The walk in the woods

Here is a short "walking meditation." It is excellent for reconnecting with yourself. This exercise can be practiced in nature, on your commute, or during a short walk during your break.

Stress, hectic schedules, and challenging situations put our bodies into a state of alert. Whether we are aware of it or not, our bodies prepare for fight or flight. Consequently, our connective tissues and muscles become tense and contracted. Simply paying attention to these tensions can significantly ease them.

Let's go!

We take one relaxed step after another, trusting our bodies to know how to walk and when to activate which muscles. Walking requires no effort. Instead, we focus on our feet and the soles that support us. What is the contact area with the ground? How do we roll our feet? Where do we put more weight? We can analyze this like a scientist. Focusing on our feet and the ground gives us security and a sense of grounding.

At the same time, we let our head float like a balloon and keep our gaze directed towards the horizon or slightly higher. We surrender the space between our head and feet entirely to our body's intelligence. We release any unnecessary tension in our neck and shoulders. In this space between head and feet, everything is allowed. It's okay to feel a twinge, a pull, or even experience slight pain. Feelings and thoughts are also allowed. Our focus and attention remain on our feet, which support us, and on our head, which, with its sensory organs, serves as our means of communication with the outside world.

We can use our senses in this way: sight, hearing, smell, and taste. These senses are all there to allow us to connect with the outside world.

We begin by focusing on sight: What do we see? What do we see up close, and what do we see in the distance? How do objects move up close and how far away? We can adopt a three-dimensional perspective, perceiving objects both near and far. What colors are there? It's important to truly focus our attention outwards and be fully present with our surroundings. This will immediately allow our neck muscles to relax further.

Next, we'll add hearing. What are we hearing right now? What sounds are there? We'll try to record everything like an audio recorder. That means we won't judge the sounds, but simply register them and listen with curiosity. At the same time, we'll still concentrate on our feet and our head, which should be as mobile as possible. Now we'll add smelling... What does it smell like here right now? Perhaps it smells different a few meters away? We can continue this curious exploration of our senses as we like and will find that our entire mood and posture have changed.

Have a nice walk!