Walking Meditation: Lessons Learned at a Buddhist Monastary

Walking Meditation

Meditation for people who have a hard time meditating

Stress

The stress levels are high since the beginning of 2020 when the Coronavirus, Covid-19 shut down the world. The Coronapocalypse was upon us. Aside from our everyday worries about how to survive the first world rat race, we now face other, more immediate stressors.

• The economy is crashing.

• There is a global pandemic

• Most of us have been ordered to shelter in place

• Some of us are forced to work from home

• Others have lost jobs completely

• We are forced to be in close proximity to our family members for an unknown length of time. Like a never-ending thanksgiving.

• Some of us are actually sick.

• Some of us have lost loved ones

• Some of us are terrified of getting sick

• The vaccine may not be available in our country

• We all have to figure out how to get through our daily lives

One solution

The solution to all the stress seems to be meditation. Every self-help guru, life coach, psychotherapist, and kind stranger walking her dog says the same thing.

Meditation helps to relieve stress. It boosts your immunity as well as elevating your mood. Immunity is important these days. Meditation calms your mind and enables you to get through quarantine without murdering anybody. It is good for you on just a regular old Wednesday, too.

So, let’s all meditate!

But it’s too hard

What if you are like me and don’t know how to meditate. Or you’ve tried meditating thousands of times and been unsuccessful. Try not to kick yourself for this. It isn’t a failing on your part.

Some of us are actually too traumatized to sit quietly with our feelings and thoughts. Especially those of us (*raises hand) who are living with C-PTSD. Should we just give up on the idea of meditating and live with all of our stress?

Sure, you could do that. Or, you could try other forms of meditation.

I finally succeeded, after years and years of trying, at finding a meditation technique that actually worked.

Laotian lessons

A couple of years ago I traveled to Laos with my family. The one thing I wanted out of that trip, no matter what was to spend some time at a Buddhist temple.

It was arranged for me to live at a temple close to the neighborhood where we were staying. I stayed for five days as a novice nun or white lady.

There was only one nun at this tiny temple in Savannakhet. She didn’t speak any English and I didn’t speak any Laotian. Somehow we managed to communicate a little and I managed to learn a lot.

MyNun (I never knew her name so I’ve just called her my nun so often it became her name in my head) put me through the paces. Waking me in the dark morning for an hour of prayer led by a novice monk. I called him a baby monk. I think he was 14. Followed by noon and evening prayer sessions. Each of these at least one hour long.

MyNun teaches

One afternoon, between prayers, MyNun handed me a tall, sturdy stick. She was also holding a stick. She marked off two lines in the sand, about 15 feet apart, and motioned me to toe the nearest line. Then she motioned me to copy her. She began chanting in a deep monotone, repeating the chant 4 times.

She then began making very slow, very exaggerated movements with her feet. I am unsure if this was for my novice benefit or the way she would always do it.

She would lift her right foot and begin chanting as she took a slow-motion step. She repeated this with the other side. The chant sounded the same to me. When she reached the far line, she stood with her feet together and chanted four times, turned around, and walked back.

After four or five laps, she would start with a different movement of her foot and a different chant to accompany it.

We did this for I don’t know how long. Long enough for me to get out of breath. Long enough for my thigh muscles to feel jittery when we finally stopped. Long enough for my mind to clear. We didn’t finish until I no longer noticed the sand or the smells, the bugs, or the dogs. We didn’t finish until following her movements and mimicking her chant was my whole existence.

For, like, an hour.

How to

This ended up being my favorite meditation. I have continued it since my return to the west. By the time I got home, I had forgotten the sounds of MyNun’s chant. So, I looked on YouTube and found this wonderful video instructional by Monk Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu.

The monk in the video explains what to chant (in English!) in order to focus your mind. At the beginning, or starting line as I like to call it, chant four times or as many times as feels necessary, “Standing, Standing, Standing, Standing” Intone the words in a deep voice, drawing out the vowel sounds. Inhale deeply and exhale between each repetition.

Begin walking

Start with your right foot. While you are walking, heel in line with toe, one foot length at a time, you should vocalize each movement. For example, as you lift your right foot you can say “walk” and as you place your foot down you can say “ing.” “walk . . .  ing walk  . . .  ing” When you reach the stopping point, bring your feet together and chant “standing.” four times.

I like to get a lot more specific because it forces me to focus on my activity, aligning my speech with my movements, and forces out all the shit that circles around in my head all day, every day.

I start with “Standing” four times, then as I lift my right foot, “right  . . . foot . . . fore  . . . ward” lifting my foot, moving it forward one foot length, placing my heel, and placing my toes. Repeat with the left foot. “left  . . . foot  . . . fore . . .  ward”

At the end of your lap, the far line, bring your feet together. “Standing” four times and then as you turn around, “turning” “turn . . .  ing.”

Sometimes I chant “standing” other times I chant “stopping” or “resting” and when I’m winded, I say “breathing”.

The words don’t really matter. The focus does. Synching your words and movements forces focus. It’s the same in sitting meditation, too. “Breathe in. Breathe out.” Focusing only on your breath.

I prefer the walking meditation because it takes much more concentration and I am moving.

Walking is as good as sitting

Maybe even better. So many people with ADHD, C-PTSD or other anxiety conditions find it impossible to sit still long enough to feel the full benefits of sitting meditation. Seconds feel like hours and minutes feel like weeks.

You can use walking meditation all by itself, or combine it with sitting meditation. I am still unable to sit and meditate without stressing more. Walking meditation has enabled me to stabilize my mood and reduce stress.

Why not give it a try? You probably have time. It is, after all, the coronapocalypse.

Something to keep in mind, Buddhism is a practice more than a religion. The Buddha is not a god. A Buddha is a person who has reached enlightenment. We all strive for enlightenment as human beings. Buddhism is not exclusive of any religion.