A Walking Meditation for Overcoming Fear

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This is an extremely easy practice to help you get in touch with your intuition and learn how fear manifests in your body. Being mindful of your body's reaction to fear is an important first step in overcoming it. When you are experiencing intense fear it can be very difficult to start practising mindfulness. This walking meditation will help train your mind and body to relax when it is feeling fearful and then you will have the a tool to help diffuse fear when it gets intense.

  1. This walking meditation is ideally practiced outside in a place where there are no curbs or things to bump into (I don't recommend a sidewalk). I practice this meditation on a beach, bike path, field or park. You could try practicing inside if you have a long hallway or area with a long stretch of walking distance. 
  2. Begin my becoming aware of your breath and feeling your feet grounded. Look ahead and find a finish point in the distance (about 10 meters or so) and off to the side. I usually choose a tree or park bench.
  3. Close your eyes and start walking in the direction of our finish point (don't aim right for it - keep it off to the side). Keep your eyes closed until you think you have reached your finish point. Keeping your eyes closed it harder then it seems!
  4. Stay completely aware of what emotions come up. Try not to open your eyes impulsively. If you start feeling agitated keep your eyes closed and notice how your breath and body change when we are drawn outside the present moment. (When tough emotions come up we have a tendency to try to jump out of them. When you do this you lose the wisdom that comes with being aware and present.)
  5. Keeping your eyes closed, steady your breath and release tension in your body and observe what happens to the fear/agitation. 
  6. Make a conscious decision to either open your eyes or keep walking towards your finish point.
  7. When you feel like you have reached your finish point open your eyes.
  8. Make a game of it to see if you can keep your eyes closed and how close to your finish point your intuition guides you.

This practice reminds me a bit of the game we played as a kid where you had to fall back into someone's arms and trust they will catch you. Its the same idea but has no risk of being dropped - and you will have a little more time to get in touch with your intuition and feelings.

For more ideas on how to diffuse fear read my blog post 10 Ways to Overcome Fear

Can you think of other ways this practice of closing your eyes may work? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear your ideas.

Namaste, Katlin