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Twenty-six hundred years ago Buddha launched a grass-root movement of spiritual awakening, which was so successful that it civilized three-quarters of the world. That ancient movement was based on the concept of meditation. Wikipedia states:

Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing their mind on a particular object, thought or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Scholars have found meditation difficult to define, as practices vary both between traditions and within them.

When you look up meditation in a dictionary, it provides synonyms, such as, concentration, contemplation and reflection. Meditation seems to have become difficult to practice today because most people find it difficult to define.

We need to define meditation more precisely using a scientific approach.

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The Problem of Meditation

In meditation, a person is using concentration, contemplation and reflection to settle the mind; but none of these actions can be accomplished until the mind is already in a settled state. This is a catch-22. Therefore, one must understand why the mind is in turmoil in the first place.

We all have heard the analogy that the muddy water in a bucket will remain muddy if it keeps on getting stirred. One must stop stirring the water to give mud a chance to settle down at the bottom. The same approach is needed to calm an agitated mind.

The mind is agitated because it is continually being interfered with.

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The First Step

One must stop interfering with the mind to let it settle down into a quiet state. But for most people this is easily said than done. As soon as a person sits down to meditate, he is hit with the mental chatter that soon makes him tired and sleepy. He then spends his meditation time trying not to fall asleep.

But, to not interfere with the mind also means to not interfere with the mind falling asleep. This is an extreme example, but it is given here to drive home the point that the principle of non-interference applies to all activities of the mind, including sleep.

So, if the mind is falling asleep don’t interfere with it. It would eventually wake up. Then you can continue with meditation without having to fight with the sleep. Just make sure that the body does not slump when it is asleep (see the chapter Posture in Meditation).

The first step in meditation is to stop interfering with the mind, so it has a chance to settle down naturally.

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This walking meditation extroverts the mind while allowing senses to become clear and sharp. You may practice this meditation when you are having trouble meditating in a sitting position. Make sure you walk in a pleasant and safe place.

Meditation Exercise:

Walking Meditation on Environment

Purpose:

To extrovert the mind while improving the perception of the environment.

Pre-requisites:

Study Walking Meditation

Instructions:

Find a safe and pleasant environment, such as, a farm, park or a garden where you may spend half an hour. Start walking leisurely.  Become aware of your natural breathing. Start noticing the environment around you. Notice the size, shape and color of the things and their overall visual pattern. Look as far as you can see.

Next focus on the perception of touch. Touch the bench, the swing, the bark of the trees, the leaves of the plants, the flowers, and other surfaces. Feel the different textures, the hot and cold temperatures, and the bulkiness of objects. Experience as much as you can.

Then start putting your attention on the perception of hearing. Notice the quality, tone and loudness of sounds. Do this until your perception of hearing start to become clearer.

All this while, you use your breathing as the stabilizing factor. In other words, whenever your attention strays you bring it back to your breathing and then start noticing the environment again through the perceptions of sight, touch and hearing.

Continue this exercise for at least 20 minute. At the end of your walk you may go to a coffee or tea place. There you observe the perceptions of taste and smell in addition to the perceptions above.

You may repeat this exercise as often as you wish.

End of Exercise:

When attention is extroverted and the perceptions have become sharper, this exercise may be ended.

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Walking meditation is very helpful when one finds sitting meditation hard to do. It extroverts one’s attention enough so that one can then sit down to meditate. A student may do walking meditation until he feels comfortable enough to do sitting meditation.

Walking meditation is done while walking in an open and pleasant environment, such as, in a farm, park or a garden. One meditates on the body and the physical environment while walking. Like in any meditation, the guiding principle is “being there and seeing things as they are.” Walking meditation may be done on the body or on the physical environment as described below.

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The Body

In walking meditation on the body, one allows stresses in the body to unwind, so the body regains its relaxed and natural form.

Once you start walking you, simply start observing the body without interfering with it.  Become aware of the natural pattern of your breathing. Notice the disposition of the various parts of the body at different times: in walking, turning, bending, stretching, stopping, etc. Get the feel of the clothes on the body, their weight, temperature, etc.

Do the above for a while and then start putting you attention on different body parts. Feel the sensations, aches or pains present in a body part.  Let the stresses in that body part unwind, so it becomes increasingly relaxed.

Whenever your attention wanders away in this exercise, bring it back to your breathing and start observing the body again.

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The Physical Environment

In walking meditation on the physical environment, one observes the physical environment until the perceptions become clear and sharp.

Once you start walking you, simply start observing the physical environment without interfering with the perceptions.  Use breathing as stabilizing factor, as before. At first you focus on sight. Notice the size, shape and color of the things in the environment and their overall visual pattern. Look as far as you can see.

Next focus on the perception of touch. Touch the bench, the swing, the bark of the trees, the leaves of the plants, the flowers, and other surfaces. Feel the different textures, the hot and cold temperatures, the bulkiness, etc. Experience as thoroughly as you can.

Next focus on the perception of hearing. Notice the quality, tone and loudness of sounds. Do this until your perception of hearing start to become sharper.

At the end of your walk you may go to a coffee or tea place. There you practice the perceptions of taste and smell in addition to the three perceptions above.

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Summary

The whole idea of walking meditation is to extrovert one’s attention. One then perceives the sensations, pains and aches in the body and the things in the environment from an extroverted viewpoint.

This exercise may be done again and again until one’s attention is extroverted and the perceptions of the body and the physical environment become clear and sharp.

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