I am thinking about leading the next Women’s Circle on a walking meditation. There are three kinds of walking meditations that I have participated in. The first is just a general walking, usually in an inspiring location like a nature path or park. In this type of walk, you allow words of inspiration to come to you. You must chase out your own thoughts of planning and worrying so that these inspiring words of advice can come through.
A second type of walking meditation occurs when you focus on your step, like the walking meditation we took in Jamaica. You may not get very far, but as you focus on the lift, move, drop of each foot, you keep your thoughts from wandering. Once again, words of inspiration can come to us, when we veer our attention away from the thoughts that monopolize our minds.
A third walking meditation that I have been on is walking a labyrinth. A labyrinth is typically a circular formation of stones or walkways that are set up, often like a puzzle, with the path leading you toward its center and then back out of the circle. You set an intention for walking into the center, and you set an intention for walking out from the center.
Many people get scared away by the idea of meditating. They have trouble releasing their own thoughts to let other thoughts of inspiration in. They think they cannot do it. But everyone can meditate. It takes some practice to meditate for longer periods of time. But the trick is to recognize when your own thought have crept back into the stillness and to send them away. I often say to myself while meditating, “Oops! Here is my brain working. Let go of that thought.” And then I come back to a state of openness.
Why do we clear our thoughts during meditation? So we can hear God, the Angels, or our spirit guides speak with us. There is a difference between praying and meditating. In prayer, we do all the talking and asking. In meditation, we listen to the word of God or our guides and Angels who are helping us while we are on Earth.
I have been asked before if there are other “entities” who do not have our best intentions at heart who might speak with us and maybe lead us astray. I do believe that can happen, but it has never happened to me or anyone I know personally. However, I can say that I think there are people who have committed heinous crimes who will say that God told them to do it. There are people who hate others based on their religious faith, who say God says they are of the wrong faith. We can probably think of our own examples of people who use God as their excuse for poor behavior. But these people are not hearing the words of God. They have not meditated on this. These are their own sick thoughts. They are not discerning between right and wrong. Good and bad.
If the words we hear are words of peace and love, if these words make us feel good in our hearts, then we know we have connected to that Higher energy of the Angels, guides, and God. Prior to any meditation, we typically set our boundaries for who is allowed to come to us. (We actually have control over this. The spirit world understands that they can only come into our lives if we ask for them.) We can ask for only those entities who are helping us on our spiritual growth to come to us, or those who are helping us evolve into our Highest self.
I hope you can join me on a walking meditation Circle in May. I haven’t firmed up the plans, but I am looking at the first Wednesday evening of May.