Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

October 24, 2015 By Admin

Mindful Walking Meditation

Mindful Walking Meditation:

How to Walk by Thich Nhat Hanh – A Powerful Short Book of Wisdom

In my opinion, Thich Nhat Hanh and The 14th Dalai Lama are the two most important and wise teachers of mindfulness, meditation, compassion, and Buddhism in the 21st century.  Below I will offer my interpretation of Thich Nhat Hanh’s new book. At the same time, I will attempt to distill thich-nhat-hanh_MindfulHappinesshis wise instructions about how to walk.  The post will end with a short segment on formal walking meditation.  My agenda here, is to write my comments so they may be useful to both lay and Buddhist practitioners.


Part 1: The Basics of Walking with Mindfulness

Here we’ll review instructions on how to make any walk a mindful walk.  Settle in and take a few calmer, slower, deeper breaths.  Use your intention to prepare yourself for walking.  As you lift your foot, inhale; as you place your foot (heal first) on the earth, exhale.  Remain silent – just breathe and walk.  Deeply appreciate the solid mother earth under you.  Focus complete attention on the act of walking, thus relieving your mind of the need to think, evaluate, associate,tell stories, etc.  Concentrate fully on the present moment of touching the earth.  You arrive with each step. Allow mind to follow body with breath – feel your inner peace and joy.  Adding a peaceful smile may improve your Mindful Walking ; Mindful Happinessexperience of “just walking.”  Reflect on your gratitude for your moving legs, beating heart, working lungs and being on solid ground.  Allow your walking body to liberate your mind from the incessant tangles of daily life.  Bring your attention back to focused walking each and every time your mind wonders off into something/somewhere else. Notice your inner peace – feel it gently.  Value and respect it. Give great appreciation for your bodhisattva ways (helping others).  You may want to imagine that you are walking with the Buddha’s fee – being one with the Buddha.  Be one with the peace and joy of walking slowly, effortlessly, lovingly. Walk this way more often at work, at home, outdoors, etc. (See pages 1-50 for more details.)

Part 2: More Details and Depth on How to Walk

Notice great ease as you allow your breath to lead your walking body.  Continue to concentrate of how the moving body/legs feel; this will reduce distractions in the mind. You may walk alone, with others, or imagining others are with you (ancestors, friends, people you love, the Buddhas, etc.).  Feel their wonderful energies. Walk in honor of them and mother earth, and all those who have walked here before you.  Since enlightenment and nirvana cannot be understood as mental concepts or perceptions, just allow the body to walk in mutuality with the breath, the mind, the earth. Bring full mindful attention to the feelings of walking; be the awareness – stay present and return your mindful awareness if/when it moves away.  No past, and no future – just the present moment “here now.” Notice internally – there may be subtle or strong feelings of deep peace, compassion, and wisdom – even possibly love.  As you walk, observe, feel, and appreciate everything that appears in the present moment of movement. Allow yourself to forget the past and the future – the past cannot be changed, and the future gives you little control over it.  While walking adopt the Buddha’s view that practice is non-practice and attainment is non-attainment. Be effortless! Just walk – BE the moving body, the quiet mind, the inner peace, the silent joy.  (See pages 51-97 for more details.)

Part 3: More Formal Walking Meditation

Building from the earlier parts of this post, prepare your intention for formal walking meditation practice. Complete a few calm, slow, deep breaths. Place hand/arms in front, behind, or by your sides. Hold your head level and allow a gentle gaze 2-3 feet in front of you. Pay close attention to walkingmeditaion_mindfulhappinessthe feelings in the body – lifting the leg inhale then placing the leg on solid earth exhale. Breathe the movement, peace, and joy – all in unison. If/when your mind distracts or goes elsewhere, gently and lovingly bring your focus back to just walking. No self-criticism. Be silent! Smile! Count your breaths if it helps.  It will be more relaxing if you extend the exhalations slightly longer than the inhalations. This will activate your vagal nerve network and bring more calmness. You may want to add a brief mantra to your walking: “May I breathe and walk in peace.”  Other phrases may help:  “in and out,” “deep and silent,” “I smile and let go,” or “my wonderful present moment.”  Make up what you want to say if helpful, or say nothing.  Just concentrate on feelings of movement and touching the earth. Slow down; speed up.  Walk at the pace you desire. Do what work best for you.  Bring breath, mind, body, joy and self together – fully integrated in the act of walking meditation.  Take personal refuge in your walking.  Attend to the outside, but feel the inside. Be the walking; be the peace; be the joy! Hold strong gratitude for your walk, and appreciate all aspects of this meditation practice.

