Recently, while taking a walk, I was considering what makes a ‘good’ walk. Sometimes when walking, or even doing other tasks, my mind can be busy and this makes my awareness distracted. A walk can be a chance to pound the pavement and burn some calories, or the whole experience can become a medicine and re-balancing. Many people agree that walking is a great way to relax, and some traditions have made meditation practices around it. I would like to offer a few observations, that may assist you to refresh your own sense of inner equilibrium and contentment.
Our ears never close, however our listening sort of does when we think. On noticing the soundtrack of life, we can intentionally follow the sounds. If we notice a gap in the soundtrack, then we know our thinking has intruded. There’s two ways to go here. One is to observe the content of the thought. Is it matching our present circumstances or is it leading our attention to a lower state of emotion or inner conflict? The other option is to simply reconnect with the flow of the moment. Either way, observing our attention like this can remind us how our mind is presently tending to move, and this is a chance to choose again if we need to.
Another level of anchoring our presence, is become aware of our sense of touch. The most obvious way is to contemplate the feeling of the feet touching the ground with each step. Another option may be to follow the breath flowing in and out of our nose or mouth. As time goes on, and we get more familiar with these feelings, we can generate a focus on the flow of our whole body being in the moment. We can expand our sense of touch to settle upon the whole body. Like a cartoon character or an energetic glow, we can train our imaginations to help us to consciously embody our nervous system as ourselves. We gently embrace and adopt the reality of being, as it is right now. This is where things start to get interesting and a doorway can open to another, deeper level of ourselves.
I invite you to consider the Chakra system as a way to visualize ways to bring our being into balance. In the Root Chakra, we sense the physical being. The whole physical body can be allowed to settle firmly onto the center of gravity. Rather than bracing the back, shoulders, hips or neck to hold an artificial pose, we allow our form to be held by the Earth from the core of the world. As we move in cooperation with gravity, and with a pace and gait that effortlessly matches, we can sense a pleasure in this ease.
Our Solar Plexus holds our sense of confidence and self-belief. All the things we have mastered in life, and our willingness to keep on working on ourselves, is healthy cause for positive self esteem. Between the Root and the Solar Plexus is the Sacral Chakra. This is the home of our sense of pleasure. By breathing gently into the lower parts of the abdomen, we possess more consciously the living moment in a grounded and pleasurable way that befits our true value.
Walking like this sounds complicated, however it need not be. I am trying to provide you a few ways to see it and then hope you might find a way to use it your own way. With a quiet mind, and a grounded sense of pleasure, the higher chakras can seem more within reach. Our heart may spontaneously stir with appreciation for the day, and the chance to live well.
The Throat Chakra is our center of communication. In aligning within, we may find ourselves capable of expressing our truth in ways that were previously beyond reach. Tuning and opening of our higher eye, we incorporate the events of the ears’ soundtrack, that we discussed earlier. As we open our concentration and submit to the reality of the moment, we sense that the ears are the parts of vision that reach into the distance where visible vibrations are not available. When these work together, our view of events can become more detailed and form into a seamless, holistic picture.
In submission to life, and the moment, faith offers the miracle of experience. In connection with these subtle and refined vibrations, we may feel the Crown Chakra naturally reach into the light above us. There, more elevated and lofty energies can meet us. That is an invitation, to step beyond the old mechanical habits of our conditioning.
Who knows which angels might walk with us then? By being in the moment and observing real life, experience can become our valued teacher. Let us no longer miss the wisdom in life. Then we may foster a more enlightened vision of our true circumstances and see a simpler path to solutions.
Tristan James Johns 