Walking meditation: what it is and how it is practised

Walking meditation is mindful walking, usually back and forth on a short path, with attention on the feet and the movement of the body. In the Mahasi and Thai forest traditions it alternates with sitting through the day. Panditarama Lumbini, a Mahasi centre in Nepal, asks beginners to spend as much time walking as sitting, and forest teachers use it to develop the same meditation object in a different posture. Unlike the body-scanning of Goenka's courses, its basics are published openly by the traditions that teach it.

What is walking meditation?

Walking meditation (caṅkama in Pali) is meditation done while walking. The meditator walks back and forth on a short, quiet path and keeps attention on the walking itself, usually the sensations at the soles of the feet and the movement of each step. It is not a walk to get somewhere, and not simply exercise. Ajahn Nyanadhammo of Wat Pah Nanachat recalls a visiting meditation master who saw a guest walking with his hands behind his back and remarked: "He's not walking meditation; he's going for a stroll". What makes the difference, in Nyanadhammo's booklet, is bringing awareness "to the process of walking, instead of just walking and letting the mind wander off".

What walking is for depends on the tradition. Nyanadhammo calls it "an activity in which one can focus and concentrate the mind or develop investigative knowledge and wisdom". Chanmyay Sayadaw, teaching in the Mahasi tradition, says that in walking "the Buddha laid emphasis on awareness of the movement of the foot", and that the practice is "not just for concentration" but for seeing bodily and mental processes as they are. Nyanadhammo traces it to the Buddha's teaching on mindfulness in the four postures (walking, standing, sitting and lying down), set out in the next section.

The canonical basis

The Buddha praised walking meditation in the Caṅkama Sutta (AN 5.29), a short discourse in the Aṅguttara Nikāya. It lists five benefits: "You get fit for traveling, fit for striving in meditation, and healthy. What's eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted is properly digested. And immersion gained while walking lasts long."

The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10) includes walking among the four postures to be known as they are: "when a mendicant is walking they know: 'I am walking.'" The same attention applies to standing, sitting and lying down. See the four foundations of mindfulness.

The Thai forest teacher Ajahn Nyanadhammo writes that the place where the Buddha walked in meditation at Bodh Gaya after his awakening still exists, and that the path was seventeen steps long.

Mahasi's walking: noting each step

In Mahasi Sayadaw's method, walking is noted like everything else. His manual Satipatthana Vipassana asks for attention on the sole of the foot as it moves, from lifting to placing, and builds up the detail gradually. The next step should begin only after the first is complete. Chanmyay Sayadaw U Janaka, who trained under Mahasi, divides each step further.

Stage	What is noted	Source
One part	"right step, left step", or "walking, walking"	Mahasi Sayadaw
Two parts	"lifting, placing"	Mahasi Sayadaw
Three parts	"lifting, moving, placing", after two or three days	Mahasi Sayadaw
Six parts	intending, lifting; intending, raising (the toes); intending, pushing; intending, dropping; touching; intending, pressing	Chanmyay Sayadaw

Chanmyay Sayadaw explains that touching is not preceded by an intention, because the foot touches the ground as soon as it drops. He suggests spending the first ten minutes or so of each walking period noting left and right, and keeping steps short, about the length of a foot.

On Mahasi retreats walking alternates with sitting. Panditarama Lumbini in Nepal asks meditators to alternate an hour of sitting with an hour of walking, or about 45 minutes of each for beginners, on a path of 5 to 7 metres. See mental noting for the method as a whole.

Walking paths in the Thai forest tradition

Forest monasteries give walking a large share of the day. Ajahn Nyanadhammo's booklet Walking Meditation, published by Wat Pah Nanachat in 2003, describes the practice as it is taught there:

• The path. Forest monks' paths can be up to thirty steps long, but on a long path a beginner's mind "may have been 'around the world and back'" by the far end. About fifteen paces is a good length to start with, in a secluded, slightly enclosed place.
• The pace. "Ajahn Chah recommended walking naturally, not too slow or too fast." Walking fast can make the sensations hard to follow; some people need to slow down and some to speed up.
• The object. Awareness stays on the feeling at the soles of the feet. Other meditation subjects can be used while walking too, including goodwill (see mettā), so that walking develops the same object as sitting in a different posture.
• Drowsiness. If the mind grows dull, the booklet suggests a word such as Buddho, repeated quietly, and walking faster.

Walking in other traditions

• Sayadaw U Tejaniya: one of the excerpts from his teaching is titled "Walking Meditation: Walk Naturally". See Shwe Oo Min awareness.
• Suan Mokkh: the daily schedule of its 10-day retreats includes periods of walking or standing meditation and a group walking meditation at 8 pm. See Suan Mokkh.
• Insight Meditation Society: a retreat day has "alternate periods of sitting and walking meditation". See Insight Meditation in the West.
• Goenka courses: there is no formal walking meditation in the timetable. The Code of Discipline says students "may exercise during rest periods by walking in designated areas".

Basic guidance, as the traditions publish it

Walking meditation is one of the practices that teachers describe openly for beginners. The points below combine the published guidance of Ajahn Nyanadhammo and Panditarama Lumbini; where they differ, both are given.

1. Choose a path. A path of about fifteen paces (Nyanadhammo) or 5 to 7 metres (Panditarama Lumbini), where no one else is walking close by.
2. Stand and settle. Stand upright at one end. Nyanadhammo asks for the right hand over the left in front of the body, and not behind the back; Panditarama Lumbini allows the hands behind the back or in front.
3. Decide how long to walk, whether half an hour or an hour, and keep to it, Nyanadhammo advises.
4. Lower the eyes. Nyanadhammo suggests about a metre and a half ahead; Panditarama Lumbini a spot 3 to 4 metres ahead. Both ask you not to look around.
5. Walk and feel the feet. Keep attention on the sensations of the feet and the movement. In the Mahasi way, note each step; in the forest way, simply know it.
6. Turn with attention. At the end of the path, stop, know that you are standing, and turn. Mahasi's instructions note the intention to turn and the turning itself.

The meditation timer on this site can time a walking period as well as a sit.

Common difficulties

• A wandering mind on a long path. Use a shorter path, as Nyanadhammo suggests for beginners.
• Looking around. Chanmyay Sayadaw warns that it breaks concentration, and Nyanadhammo asks walkers not to be distracted by this or that. Keep the eyes lowered.
• The wrong pace. Walking fast can make the sensations hard to follow. Nyanadhammo notes that some people need to slow down and others to speed up.
• Overlapping steps. Lifting the next foot before the last one has settled loses part of the step. Mahasi and Chanmyay both ask for one step to finish before the next begins.
• Drowsiness. Walk more briskly, and in the forest tradition use a word such as Buddho.

In Nepal, walking meditation is taught on retreat at the Mahasi centres Panditarama Lumbini and the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu. At Thai forest monasteries such as Wat Pah Nanachat, which does not run courses, guests follow the monastic routine and spend much of the day in sitting and walking meditation.