The past week has been bitterly cold but despite winter’s bone chilling embrace I am deeply enjoying layering my daily practice with the walking meditation Sharon suggests as apart of the second week of the online Real Happiness Challenge. As a New Yorker on a budget that only allows one round trip on public transportation a day I pretty much walk everywhere. I’ve done the practice for years walking across Manhattan for appointments or on my way to some happening and I’m astounded how much more I’m getting out of it now that I have committed to sitting twice a day.
Layering walking meditation with my newly established daily concentration practice has been deeply rewarding. Seems nothing teaches me better about how my mind reacts than a blast of unexpected cold air or a sneaker plunged into a icy puddle.
With a little practice under my belt I’m getting some interesting insight into how I have related to my reactions, thoughts & yes, extreme weather conditions in the past. When doing walking meditation I would gird myself to my reactions, often freezing myself mentally by pushing away the experience with an oppositional note or telling myself not to react.
I thought I was just observing the sensations when actually I was shoveling out of the way into dark corners of my mind. I learned this after I got hit with a particularity long blast from a snow drift that decided to relocate itself from one location to another, while I walked in the middle, mindfully.
Very grateful for these practices and the kindness of those sitting this month with me. Looking forward to discovering what other changes I might notice during the third week of the challenge.
