by Alan Chudnow, LMFT
When life gets busy or stressful, it’s easy to feel like your mind is everywhere except where you actually are. Maybe you’ve noticed this too—your feet are moving, but your thoughts are spinning somewhere else entirely. For many of my clients (and for myself, honestly), one of the simplest and most effective ways to find some calm is something deceptively ordinary: walking.
Walking meditation is a mindfulness practice that involves bringing your full attention to the experience of walking—one step at a time. It doesn’t require any special posture, training, or even a quiet forest trail (though those are lovely when available). You can practice it in your neighborhood, at the park, or even indoors in a hallway. The key is paying attention—on purpose, and with care.
What Makes It Meditation?
When we think of meditation, most people picture someone sitting cross-legged with eyes closed, breathing deeply. But meditation isn’t about stillness so much as it’s about presence. In walking meditation, you focus on the sensation of your feet touching the ground, the rhythm of your breath, the swing of your arms, the feel of the air. When your mind wanders (and it will), you gently bring it back to your steps. Over and over. That gentle returning is the practice.
Personally, I started integrating walking meditation into my own routine during a time when sitting still felt almost impossible. I’d walk slowly around my block, no earbuds, just noticing. At first, I felt restless. But after a few days, something shifted. I started to feel more grounded, less reactive. It didn’t solve everything, but it gave me space to think more clearly—and sometimes, to stop thinking altogether.
How It Helps: The Brain Science
From a neurological perspective, walking meditation supports the brain’s ability to regulate mood and improve focus. Regular mindful walking has been shown to increase activity in the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for planning, decision-making, and emotional regulation. One 2016 study found that combining walking with mindfulness improved working memory and executive functioning more than walking or meditation alone.
Even just ten minutes of mindful walking can help reduce rumination, the kind of repetitive thinking that often fuels anxiety and depression. It also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps your body relax after stress. For clients who struggle with sitting meditation—especially those dealing with trauma or restlessness—walking offers a way into mindfulness through movement.
Getting Started
You don’t have to walk a certain distance or speed to begin. Try starting with five to ten minutes. As you walk, notice the sensation of your feet lifting and touching down. Pay attention to your breath. Tune in to your surroundings—the light, the air, the sounds—and how your body feels moving through space. If your thoughts wander, that’s okay. Just gently bring your attention back to your steps.
You can practice walking meditation in silence or paired with a simple phrase or intention, like “Here” on the in-breath and “Now” on the out-breath. You might even find that your regular walk to the mailbox or around the block becomes something more—a moment of clarity, of coming home to yourself.
A Final Thought
In therapy, we talk a lot about creating space—for feeling, for change, for new ways of responding. Walking meditation is one way to practice that in your daily life. It’s simple, but it’s not always easy. Like any mindfulness practice, it takes time to feel natural. But over time, it can become a quiet refuge, a moving anchor in a world that rarely stops.
If you’re curious about bringing more mindfulness into your routine—or if sitting meditation hasn’t worked for you—walking might be a good place to begin. Feel free to reach out if you’d like support in weaving this or other mindful tools into your therapeutic work.
For a deeper exploration of walking meditation, I highly recommend “Walking Meditation: Easy Steps to Mindfulness” by Nguyen Anh-Huong & Thich Nhat Hanh. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases made on Amazon.com.
Kismet: The idea of walking meditation has roots in multiple traditions, but one of the earliest recorded forms comes from the Buddha himself, who recommended it not only for calming the mind, but for aiding digestion after meals. It turns out the ancients were onto something—modern research shows mindful walking after eating can help regulate blood sugar and improve metabolic health too.
- Gallant, S. N. (2016). Mindfulness meditation practice and executive functioning: Breaking down the benefit. Consciousness and Cognition, 40, 116–130
- Zeidan, F., Johnson, S. K., Diamond, B. J., David, Z., & Goolkasian, P. (2010). Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training. Consciousness and Cognition, 19(2), 597–605.