“The Buddhist quiet sitting meditation practice involves giving attention to the breathing process. Through the rhythmic inhalation and exhalation, the mind quiets and the body settles on the earth – mind and body become synchronized.
In walking meditation, one gives attention to walking rather than breathing. As one walks, one attends to the passage of weight and sensations of contact with the ground that occur through each foot. As one becomes mindful of each step, the other sense perceptions become organized so that direct, clear perception of the environment can occur.
In practicing walking meditation, alone or as a group, we enter into a shared ‘mind’ of walking, of ‘touching the earth.’ Let us surrender our individual territories and, together in union with all creation, celebrate the earth.”
The above is taken from a walking guide produced by the Maryknoll Sisters to be used while meditating at certain locations on the grounds here in Maryknoll, New York. This post begins a new series that each week will highlight a different area of the Maryknoll campus where one is able to pause, take a moment, and just be.
Below is a map of the different stops along the mediation walk numbered for convenience. Links are provided for each stop on the walk.
Stop 1: Creation: The Emerging Cosmos (Front Lawn – West)
Stop 2: Water: The Origins of Life (Cloister Hill – West)
Stop 3: Co-Creation: The Emergence of Agriculture
Stop 4: The Meditation Garden: Native American Heritage
Stop 5: The Cave: The Emergence of Humanity
Stop 6: Human Technology
Stop 7: Regeneration
Stop 8: Commitment