Stationary walking

I have been studying yoga for little while now, learning about meditation from one friend, and have taken a couple sense-meditation walks with another friend. Sometimes I can combine these practices, and meditate somewhat while walking to and from work.

On good days, my gaze softens and broadens, increasing visual awareness. I might focus on breathing and articulation. I can soften my shoulders, face, and neck. My mind will be quiet and restful, instead of grinding through speculations, concerns, and insecurities. On these days, I am receptive and can listen internally and externally to what is happening now. On these days, the internal and external worlds don't seem so separate.

While an undergraduate, I remember walking up a steep hill with a friend named Lisa. For a second I had a strange sensation of the world moving under my feet, instead of my feet propelling me across the ground. I recently rediscovered this sensation, on a good day. I was still, listening, and my feet pulled the trees, water, and mountains toward me. Galileo might point out that normal walking and this "stationary walking" are fundamentally equivalent, but even so the change of perspective is exciting and enlightening.

In stationary walking, I feel I am moving the world where I want it, instead of climbing over life's obstacles to get where I want to go. With stationary walking I am always at my destination.

Tonight was a good night as I walked home from work. The sun had set, and the tree images were soft or silhouetted. My gaze softened in response, and this time auditory awareness grew beyond visual awareness. My thoughts did not disappear, but they did not distract and my mind rested. I could move my head and smile normally at bicyclists and cars that passed, without losing focus or reducing awareness. I felt no threats, internal or external. I saw whole trees without the tunnel vision of analyzing tree-parts. I was breathing, walking, listening peacefully.