I went for a walk yesterday late afternoon with the slightly cooler temperatures urging me on. It was still too hot in the sun - even at 4pm, I thought sadly.
But I was listening to Joseph Goldstein teach mindfulness meditation in 5 minutes bites on 10% Happier thinking, “This probably won’t work too well since I’m walking.” (I don’t usually listen to my iPhone but the recent heat had seriously dented my enjoyment of walking.) So I modified the instructions on sitting practice - paying attention to the breath - by bringing awareness to my feet and legs as the instructions for walking meditation suggest. In the five lessons I heard during my walk, Joseph took us through mindfulness of breathing, mental noting - noting “in - out” with breath at the nostrils or “rising - falling” with breath at the chest or belly. I found I was able to bring my awareness to my upper lip and nostrils - even while walking - and there was a tiny bit of joy in that. He also suggested that if a strong sensation, feeling, or thought arose to leave the breath momentarily to bring the awareness to that sensation, feeling, or thought, investigating this strong experience. When it passed, return the awareness to the breath.
As I walked along, I found myself disliking the heat of the sun when there was no shade. I was caught in the aversion to the heat and suffered. But then I walked into the shade of a large maple - blessedly dark shade - and felt a wonderful coolness. Hmmm, I thought. Back out into the sun for a bit, then back into the shade, and suddenly, I smelled the most wonderful fragrance. It was just a few seconds of a light sweet fragrance - from the garden on the farm nearby or wild flowers, I didn’t know. I realized the cool shade and the light fragrance were regular occurrences on my walks but had been getting overshadowed by my dislike of the heat. When mindfulness inserted these experiences into my awareness - the fragrance, the cool shade, and rhythm of my breath and my feet - they balanced the heat of the sun and the aversion I felt toward that heat. Suddenly, I was aware that mindfulness had totally transformed my walk. There was moment by moment awareness of pleasant experiences, unpleasant experiences, and neutral experiences. Not because the walk had changed but because I had changed the way I was paying attention to it.
Yay, Joseph, I thought. Mindfulness rocks!