Waking meditation while focusing on breath?

[dpcalder]

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground. But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead? I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

[Sam Vara]

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground. But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead? I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

Certainly it is. I've been on retreats where the emphasis is on staying with aspects of the breath at all times, and it worked well when walking to and fro on the path. And don't think that walking meditation needs to be done barefoot. It's nice for feeling the contact, of course, but I've done it in hiking boots!

[DooDoot]

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground.

Hi. There is no evidence the Buddha ever taught the above.

But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead?

Since the Buddha gave no explicit instruction on walking meditation (apart from to walk back & forth), it is assumed the Buddha taught to practice Anapanasati when doing walking meditation.

I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

I always practised Anapanasati when doing walking meditation. The Buddha taught the samadhi from doing walking meditation is of good quality. The Buddha also taught walking meditation provides endurance when walking long distances. Therefore, obviously the Buddha was not referring to focusing on the foot sensations because the very slow Burmese style walking meditation obviously cannot help walking long distances and cannot help with developing Anapanasati samadhi.

These are the five rewards for one who practices walking meditation. Which five?

He can endure traveling by foot; he can endure exertion; he becomes free from disease; whatever he has eaten & drunk, chewed & savored, becomes well-digested; the concentration he wins while doing walking meditation lasts for a long time.

These are the five rewards for one who practices walking meditation.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

[The2nd]

MN107 - "When, brahmin, the bhikkhu is moderate in eating, then the Tathāgata disciplines him further: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be devoted to wakefulness. During the day, while walking back and forth and sitting, purify your mind of obstructive states. In the first watch of the night, while walking back and forth and sitting, purify your mind of obstructive states. In the middle watch of the night you should lie down on the right side in the lion’s pose with one foot overlapping the other, mindful and fully aware, after noting in your mind the time for rising. After rising, in the third watch of the night, while walking back and forth and sitting, purify your mind of obstructive states."

[befriend]

Mindfulness of the four postures walking meditation is taught simply with the refrain "I am walking" in the suttas. just having the thought I am walking brings ones attention into the whole body, awareness is immersed in the body. Bhikkhu Analayo used these refrains and used the felt sense of the body or simply feeling the body.

[Srilankaputra]

Even if only just two Dhammas can be understood practically, there is no end to the techniques you can come up with.
Collected-Ness and distracted-ness of mind.

[chownah]

Do it either way I guess....don't know for sure.....

I do a kind of moving meditation which is not found in buddhist texts which is similar to walking meditation and sometimes I focus on the breath and sometimes I focus on some other bodily fabrication. My opinion is that the important thing is to develop the maximum amount of absorbtion to whatever bodily fabrication you are focusing on.....but this is just my opinion based only on my own experience. I think you could treat walking meditation just like satipatthana incorporating breath, body, feelings, mind, mental attitudes......
chownah

[justindesilva]

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground. But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead? I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

First of all waking meditation to be corrected as walking meditation.
Next the purpose of walking mediitation is to improve on phassa and vedana and to concentrate on vacisankara further. It is a form of vidarshana.
The purpose of breathing meditation is samatha or cociliation on breath is to move on to jhana. Further with movement of walking it is difficult to still breathing.

[frank k]

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground. But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead? I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

These are all the sutta references I could find on walking meditation.
https://lucid24.org/sted/8aam/8samadhi/ ... index.html

conclusion:
you're going to make your life a lot easier and follow the suttas, especially AN 4.11 and 4.12, where basically you work on jhana and sati all the time, in all postures. There's no reason to have to have a special set of different meditation for walking meditation and sitting. I don't know why things evolved that way to what it is today.

Now if you're following a teacher, and they give you specific instructions just for walking, then you should follow your teachers instructions within reason, but ask them why, and if in doubt, trust the suttas.

[dpcalder]

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground. But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead? I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

These are all the sutta references I could find on walking meditation.
https://lucid24.org/sted/8aam/8samadhi/ ... index.html

conclusion:
you're going to make your life a lot easier and follow the suttas, especially AN 4.11 and 4.12, where basically you work on jhana and sati all the time, in all postures. There's no reason to have to have a special set of different meditation for walking meditation and sitting. I don't know why things evolved that way to what it is today.

