Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - A Guided Meditation For A Brisk Outdoor Walk | Bonus Meditation with Diana Winston

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

Get your blood moving, mindfully! You can cultivate relaxation, even when you’re walking at a faster clip.About Diana Winston:Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA���s Mindful Awareness Research Center and the author of several books including Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Brisk Mindful Walking.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As I think you know, I'm always looking for ways to be just a little bit happier. One of the podcasts I admire in this vein is called The Science of Happiness. It's hosted by my friend and the award-winning psychologist at UC Berkeley, Dacher Keltner. On each episode of The Science of Happiness, guests try a science-backed practice for living a happier life, and we hear from experts about why those practices work. For instance, making it a point to notice funny moments can reduce stress and anxiety, or writing about beauty even briefly makes you appreciate it more in daily life. They're short personal episodes with beautiful storytelling, great for when you've got 20

minutes and you want to relax and learn more about how to do life better. Find the science of happiness wherever you listen to your podcasts. Have you ever felt like escaping to your own desert island? Well, that's exactly what Jane, Phil, and their three kids did when they traded their English home for a tropical island they bought online. But paradise has its secrets and family life is about to take a terrifying turn.

You don't fire at people in that area without some kind of consequence. And he says, yes ma'am, he's dead. There's pure cold-blooded terror running through me. From Wondery, I'm Alice Levine and this is The Price of Paradise, the real-life story of an island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption and murder. Search and follow The Price of Paradise now to listen to the full trailer. This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Happy Friday everybody.

Time for a bonus meditation. The classic image of a meditator is somebody sitting down, maybe in lotus position, maybe in a chair. But you don't actually have to be sitting still in order to meditate. You can be meditating while moving. And our teacher du jour, Diana Winston, is going to talk you through staying mindful while out on a brisk walk. A little bit more about Diana, she's the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, and she's the author of several books, including Fully Present.

Here we go now with Diana Winston. Hi, this is Diana, and here's a meditation for when you're taking a walk. People often think you have to do mindful walking at a slow pace, but that's not true at all. We can be aware at any pace. We might pay attention to different things when we're walking quickly than when we're doing it slowly, but it's still a wonderful way to meditate.

When we're walking at a quick pace, there are lots of things to pay attention to, and it's another excellent time to practice being aware. So let's do this together now. Let's go for a walk. As we start our walk, there's no need to have any particular agenda. Oftentimes when I walk around my neighborhood,

my mind starts out lost in thinking. Maybe I'm worrying about the day or something that's coming up, and I just let myself think it's okay. So give yourself a little bit of time noticing the sensations in our feet and legs. Since we're at a brisk pace, it's likely you're not noticing in a very detailed way, but you can feel your feet hitting the ground, left, right, left, right, or stepping, stepping. When I'm walking quickly, I mostly notice the touch of the bottom of my feet on the ground. If you want to use a mental label, I mostly notice the touch of the bottom of my feet on the ground.

If you want to use a mental label, you could say left, right, or stepping, stepping. Just say it very softly in your mind if it helps you stay connected to the steps. So try this for a while, feeling your feet hit the ground, maybe noticing sensations in your calves, ankles and knees. And then if and when your attention wanders, see if you can bring it back to the sensations in your feet and legs. Now let's shift our focus. You've been doing a very focused walking practice where your attention is focused just in your feet. But now can you notice your body moving through space? You might generally feel the forward motion of your body or the air rushing past you. So you've shifted your attention from focus sensations to the whole body moving.

Let's try being aware of that. We'll take some time to practice this now. Just see if you can relax and be here, present in the midst of life. This is natural awareness. So just resting and being. At some point, it's time to end the meditation and stop walking. Notice your mind as you bring the practice to an end. How do you feel? How does your body feel? Thank you for your practice. See you next time. Thank you, Diana. You can find more meditations like this one

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