Walking Mindfulness

Welcome back to Cadres Mindfulness series. Today we're going to be doing something a little bit different. We're going to be doing a guided meditation, except it's going to be a little bit more active. Usually I'm having you sit inside somewhere comfortable, but today we're going to be outside, maybe be out in nature, and go for a walk together. So the purpose of this video isn't necessarily to have to do a guided meditation. With me, though, you can do this whenever you want. But the main purpose is, is so I could show you how to do a walking meditation, at least the way I do it.

So for this video, the first step is to go on your favorite walk. For me, there's this beautiful park by my house on the Mississippi river. It's called Boom Island park, and it's one of my favorite places to walk. And today I'm walking with one of my favorite people. Well, maybe not people. This is Belle, and she's going to be our walking companion for the day. Hey, Belle, are you ready to take this walk? Yeah. All right, let's do it. The first place I like to go when going on this walk is this beautiful overlook on the Mississippi river.

Now, this is an inlet that goes around something called Nicolette island. Before I start my walk, I like to center myself. I take in one of my favorite views of this part of the Mississippi. It's super calm. The sun hits the water just perfect. Well, now that you've seen the starting place, let's begin the walking part of the walking meditation. The first thing I want to focus on is how I'm breathing, being mindful to take deep breaths in through my nose and long, deep exhales out my mouth. Let's do one together.

Usually I breathe in for about 4 seconds and exhale for about six. So let's do the first breath. Take a big inhale. Now exhale. I'm going to do my best to keep this breathing pattern going throughout the walk. For me, the walking meditation is all about the senses. What do I see, hear, feel, but also what do I feel on the inside as I'm walking through this place? The first part of my walk is down this beautiful wooded path. And the first thing I notice is the sun hitting the back of my head. It's the beginning of fall.

It's a little bit of a cool day, but the sun is making it feel warm and perfect. Right now, I'm noticing the breeze that feels cooling and a great mix with the sun warming me up and the breeze cooling me down. And as I rounded the corner of the path, I'm going to take my first opportunity to check in with myself. How am I feeling? Well, after a long day of work, I'm feeling relaxed. I'm feeling grateful that I could take this walk because I know it's going to get cold and there's not going to be too many more like this.

Now I'm at one of my favorite spots, or should I say Bella's favorite spot, is a little sandy beach. And across the way is Nicolette island, which is a little island right outside the downtown area of the city. Here's the bridge that goes from Boom Island park to Nicollet island, and it's surrounded again by this inlet that wraps around the island and back to the Mississippi river. And there's Bella grabbing a drink, which she probably shouldn't. So, as you're on your walk, why don't you take a second to notice everything around you?

What do you love about this walk? What are you feeling right now? What do you hear? For me, it's the birds chirping. It's the wind rustling on the leaves. What do you see? All I notice, the ripples in the water as the wind blows the sun's reflection on the water. And maybe you notice something that isn't all that pleasant, like this little dog yapping in the background. Well, this is a good opportunity to notice that and how it makes me feel. But keep taking a deep breath and accepting that's what's going on and that it'll stop like it seems to just have.

So go ahead. Oh, there it is, back again. But now, go ahead and take some time by yourself to notice everything around you and what you feel inside of you. Another favorite part of my walk is crossing this bridge from the park to Nicollet island. And I think Miss Bella enjoys it as well. When I'm on the bridge, I could feel an extra cool breeze, and I love stopping about halfway on the bridge. This is where I get a chance to take a deep breath and look at this beautiful view of the Mississippi river rolling by.

And when I do, I think about the Mississippi river and how much history there is, how it's one of the biggest rivers in the world. And if I hop onto this river and keep going, eventually I'll go through Louisiana and hit the Gulf of Mexico. Right now, I feel a little bit of a sense of wonder at how cool it is to be next to this incredible body of water. And I'm just going to notice that feeling as I continue to breathe go ahead and do the same. And as I get to the end of the bridge, there's an awesome path that continues down to the river and one of my favorite river walks.

But today we're going to do something a little different. We're going to take this hidden path up to Nicollet island. And we're going to do this because it's my favorite neighborhood in all the cities. This is an awesome hidden little neighborhood that not a lot of people know about. But it has these beautiful old houses. It's secluded and surrounded by the river. As I walk up this path, I love how the leaves are changing and it makes me excited because fall is my favorite season and I love watching the leaves change.