For best experiences, consider walking meditation outside in the natural environment.

Be like the Taoists; be in nature’s beauty.  Enjoy! (See pages 99 – 117) for more details.)

Nhat Hanh, Thich (2015). How to Walk. Berkeley,CA: Parallax Press.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

CLICK HERE  or any image blow to Order 

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

Filed Under: Book Review, Featured, Nhat Hanh Thich, People, Walking Meditation Tagged With: BOOK REVIEW, DR ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, HOW TO WALK, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, MINDFUL WALKING, NHAT HANH THICH, WALKING MEDITATION

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Psychological Research on the Dangers of Smartphone Abuse There is no doubt that smartphone technology bring us a great deal of advanced technological access to a world of information and communication. There is a downside. Recent research published by The American Psychological Association in March, 2017, and opinions in The Atlantic warn of potential and actual biopsychosocial […]

Self-Care as Ritual Self-care for Americans is often considered a luxury.  Due to our technological demands and addictions (Demons as they are), and the slow slipping of our economic structures, we are often at the mercy of the bottom line at work. Over-paid CEOs and CFOs and their many assistants eat up so, so much […]

-Steps to Mind Training Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC To pacify your mind you need to train your mind. Mind training leads to liberation from brain-mind-heart-body automatic processes and reactions. A well-trained mind allows you to utilize executive functions (attention and concentration) to alter auto-reactions of the brain, body and heart. A trained mind liberates […]

A Primary Source of Unhappiness Self-medication to reduce or avoid pain and suffering is a major unhelpful habit in the United States. It is a desperate human effort to reduce pain and suffering in physical and psychological experiences. Therefore, we humans may be hard-wired for it. When we suffer and do not utilize effective wise […]

Beyond MBSR – Quick Start Skills Self-calming for counselors and other helpers is one of the most important survival practices to master.  Self-calming consists a set of basic mindfulness skills, all of which must be practiced regularly to achieve desired emotion-regulation effects. The utility of these skills is well established in clinical research, and not […]

Spiritual Mantras from Buddhism Spiritual Mantras:  Mantra practice is certainly not informal Buddhism, nor is it a way to apply practical mindfulness skills to life.  The path of mantra practice is much deeper than the psychological applications for good health. Mantra practice is a highly important part of formal Buddhist practice, especially on the spiritual […]

Inner Workings of Self-Medication Process   To continue our discussion about the self-medication process we will first turn to the human brain.  The human brain is the most complex system known to science.  Here, my comments will be basic.  Self-medication often has roots in the quality of our earliest childhood experiences (attachment and object relations with […]

Mindfulness in the NFL Yes, mindfulness as part of sports psychology programming is being used in the NFL.  Yes, big and physically tough football players are being helped via a mindfulness component of sports psychology. There are some important roots here. Dogen, the famous ancient Japanese Buddhist meditation master, brought Chan Buddhism from China to […]

Mindful Equanimity and Homeostasis Neuroscientist Antonio Demasio’s new book  The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Culture. (2018) New York: Pantheon Books notes the very important role homeostasis plays in human life and well being. In some ways homeostasis is about the arising, falling, and balancing out of all things important to human […]

Mindful Solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux Earth Protectors The Standing Rock Sioux earth protectors are fighting earth destruction, environmental degradation, oil profiteering, and corporate greed.  Yes, I suppose finding huge reserves of crude helps many people become employed in the Dakotas. This is important. But other earth-wise activity (more solar for example) would be far […]

