focus with your eyes. This could be anything really, although I would recommend avoiding focusing on people. Most strangers will feel uncomfortable or offended if you stare at them.
I recommend choosing an animal, plant, or an inanimate object like a rock, ocean wave, building, auto, a sculpture in a park, a mountain peak, a waterfall, even a fence. Gaze at it without judgement. By that I mean just observe, avoid labeling it as “pretty” or “ugly” or “good” or “bad” or “love it” or “hate it”. Just view.
What catches your eye? Why? You might need to stop walking for a few moments so that you can focus on the object safely. Is there something you can appreciate about it? Does it have a color or form that is particularly eye-catching? Does the light strike it in a way that demands your attention? Is the color vibrant or muted? Just observe, and appreciate for a few moments, perhaps even feeling gratitude that you have the sense of sight in order to see this object.
After a few moments, search for the next object on which to focus. This time it might be a tree that is bursting into bloom, or a squirrel gathering food. Again, observe without internal judgement.
Continue your walk and this mindful observation practice for at least five minutes. If you’re still feeling energized, continue on for 10 minutes or more. But if you feel attention fatigue, it's time to stop. Continue walking if you’d like, but discontinue focusing your awareness.
The more often you practice this exercise, the easier it will become to focus in one one sense and simply observe without judgment.
As always, take care and many blessings to you,
Nancy
Archive: Past Newsletter Issues
TODAY Show: Nancy's Interview on NBC TV's TODAY
Messages of Hope with Suzanne Giesemann: Exploring NDEs with Nancy Rynes
Article: Seven Lessons That Dying Taught Me About Truly Living (Aspire Magazine)
Article: Lives Changed by NDEs (Boulder Daily Camera)
Article: Awakening to Life(Pages 6-10, Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, Summer 2016)
Article: The Meaning of Life (Excellence Reporter)
Simply Peace Part 1
Simply Peace Part 2
Please Join Me On Social Media
Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | LinkedIn