Some Zen teachers think that it is impossible to meditate while walking as it keeps the mind moving rather than still. These are the folks that go against any kind of seasoning in food for the same reason. I always thought that was a very restrictive way to box in and needlessly constrain what meditation can be. If it works for you, great but don't sell it as the only path. That is the thing with a lot of folks, to try and overly define 'the only way', the smarter ones know there is a thousand paths to the top of the mountain.
Thích Nhất Hạnh used to swear by walking meditation, others would scoff at that. Each to their own.
'There is a thousand paths to the top of the mountain, the view is the same for all at the peak'
Rumi (the Sufi mystic) apparently walked and turned in circles in order to contemplate. The tradition merges music and movement with philosophy and religious mysticism.
Walking, dancing or manual labor (for example gardening or cleaning) can all be done in a meditative way.
But these are likely different types of meditation that have different effects. Even just a calm, sitting meditations might be vastly different from another, depending on the meditation object.
Of course there are people who lean into specific types over the others as you describe, but I think many of these activities share a common core and experience.
I buy it. I'm not really into meditation, but am deep thinking/reflection.
I found I got by far the most intense deep thinking sessions while mowing the lawn with a push mower. It was a large-ish yard, took around an hour. It's boring, monotonous, requires no thought. Keeps your hands occupied so you won't be tempted to 'check something real quick'. And lastly, loud enough to block any other sounds that could make your mind drift(sirens, birds, dogs barking, etc).
Yes, everything can be mediatative but it's more the matter of how you do it. You can do gardening but still renumerate about past and future. It's all about focusing on what you're doing and nothing else, centralising all 6 senses to one point of fucus.
There’s a lot of research on restorative environments (usually nature/outside)being good for focus. I definitely try to spend as much time outside as I can, but for some reason the wall works better for that 5-10 minutes. Being outside is much more enjoyable though haha
Interesting. I hadn't heard of that directly, but I've never found it to be true. I've found momentum and continuation to be more useful than rest or relaxation when it comes to tackling big things.
"a walk with just your thoughts" can lead you to many places include good and bad places. A mediative walk is to focus on nothing else but your body including your breath, your arms, your steps, the sensation of skins, the smell you breath in and out, the sound you hear. You don't need to focus on all of these at once but you can just pick one and focus on it for a period ideally as long as possible, but you can switch between them at the start. All of these is very difficult but not impossible if you do in a crowded city when everything changes very fast and you're exposed to many things that you tend to like or dislike. Of course, if you're a zen master, you can meditate everywhere but personally I feel I'm very far from it. The fact that I struggle to focus even in quiet places tells a lot about how much I need to practice.
Some Zen teachers think that it is impossible to meditate while walking as it keeps the mind moving rather than still. These are the folks that go against any kind of seasoning in food for the same reason. I always thought that was a very restrictive way to box in and needlessly constrain what meditation can be. If it works for you, great but don't sell it as the only path. That is the thing with a lot of folks, to try and overly define 'the only way', the smarter ones know there is a thousand paths to the top of the mountain.
Thích Nhất Hạnh used to swear by walking meditation, others would scoff at that. Each to their own.
'There is a thousand paths to the top of the mountain, the view is the same for all at the peak'