Walk by the Riverside

Hi there, and welcome to this guided, mindful walking exercise in nature. Right now, I find myself beside the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park. And as I'm guiding you today, I encourage you just to notice the different sounds in my environment. You may be able to hear the soft and steady sounds of the river. Perhaps you can hear the birds. And if we're lucky, you might be able to hear some frogs or the geysers as they erupt. So with mindful walking, we are walking for the sake of walking and experiencing what it feels like to walk, to be fully present as we're moving the body. In our everyday lives, it's so easy to get caught up in our thoughts and the mind that we forget about our bodies. As we're moving from point A to point B, we may be lost in thought, thinking about our to-do list, jumping from past to future and future to past. So in this exercise, our focus is on the movement of the body, perhaps the gentle contact of the feet with the floor. Maybe we'll even notice the swinging of the arms as we move forward. So I wanna invite you now just to take a moment to settle in before we begin moving, and just noticing how the body feels. (water trickling) Starting from the top of the head and working your way down to the soles of the feet, just getting curious about what's present in the body in this moment. How am I arriving? (water trickling) Once you arrive at the soles of the feet, maybe just gently shifting from side to side and exploring the four corners of the feet, noticing what it feels like to be grounded, really feeling into that connection with the Earth. And then when you're ready, let's begin to walk. So for now, our focus point will be on that shifting, lifting and placing of the feet. Resting our full attention on the feet as they move forward. And at the same time, being aware of our surroundings. So noticing what you can see, what you can hear, what you can smell, maybe even what you can taste. So just continuing to walk at a pace that feels right for you, and when the mind gets distracted, maybe it wanders off, just bringing it back to that sensation of the feet on the Earth. You may even say to yourself, shifting, lifting and placing as you continue to walk, noticing what it feels like to be here in this moment. (footsteps crunching) (birds chirping) Mindful walking is another way that we can bring our practice into our everyday lives, being fully aware of what we're doing while we're doing it. So as we're walking, being fully aware of the fact that we're walking while we're walking. And as I'm walking here in the park, I'm noticing the Canadian geese, and it reminds me of being at home. So maybe...