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Physical Practices

RE: Walking Meditation

Walking Meditation
Answer
9/2/13 1:44 PM
I have found that (at least in my case) with walking meditation, it is better to be aware of the sensations in the muscles of the thighs than the sole of the feet. Also, I think it is a better strategy to be aware of the sensations in the muscles of the body than just sensations on the skin.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/2/13 3:30 PM as a reply to Change A..
I agree. Though I also add in intentions.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/2/13 5:12 PM as a reply to Change A..
I totally agree about intention, and am a big fan of walking practice in general.

Also, as things progress, could add the whole feeling of the body moving in space, the sensations of balance shifting, the shifting perspective of the room, and finally take in the whole moving, fluxing, shifting, mix of analog and digital 3D field when you get better at it.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/2/13 5:24 PM as a reply to Change A..
If it rains, it's cold or too hot outside or you're bored with the walking meditation, you may try this Taichi exercise: stand shoulder width, bare feet, feet parallel, and draw eights with your soles by shifting your weight. If relaxed, soon you'll notice how this actives the muscles of the thighs, in a spiral sense.

You may also note the activation of the "bubbling wells" in the middle of the feet, just 1-2 centimeters towards the toes. Also, through the thighs, the muscles and tendons pulling the dantian.

In order to get the eights, you may first try balancing forward/backward, left/right, and in circles.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/2/13 5:52 PM as a reply to Pablo . P.
@Fitter Stroke and Daniel: I'm not clear about intention. While doing walking meditation, if something bubbles up in the mind, it is easy for me to know the cause of it and it just goes away and I can keep my attention on the body (especially in the muscles where I'm holding tension). As that tension gets released, there is invariably some activity in the mind which I know where that will lead to and what kind of story it will weave and that it is of no use and that brings an end to it. The kind of muscle tension I'm talking about is long held kind, probably since childhood.

@Pablo: By shifting your weight, do you mean by moving the pelvic region? I tried doing that and found it to be quite useful, better so than just walking. I also shifted my weight clockwise and counter-clockwise.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/2/13 6:34 PM as a reply to Change A..
Intention is easy to get a hold of, but it goes deep. It's most conspicuous when you are about to reach the end of the lane* and turn around. It's even more obvious when you hit 2nd ñana, and you get that ratcheting back and forth between intention and movement. As intentions become more clear in the 3rd ñana, there's no obvious sense of self to be had in them. One is aware of the intention to move, and one is aware of the muscle fibers contracting, though each happens exactly where it happens and disappears with no obvious connection to be found between them that isn't itself happening right where it happens and disappearing, etc. This all gets so much more complex after you cross the A&P...

*It could literally be a lane if you do it in the basement of IMS.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/2/13 9:11 PM as a reply to Fitter Stoke.
Ok, I got it what you mean. I used to do that but that is not for me. Grounding in the body works better for me.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/3/13 2:28 AM as a reply to Change A..
Change A.:
By shifting your weight, do you mean by moving the pelvic region? I tried doing that and found it to be quite useful, better so than just walking. I also shifted my weight clockwise and counter-clockwise.


You can do it either starting to move from the pelvic region (more restful practice), or from the soles of the feet (which shows more clearly the ascending & descending spirals, at the expense of some tension). In Taichi you actually need to practice both ways and then blend them.

Once you're comfortable with feet parallel, you may try (edit: just as a variation) one foot 10 inches forward, like a small step, and rock back an forth doing the eights, but carefully putting 100% of the weight in one foot before going back to the other.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/4/13 9:49 AM as a reply to Pablo . P.
Regarding intention, you can have that too in body works. There's an exercise where you blend with the space surrounding you, feeling it dense like water while you can actually sense the vacuum of your body. If you're interested I may try to explain in detail here.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/5/13 9:58 PM as a reply to Pablo . P.
Sure, I'm interested.

RE: Walking Meditation
Answer
9/9/13 8:58 AM as a reply to Change A..
Standing feet at shoulder width, extend in a circular way your arms forward at hips height. Then, bring your arms back to your lower belly. Very similar to this at 2:13 but with hands facing to the ground. At first, the full circle should be done at that speed, in order to connect your arms muscles and fascia with those of the torso. When extending the arms you'll feel the lumbar region stretching. When bringing them back, you'll feel some contraction in the lower abdomen. Soon you'll notice the out-breath matches with the arms expansion and the in-breath with the contraction. Once you're comfortable with it, slow down the speed gradually to around 20 seconds per full cycle. Eventually you'll notice chi-energy-vibrations on your arms, and the extending to the torso and fully body. These vibrations will grow and the air where your arms display will be felt thicker. You can make use of intention to broaden that sensation to all your surroundings. Then, if you focus inside, your body will be felt empty.

Please, keep your knees slightly bent and let your weight rock slightly forward and backward at the soles of the feel. All by itself, the lower abdomen will go forward when the arms go backwards, and vice versa. Much like rowing. Eventually the whole movement happens by itself, your're kind of watching what's happening.

A nice variation is doing the arms cycles in sequence. That is, your right arm doing an anti-clock circle with a 1/4 to 1/3 delay from your left arm (doing a clock circle). In this exercise, slightly shift weight from leg to leg, following the circles. Here you can notice the soles of the feet doing the eights I mentioned before. The arms circles may be done with different sizes. If you do them small and closer (and slow), you'll notice how one arm pull-push the other. This sensation will grow to the whole torso.