Tuesday 11 October 2016

Meditative (easy or intense) Walk or Run

Try this: put good walking or running shoes on, find a nice track away from the noise of the cars and the city in general, and go to immerse yourself into it. Take your dog with you if you have one. Whatever the time you've got you can make the most of it.

Start by taking 3 or 4 BIG breathings, breathe in deeply with your tummy and breathe out completely sucking your tummy in. Do it again, but this time add your arms in a big circle movement (hands positioned from the side of the hips and going up on the sides of your body to the top of your head). Once this is done, start to walk at slow to moderate pace for around 8 to 10 minutes.

Find a natural breathing rhythm do not force it, just make it a part of your walking pace, while you walk look at the path, see details about it, be aware of your feet stepping, feel their contact on the ground, notice if the ground is dry, rocky, sandy, wet, notice the difference you feel underneath your feet when the terrain changes. Keep this awareness about your feet and start to look around, try and see everything, the colors, the shapes of the trees, the landscape, etc. If you come here often imagine it is the first time and try and see new things, or see it with a "virgin eye".

Start to accelerate your pace a bit (or start jogging if you are a runner), do it enough to feel your heart rate increasing and your breathing adapting to the increase of intensity. While you are breathing pay attention to the smells around you, notice them, acknowledge them, enjoy them. Keep looking around you and keep feeling what is happening inside your body (feel the heat increasing, the sweat coming, the blood flow running faster).

At this stage whether you walk or run you should find a comfortable steady pace. Feel the work your body is doing and feel the elements around you (the wind, the sun, the rain, the humidity or the dryness etc.). Listen to the sounds (birds, sheep and others, dog barking, impacts of your feet on the ground etc.). Feel how close and connected you are to everything around you, and feel how connected you are to what is going on inside of your body, feel how both belong to a same unity.

After 10 or 15 minutes going at this pace or whenever you think it is the right time for it, stop for a few seconds to 1 or 2 minutes, but keep walking or running on the spot, recover if you need it and look even more closely at the environment around you. See the beauty, the abundance, feel them deeply inside, feel the love they give you at this right moment and give it back. Give all the love you've got inside to the whole world, send it from your heart, you feel it beating in your chest, it is full of life, full of gratitude, full of care for yourself and for the others. Forget about what happened before (before this moment and before starting this walk) and do not think about what you are going to do after it. Just stay here, in full presence, appreciate it, and feel how good and peaceful it feels every time you come back to it if your thoughts have taken you in the past or the future. Feel that only this moment exists, feel how it is full of truth and beauty.

Whenever you feel ready, go back to your walk or run, and every 10 minutes or when you think it is the right moment or the right place, repeat the same process, be in the moment and be aware of what is happening inside and outside of your body.

Stop again and look around you again, and feel everything again.

When you are close to the end of the walk or the run, slow down your pace again, allow your body cooling down gently. Here again, keep feeling what is happening inside and keep in touch with the outside.

Once you have stopped, say Thank You for the moment you are having, feel the love you feel for yourself and for the world around you. Take your time to stretch your legs (quadriceps, hamstrings and calves), your back, your waist, inhaling deeply before stretching and exhaling completely while stretching. Realize that you have a big smile on your face and realize how good you feel.

You'll see that the state you are in at this very moment is going to last for a long time and can be reproduced anytime you want to, and not only while exercising...!!! Anytime you decide to be fully into the moment, fully aware of yourself and the world around you!! Try it :)

Important note: When you are exercising, always stay in control of your effort. Do not push yourself to your limits and do not push yourself  if you are tired, angry, sick or unfit. Know your level of fitness and work with it in all circumstances and situations. If you have health conditions follow what your doctor recommends you to do. 

Enjoy your next walk :)



 

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