Equanimity, Suffering, and Resilience It is said that equanimity (Pali – upekkha), the seventh factor of enlightenment and the tenth perfection, is an end-product of life-long personal practice in meditation and/or meditative yoga. It is about “walking the walk.” Some practitioners note that equanimity is the foundation for other helpful states of mind and body. […]

Reminders for Your Psychological and Physical Health If you desire to be more compassionate with others and with yourself, remember the following. Be certain to ACT on the following. 1) Life is complete only with joy/happiness, neutral experiences, and suffering/pain.  These are the realities of human existence. These are the conditions of human life. Make […]

Relational Suffering and Buddhist Practice Recently I experienced a deep, sudden, afflictive emotional experience. This sudden and profound sense of loss was due to temporary heartbreak; the temporary heartbreak dealt with rejection from a younger woman I found to be interesting and attractive (inside and outside). My “lost” person seemed to possess all the attachment […]

Improving Client/Patient Collaboration  in Treatment To improve collaboration between you and your clients/patients, simply practice the following behaviors as your norms.  See the list below, and practice, practice, practice. Present with an attitude of helpfulness and authentic caring. Empathy and authentic concern are required. Recognize the reality that clients/patients are at different levels of readiness […]

Stress in America – On the Rise – The American Psychological Association recently completed its national survey on stress in America.  Stress in America for adults is on the rise! I will review below a selection of reported percentages from the 2015 survey (published in 2016). 1)  Younger people are more stressed; Xers and Millennials […]

Improving Your Self-Esteem – An Action Contemplation The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute’s surveys and V. Mamgain’s ideas about neoclassical economics of happiness help provide a means to deconstruct improved learning in higher education and also personal happiness in the process. According to the UCLA research surveys, higher education students want more spirituality and personal […]

Practice:  Mindful Actions to Improve YOUR Self-Esteem Improving Your Awareness with Practice Remain mindfully aware of the content and meta-cognition regarding the “speaking” of your inner, self-conscious critic.  Note what trends appear in the conversation. Remain mindfully aware of the reactions your mind and body experience regarding the activity of your inner self-critic in dealing […]

The Holy Year of Mercy Like the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, Pope Francis in The Church of Rome, is sharing his opinion on compassion and mercy in life.  Although Pope Francis distinguishes compassion (a human action) from mercy (a divine action), the two positive conditions are quite similar in values, attitudes, and behaviors.  Pope […]

  Mindfulness – Self-Kindness Practice Befriending the self is one of the most difficult things for Americans to do.  It is probably true that self-kindness is difficult for most people; however, the current rampant criticism (I am right! You are wrong!) and extreme greed manifesting in the United States tends to produce two opposite extremes: […]

In-Depth Means to Discover and Be Your True Self Henry David Thoreau reminded us that it is not what you look at, but it is what you see that matters. How do you SEE yourself?  John Muir reminded us that the sun shines in us as well as in our souls. Do you find “the […]

Mindful Happiness Tags

DR ANTHONY QUINTILIANI WISE MIND MEDITATION TRAUMA BREATHING COVID-19 SUFFERING THICH NHAT HANH TRAINING ACTIVITY COMPASSION ADDICTION SELF COMPASSION PRACTICES WALKING MEDITATION SELF CARE VERMONT MEDITATION PRACTICE BRAIN ELEANOR R LIEBMAN CENTER BUDDHISM MBSR PRACTICE VIPASSANA MINDFULNESS TRAINING VIPASSANA MEDITATION THERAPY. SELF MEDICATION HAPPINESS MINDFUL MINDFUL HAPPINESS SELF MINDFUL MEDITATION EMPTINESS PSYCHOTHERAPY MINDFULNESS EXERCISES CONSCIOUSNESS ANTHONY QUINTILIANI SELF ESTEEM CLINICAL SUPERVISION ACTIVITIES MINDFUL TRAINING JOURNALING ENLIGHTENMENT

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness