Moving Meditation: Benefits, Instructions, and Tips

When you think of meditation, you probably think of someone sitting still, perhaps in a lotus posture. This is the traditional image for most people. Meditation is something we do sitting still in silence. It is for good reason, the stillness and silence is incredibly valuable in our practice and development of mindfulness, compassion, and so on.

However, most of us don’t spend our days in silence and stillness. We’re on the go, moving our bodies about, and interacting with the world. I have found it useful in my own life to incorporate some forms of moving meditation, and often encourage my students to do the same.

If you have spent time at a monastery or a meditation retreat, you’re probably familiar with the practice of walking meditation. All over the world, Buddhists engage in forms of moving meditation as a core part of practice. It is something that perhaps has been lost a bit as we focus solely on sitting meditation, and I think leaves our practice with a bit of a hole.

Benefits of Moving Meditation

As already mentioned, we spend a lot of our days moving. Learning to practice mindfulness and cultivate awareness with a moving body can help us bring our practice to our everyday life. It also simply is a new way to investigate mindfulness. Here are a few benefits of movement meditation that you may find.

First, it offers a new way to practice. This is important. Rather than tuning into the body or breath in the sitting and still posture, we begin to have new experiences. Feeling the body walking, moving, or stretching is a different experience. The quality of mindfulness may be the same, but the object of our awareness is a bit different.

This helps lead to a more well-rounded mindfulness. In the Buddhist teaching on establishing mindfulness, the Buddha suggested practicing and knowing when we are sitting, standing, and lying down. That is, the encouragement is to practice mindfulness not just while sitting still.

Another reason mindful movement may be useful is in dealing with restlessness or lack of energy. When we’re meditating and struggling to concentrate, movement meditation may be a helpful way to work with that imbalance. Maybe you have some internal stress and are growing restless as you sit, or maybe you’re tired and need to bring some energy to your practice. Getting up and doing moving meditation can help with both of these experiences.

Practicing movement meditation may also help us apply our mindfulness. It’s one thing to be mindful and present in a quiet period of formal meditation. Sometimes the bell rings, we leave our meditation cushion, and the mindfulness goes out the window. Practicing moving meditation may help you bring your meditation to life, making it more applicable in your day-to-day activities.

In a study (Ma, et al. 2022) looking at mindfulness-based walking, researchers found mindful walks to improve sleep quality and overall mood in participants. My favorite thing about this study was that there was not a measurable difference between the participants who practiced in nature or an urban environment!

Movement Meditation Practices

So, how do you get started with moving meditation? I have a few ways. Some of these may feel more “right” for you. Find what works for you individually!

Walking Meditation

Walking meditation is the foundation of my personal moving meditation practice. For me, the beauty of walking meditation is that we can do it in formal practice and in our daily lives. I recommend trying a period of walking meditation first, then working to incorporate it into your daily life as you walk around the house or office, to the store, or wherever you walk in your life.

To do mindful walking meditation, you just need a place to walk. I recommend a space of about 10-20 feet. You can start by just standing still at one end of your walking path. Feel your body, the feet on the floor, and the breath sensations. Beginning to walk, move slowly. Feel your feet lift off the floor and the sensation as it’s placed forward.

As you walk, simply tune into the experience of moving the body. There are so many sensations as we walk… We feel the feet moving, the ankles working, the muscles in the legs contracting, the body moving forward through space, etc. When you get to the end of your path, mindfully turn around and walk back.

These two guided meditations are part of the 30 Day Meditation Challenge you can try for free. One is a walking mindfulness meditation, while the other is a loving-kindness practice.

Qigong and Tai Chi

Although very different practices, both Qigong and Tai Chi are solid movement meditation practices. Both focus to some degree on tuning into the boy and energy within through movements and forms. I must admit I don’t have much experience with Tai Chi.

Both of these practices can be seen as forms of movement meditation. If you’re looking to get started, I recommend checking out YouTube for some free instructional videos. I have enjoyed Qigong on retreats at Deer Park, a monastery in Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition, and at Spirit Rock with Teja Bell. Below is a Qigong routine offered by Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery in France.

Stretching and Yoga

I’ll admit I was not always a big fan of yoga (nor stretching). However, I have definitely come around in the last decade slowly. Elizabeth and I often do yoga at night before bedtime as a way to end the day with some mindfulness of the body and relaxation. I’m not the most flexible person, but I find the practice of stretching and yoga to be a powerful way to bring mindfulness to the body in a new way.

You might find or already have a stretching routine, and simply bring mindfulness to your practice. Tune into the body as much as you’re able. When the mind wanders off, just come back to the body as many times as necessary.

We personally do a lot of yoga from YouTube. We do a lot of videos with Yoga with Adriene, as she’s relatively gentle and beginner-friendly. Here’s a nighttime yoga video that’s only ten minutes that you can try to do with mindfulness.

Running Meditation

Finally, I’m going to throw running meditation in there. I’m also not an avid runner, but I do run a few times a week especially in the surfing offseason. I often listen to music or even a podcast, and have done that for years during my runs. However, it was suggested by a friend to try making running a meditation practice.

Since then, I almost never run with headphones in. I use it as a time to cultivate awareness. Instead of listening to music to pump me up or a podcast, I run with open ears. You can tune into the body, the pains, the muscles working, the sounds and sights around you, and everything in your experience!

In my book, Practicing Mindfulness, I offer several moving meditation practices including walking meditation, doing the dishes, stretching, and more. I truly believe that incorporating meditation into our daily lives requires some level of moving meditation or moving mindfulness, so I encourage you to investigate it in your own life!