on This Earth

This is the third post on the art of mindful walking, a technique that I developed as a dyspraxic.

The mindful walking posts build on the foundational skills from the first few posts. If you are new to the blog, I would encourage you to develop the foundational skills. They will help you sharpen your senses and observation skills, necessary for this phase. You can start with this post on connecting with the rain, linked here.

The foundational skills are based on 4 key principles:

• silence/stillness
• observation
• reflection
• acting on the reflection

The art of mindful walking focuses on the first two key principles. In the foundation phase, I encouraged those who want to start to find a spot to sit or stand. To be still and silent. In practising mindful walking, you won’t be still but silence is highly encouraged.

Recapping the technique

In the first part, linked here, we focused on building the connection to the ground. The idea is to find stability and make our steps firm. All the while being intimately aware of the nuances of ground beneath. We also practised being connected to the ground through our feet, utilising the various sensory inputs. The different sensations from our toes, heel, mid-foot, ball of the foot and more as our feet move.

In the second part, linked here, we limited our gaze and enhanced our peripheral vision. The idea is to focus on what matters and not get distracted. We practised focusing our gaze on the ground and noticing minute details of the ground in front of us. This is done in combination of walking while being aware of the sensory inputs from the ground.

My experience with the technique

The other evening, I went walking with a friend visiting from the States. We were walking at dusk through the woods at Craigmillar Castle Park. Throughout that walk, I utilised the technique and the dimming light as dusk settled didn’t bother me at all.

I could feel the changes in texture of the ground beneath my feet. The damp sandy soil that shifted and crunched as I stepped on it. The slippery wet grass that glistened in the dim light and the droplets of water clinging to my shoes. Even as we walked and talked, I was aware of the shadows that the trees cast in the dying sunlight.

Smelling the wild garlic, it was easy to spot their white flowers under the trees. Set among them were clusters of bluebells, bringing a splash of colour to the woodland undergrowth. A robin was singing right above us at one point. And I could hear several other bird songs to our right. Part of their evening remembrance (dhikr) as always. As we walked out of the woods, their songs gave way to the muted sounds of the raindrops.

I felt the coolness of the air around me out in the open field, the temperature dropping. And underneath my feet, the ground gently sloped up as we approached the castle. I noticed the grass being wetter than in the woods. There was a movement in my peripheral vision. When I turned, I saw a bird flying through the field. It was probably returning home just as we were heading back too.

And over the Easter weekend, I went hiking at Ben Lawers. The video below is a snippet of my walk through the nature trail there. It was rather challenging to film the walk and concentrate on mindfully walking. So the filming isn’t the best but hopefully it shows how I

• stopped at times to get my bearing and appreciate the beauty before me
• assessed the ground before me in order be mindful of where to step/walk

Through out my walk, I noticed the different vegetation like the flowering heather, the blaeberry, and the moss. I stopped a few times to run my fingers over the star moss, as I couldn’t resist its call. What looked like dried grass actually had several different species of plants under it. I wish I knew their names.

The sound of the water was a continuing soothing melody, drowning out most of the other noises. I heard voices behind me and turned. In the distance, a couple was making their way down the path. Voices carry quite a distance in the mountains.

Opening up other senses

In my description of my experiences, I was using several senses besides touch/tactile (being grounded) and sight. An important sense that I rely upon when mindfully walking is sound. Not only do I take note of the sound but also the direction it came from and the likely distance. For example, the robin’s song was loud and overhead. So I knew it was in the branches right above my head even though I couldn’t spot it. Or during the hike up Ben Lawers, I heard water flowing on my right, a very short distance away. When I stopped to locate the sound, I saw a tiny burn on the right hand side of the path. It was hidden by the heather and moss.

Smell is another key sense because it gives us insights into the landscape. Like when I smelled the wild garlic that night before I saw them. It is harder to pinpoint where the smell comes from in my experience but it is worth a try. A few weeks ago, I smelled coconut while walking in the Hermitage of Braid. That meant that the gorse must be blooming. Or the pungent smell of urea led me to conclude that the farmers in the area must have used fertilisers.

Tactile senses beyond just the feet is also useful to cultivate. Especially in feeling the direction of the elements such as sunlight, wind and rain. Near the top of Ben Lawers, the wind was so strong that it nearly blew me off my feet. Several times, I had to adjust my balance and body weight against the direction the wind was blowing.

All that information allows me to create a multi-dimensional map of the immediate area in my mind. And that map helps me navigate my way around, guiding me through the landscape. Each of the information is a marker, a pin drop on the map. By God’s grace, I think that is why I seldom get lost in a natural landscape.

Practice Session

In the last session, you have combined the grounding of your feet with the limitation on your sight. You have processed the various sensory input from your feet and eyes. This session, let’s start adding one sense at a time. Here are some.

Sounds

As you walk, listen carefully to the sounds of your surroundings. What is the first sound that captures your attention? Where is it coming from? Left, right, in front, behind, under or above you? Gauge how far away it is from you. What made the sound? Note all of these observations down in your journal.

Repeat this with more sounds and you will find you become more sensitive to the sounds around you.

Touch

In the foundational phase, you started connecting with the elements like rain and wind. Use that connection in this phase. That connection will make their presence more like a companion on your walk. Lean into the warmth of the sun, the touch of the rain, or the strength of the wind. They are there to enrich your experience; acknowledge the contrast between their absence and their presence. Remember the direction they came from.

Do not resist if something calls you to touch it. That can be a bit of moss or a large boulder or flowing water. Each touch leaves a mark in your memory of the place.

Smell

Similar to sounds, open yourself to the various scents around you. A damp smell indicates presence of water, or at least moisture. Coconut in Scotland tells you that there are gorse nearby. Different poo smells would point to presence of different types of animals. Take note of the different layers of scents and how they influence you.

Non-physical senses

Not all senses are physical. Like that call/pull by certain things to touch them – that is a non-physical sense. Or feeling something isn’t right/danger. These are intuitions, a form of communication between us and the rest of creation that is beyond the physical. Practise listening to these inner voices and follow them.

Combine all these senses together with the sight and grounding of your feet as you walk. By doing so, you are slowly becoming more awake and aware. No longer sleep walking through the land. Instead, you can appreciate the beauty and complexity of life around you.