Traveling Meditations: Walking as a Path of Remembering

I’ve noticed that the meditative journeys I have had while walking have dropped me into profound states of remembering, connecting me back to ancient times, other cultures and different existences. I am often surprised by the depth of the realizations that rise up to meet me when I am in the simplest of all connections – that between self, land and spirit.

In past postings I’ve shared experiences that I’ve had while walking.  In Australia I reconnected with an ancient root of myself and subsequently was able to re-integrate that into this life (Pilgrimage of the Heart: Kata Tjuta, September 2009); a pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash helped me to jettison bindings that had held me through many lifetimes (Pilgrimage of the Heart: Mt. Kailash, Tibet, January 2010); and in Africa I was taken back to a time when I was a hunter and warrior, and I experienced the total aliveness of nature and how inseparably interconnected with it I am (Pilgrimage of the Heart: Africa and the Laikipia Masai, May 2010).  Each one called aspects of my infinite nature ‘home’, making it possible to ground their lessons in this life.  Their embodiment has meant that I am now able to live a richer, freer existence.  This happened through the dynamics that were created in the act of walking.

Every walking meditation opens up the possibility of forging a deeper understanding of the never ending, infinitely creative nature of being. Primarily and most profoundly for me, with each one the doorway into my heart opens wider, and I am able to feel and express at depths that I hadn’t been aware existed.  Sometimes the lessons I’ve received have been deep and painful, but mostly they have happened with great ease, delivered to me when I was ready to receive them. My walks have shown me what it really means to be inseparable from all of life’s many and varied forms, and they’ve taught me the importance of taking all of these realizations and embodying them in order to live life in a different way.  I am constantly thinking I have reached the subtlest octave of understanding of any single one of my issues, only to find on another journey that I am being led to explore it at an even greater depth– walking new awareness into life.

Traveling Meditations on Foot

In all meditative practices it helps enormously to start with an open mind, with no expectations but with a framework that supports you as you travel multi-dimensionally, enabling the deepest connections to arise seamlessly. There can be many elements to this, some of which I’ve already shared in Traveling Meditation postings.  Here are a few more:

Organizing principles: Amongst the supports that we all have in life are the archetypes and organizing principles that structure our worlds.  These are formless aspects of creation, uniquely expressed by each one of us which then bridge our beings out of body into our physical form and influence how we resonate with all around us.  As you prepare for your walk take some time, maybe over a day or so, to connect with and acknowledge the organizing principles and archetypes that inform you and your life.  Open your eyes to how you like to relate with all around you – perhaps through joy, grace, or innocence, movement, balance, or harmony? Each of these and many more add a qualitative element that our subconscious calls for so that the life we live truly expresses us.  Whether you are aware of them or not your organizing principles are there creating a natural order, the foundational pieces that assist you to shape your life.  I like to experience life through balance and harmony, with rhythm and flow, connecting with the beauty around me. These are principles that I would find it hard to live without. They are adaptive and have many expressions, but their fundamental nature underpins my reality.

Intuition: Listen to and trust your intuition.  Your impulse to go out for a walk, or to embark on a journey to some distant place, may come to you through an invitation or perhaps through a random thought.  If you feel moved to go to a particular place, trust that and take the time to do so.  It may be your own unconscious wisdom inviting you to reconnect to one of your many ancient aspects and reunite with the wisdom accrued by your soul.

Respectful relationship: Above all, each and every day, as you start your journey take a moment to call in the guardians of the land or the place that you are traveling through introducing yourself to them clearly, stating your intention to be in peaceful, respectful relationship with them, and asking them to bless you with their grace and to provide you with safe passage.

The Meditation

As you set out, drop into a place of respectful silence.  Savor the silence and the sounds as they rise up to meet you.  Take time to stop if and when you feel called to, so that your natural internal rhythm and flow directs you on your journey.

Don’t rush.  Be aware of how you plant your feet on the earth, and as you do so send down your heartfelt blessing to the Divine Mother, Gaia, as she supports you in this moment and all others. 

Take in your surroundings and call forward the organizing principles that assist you in dropping into a place of communion with your environment. If you get distracted by your thoughts, just notice and come back to the moment.

Become aware of the Elements around you.  Notice what elements within you call to those elements outside of you – your flesh and all its minerals to the earth and all hers; your breath to the air – recognize that you are an inseparable extension of the world around you.

Notice what senses are ignited by this connectedness with everything.  An inner silence and spaciousness emerges when you are in this state.  Let the silence radiate out from your heart center to include your entire body, and all around you, and allow your walking meditation to unfurl.  Release any attachment to the way this happens.  Be led by your natural wisdom and follow your intuition.

Let your deepening awareness ignite your gratitude for everything that you are and for all that you experience.  As Gratitude fills your heart offer it up to the world.  If song or other sounds are part of your experience don’t be afraid to express them.

Remember, your spiritual self and your earthly self are not separate.  With each Path of Remembering allow more of the infinite wisdom held in the invisible worlds of spirit to inform you in the here and now.

Take several minutes to integrate yourself back into the present. Take in the world around you; make sure that you are fully connected in the present, grounded in the earth, and aware of your surroundings so that you can embody this experience and inhabit your life in a richer, freer, more informed way.

At the end of your journey remember to thank the guardians of the land for the gifts you have received.

©2011 Sarah Lidsey. All rights reserved. www.sarahlidsey.com

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