Now if you're following a teacher, and they give you specific instructions just for walking, then you should follow your teachers instructions within reason, but ask them why, and if in doubt, trust the suttas.

Interesting. I'm checking out that resource and those suttas right now

So basically while walking should I focus on my breath as in anapanasati or just the broader idea that "I am walking"?

[dpcalder]

Mindfulness of the four postures walking meditation is taught simply with the refrain "I am walking" in the suttas. just having the thought I am walking brings ones attention into the whole body, awareness is immersed in the body. Bhikkhu Analayo used these refrains and used the felt sense of the body or simply feeling the body.

Can you provide resources for what you're saying here?

[pegembara]

These are the five rewards for one who practices walking meditation. Which five?

He can endure traveling by foot; he can endure exertion; he becomes free from disease; whatever he has eaten & drunk, chewed & savored, becomes well-digested; the concentration he wins while doing walking meditation lasts for a long time.

These are the five rewards for one who practices walking meditation.

Focusing on the breath or walking are both mindfulness immersed in the body and leads to the mind settling down(samadhi).
Like certain yoga practices or tai-chi. Or jogging, dancing, body whirling( Sufi dervishes).

"Monks, for one in whom mindfulness immersed in the body is cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, & well-undertaken, ten benefits can be expected. Which ten?

[10] "Through the ending of the mental effluents, he remains in the effluent-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having known and made them manifest for himself right in the here & now.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html

[chownah]

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground. But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead? I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

These are all the sutta references I could find on walking meditation.
https://lucid24.org/sted/8aam/8samadhi/ ... index.html

conclusion:
you're going to make your life a lot easier and follow the suttas, especially AN 4.11 and 4.12, where basically you work on jhana and sati all the time, in all postures. There's no reason to have to have a special set of different meditation for walking meditation and sitting. I don't know why things evolved that way to what it is today.

Now if you're following a teacher, and they give you specific instructions just for walking, then you should follow your teachers instructions within reason, but ask them why, and if in doubt, trust the suttas.

Interesting. I'm checking out that resource and those suttas right now

So basically while walking should I focus on my breath as in anapanasati or just the broader idea that "I am walking"?

Perhaps you can find some useful information from DN 22 Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference. Especially Section 1 on Breathing, Section 2 on Body Movement and Posture, and Section 3 on Clear Comprehension.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... tml#fnt-47
chownah

[frank k]

In the article I linked, it lists all the suttas on walking meditation that I know of. AN 4.11, AN 4.12 especially, are important. Note that in AN 4.12 ekodibhava, samadhi, passadhi (pacification awakening factor) is code words for the 4 jhanas, in all 4 passage. Also, if you study the two agama parallels to the satipatthana sutta, unlike the Theravada version which kind of devolved into a pure vipassana practice, the agama versions have the 4 jhanas tightly integrated within satipatthana. And that can of course be done in all 4 postures.

It is my understanding that those who do walking meditation normally focus on the sensation of their feet touching the ground. But is it okay to focus on the breath while walking instead? I ask because I know walking meditation is normally done bare foot but the path I use near my house is very rough

These are all the sutta references I could find on walking meditation.
https://lucid24.org/sted/8aam/8samadhi/ ... index.html

conclusion:
you're going to make your life a lot easier and follow the suttas, especially AN 4.11 and 4.12, where basically you work on jhana and sati all the time, in all postures. There's no reason to have to have a special set of different meditation for walking meditation and sitting. I don't know why things evolved that way to what it is today.

Now if you're following a teacher, and they give you specific instructions just for walking, then you should follow your teachers instructions within reason, but ask them why, and if in doubt, trust the suttas.

Interesting. I'm checking out that resource and those suttas right now

So basically while walking should I focus on my breath as in anapanasati or just the broader idea that "I am walking"?

[pitithefool]