I first heard of "walking meditation" at a week long Vipassana and Holotropic Breathwork retreat about three years ago. The retreat featured Stan Grof on the breathwork side and Jack Kornfield for the meditation.
One afternoon, Jack introduced the concept of walking meditation. (When I say introduced, I mean it was new to me). Everyone in the retreat went outside and very slowly and mindfully walked. I struggled with this. When I'm outside in nature, I want to run, dance, listen to birds, smell the earth, hike through forests or anything other than walk incredibly slow and try to pay attention to each step, each breath and each thought. So, I wrote it off as something that wasn't in me and that was better left with others who really seemed to enjoy this activity.
Well, over the last few months I have been spending a tremendous amount of time hiking. I'm doing a lot of practice hikes for an eventual 5 month, 2175 mile trek. Anyway, today I noticed something. I noticed that I was, in my own way, doing a walking meditation. I was strolling along paying very close attention to my breath and the sounds of nature and my footsteps on the trail. When I noticed that I was noticing, I just noticed. (If that makes sense). Then I would find myself thinking about lunch. Would I get to the bridge around lunchtime or would I need to pick up my pace? I then realized I wasn't fully in the moment and was thinking about future events. I could gently return my mind to being mindful of what I was doing. Then I thought about how far I had walked, if I would need to refill my water bottles and what I would have for dinner. Each time, I realized that I was drifting and returned back to being mindful of the present moment. This went on for a while and I had to laugh. This was the first time outside of sitting that I really felt "meditative." I found that when I was mindful of what I was doing, the simple act of walking, I was extremely happy. Today's 12 miles was the most pleasant hike I believe I have ever had.
There is a saying among hikers, "Hike your own hike." This basically means that you should do what you feel you need to do on the trail and not be talked into hiking more miles than you desire or change your plans for someone else. The whole point is to enjoy your hike. I bring this up because I think I have found a way to apply that to the walking meditation. Rather than moving in slow motion, I feel I have touched the point of the walking meditation in my own way. I also realize that although I initially felt that walking meditation as described was not for me, I now feel a bit more open to the possibililty that it could work out after all.
Thought I would share this.