Mindful Walking
Peace is every step.
While we walk we often think of our to-do list, plan for future actions, or perseverate on things we fear or dislike. But if, while walking, we pay attention to the act of walking and open ourselves to the sensory experience of walking, it becomes a rich and wonderful activity.
I am grateful that I can walk, especially outdoors, breathing the air, seeing what there is to see, whether forest, town or city. I am grateful that I can walk safely, with little or no fear. Not everyone has this precious gift.
For many years, like many workers, I found my journey each day to work to be nothing but a chore associated with work - the first chore of the day. But when I began to be mindful of the details of life - including walking - my commute became a wonderful part of my workday.
I walked through my neighborhood on my way to public transportation. As I walked, I paid attention to the sensations of my feet as they made contact with each step and my breathing as I walked, instead of perseverating on problems or daydreams. The sidewalks, the trees, hedges, stone walls, and the birds, animals and other humans I met on the way became vivid and interesting. I noticed the often subtle differences in the trees and plants I encountered, and acknowledged my fellow beings as I passed them. I heard the sounds of the waking city all around me. Practicing these awarenesses brought me a measure of peace.
Public transportation brought me to a train station a little more than a mile from my workplace. For much of the time, that last mile was an adventure that included wildlife encounters, changeable weather under vast skies, and the transformation of the surrounding land from commercial to wild, and from wild back to commercial.
Taking in the world while walking is a marvelous mindfulness exercise. If we pay attention, the wonders of this life reveal themselves.
Walking Meditation
One can take mindful walking one step further through walking meditation. Notable Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh tells us:
Wherever we walk, we can practice meditation. This means that we know that we are walking. We walk just for walking. We walk with freedom and solidity, no longer in a hurry. We are not lost in our thinking - about what has just happened or what will happen later, or tomorrow. We are fully present with each step in the here and now.
Walking meditation heightens our awareness of our bodies and our surroundings, sparking new interest in things we may have thought insignificant. Walking mindfully enhances the walking experience and as a side benefit can help keep one from stumbling. Many bones are broken by falls that happened while we were, for example, watching our phone rather than our step.
Walking for Health
According to the American Psychological Association, mindful walking is good for you:
[Mindful walking] has several benefits to both our physical and mental health. It can improve our mood, reduce the physical symptoms of stress, improve our immune system, our heart health, and reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Dartmouth Health lists these benefits:
Walking helps your mood
Walking lowers your cancer risk
Walking combats muscle loss
Walking reduces arthritis symptoms
Walking regulates your blood sugar
These mental and physical benefits are good reason to incorporate walking into our daily routines. According to Medium and other sources, in addition to avoiding parking lot car damage, just parking a little further from our destination can be beneficial to our health.
According to Verywell Health:
In general, adults under age 60 should aim for 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day, and those older than age 60 should aim for 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day.
Walking to Advocate for Peace
In these times many of us are called to show up in the cause of peace. Walking mindfully, aware of our feelings and surroundings, and consciously maintaining a peaceful attitude, influencing the universe toward peace becomes possible.
In the fifteen-week Walk For Peace from Texas to Washington D.C., Buddhist monks promoted compassion, mindfulness, and unity. Compassion, mindfulness, and unity are building blocks of peace.
… their simple message has resonated across the U.S. as a welcome respite from conflict and political division. Thousands gathered along Southern roadsides — often in unusually chilly weather — to watch the monks’ quiet procession that began in late October (2025).
The Walk concluded in February, 2026, attracting the attention of millions of people. It was a gesture with amazing results, raising awareness by embodying peace with the simple act of walking mindfully.
Walking to a No Kings demonstration taking place on March 28th, 2026, in a city near you, presents a wonderful opportunity to model compassion, mindfulness and unity instead of anger and blame. To be peace is to foster peace in others.
May you experience peace with every step.