So right now I'm just going to notice that excitement and think about what I have to look forward to and appreciate that. I'm having this good feeling right now, although I'm a little out of breath after these stairs. One of my favorite parts of this island are the paths that cuts through it. Many different parts of this small island. It's like they're different ecosystems. Here you have a prairie and later it's like you're walking through the woods. So let's explore and see what the island has to offer.

Oh, wow. How cool is this? As I'm walking through the island, I spotted a turkey. You never know what you're going to run into. And it looks like Bella is super interested and this turkey is not. Now let me take a second and show you one of my favorite hidden gems. And that's the view. Looking down this cobblestone street up the hill, you can see the leaves are changing. And when it's peak it is a gorgeous shot. And at the very end you could see the historic Guthrie Theater and the gold meadow flower building.

Now, one of the most important parts of our walk is checking in on the inside, not just what we feel on the outside. Take a second to notice your thoughts. What comes to mind? Often when we go for a walk, our mind races. It's not always a bad thing. A lot of times I get my best ideas when I'm walking. But one thing I wanted to check in on is an emotion that's coming up and that's I've been a little bit annoyed. So why is that? Well, if you could hear in the background, there's a high school, a really cool old historic high school.

And it sounds like they're having some kind of game. And so there's the announcer. It's kind of bothering me a little because I want this walk to be calm and peaceful, which it is. And I want to share this with you. There's all this noise in the background, so I'm going to check in with that. Just like the dog, I'm going to take a deep breath in, notice the beauty around me. Notice the leaves falling off the trees. Just accept it and know that it's okay. The video doesn't necessarily have to be perfect, but it's important because you never know what thoughts or feelings are going to come up.

Now I'm really excited because this is my favorite part of the island. There's this gorgeous path that cuts through the center. And when I bring my friends here, I tell them I call it Narnia because there is something enchanted about this walk. I love these antique lamp posts. It makes you feel like you're in a different time, and it really lends to the mystique of this path. This is another one of my favorite parts of this path. I look over and I see this house, and it is so cool. I love the houses on this island.

As I walk by, I imagine, what would it be like to live on this awesome island, and especially a house right on this really cool path. Well, now we're crossing my favorite cobblestone street I showed you before, and we're going to hit the second part of the path. Often on these walks, I love taking pictures, especially if I see something beautiful. So as I walk down this path, let me take a second to show you some of the pictures I took on the island of my favorite houses. Each of the houses on this island is extremely unique.

I love it because it reminds me of one of my favorite cities. And that's New Orleans, with all the beautiful old historic homes that are painted beautiful colors. As we're coming to the end of walking down my favorite Narnia path, we're coming to a clearing. And this has some really fond memories for me. Back around a few years ago, when I'd walked down this path, especially at dusk or at night, I would always see a fox. I'm pretty sure it was the same fox, and it was almost like clockwork. I don't know.

There was something so cool about seeing that type of nature so close to the city. And it was cool to see how different it was at the end of the fall. It was definitely plump and ate really well versus when you'd see it at the beginning of the season after the winter. I haven't seen the fox in a few years and it kind of bums me out. But hopefully this year I'll see it again. So here we are at the end of the path, and there's a really cool view I want to show you. Running through this island is a set of train tracks.

And every once in a while, a train will run by. I love the contrast between the nature of this island and the urban environment with the cool graffiti. Now, as we walk back down the path back to Boom Island Park, I want you to do one more sensory check first. What do you see for me, I notice the leaves, the color changing, the yellows and the reds. What I'm hearing, the birds chirping, hearing bella stomp on the leaves, hearing my feet on the pavement crunching every step I take. And again, noticing what I feel on the inside.

And right now, I feel a sense of peace, calm and serenity. And as I look back across the river, I see the place that we started, that awesome overlook. And soon we're going to make it to the final point of our walk. Before we start heading back, I like to end the walk in Boom Island park with this beautiful view of the Mississippi and the contrast of Minneapolis downtown skyline. Last, my favorite bench, where I like to sit with Bella and watch the water roll by. The people walking by and just sitting there with my thoughts, or lack of thoughts.

Either way, I love it. All right, now we're almost home. We're towards the end of the walk, and there's one last thing I like to do before I finish the walk. And that is say hello to a few of my friends. These are my little chicken buddies. The people at this house have a coop, and you could turn the knob and get some chicken feed. And there's some really cool ones this time. Usually they drive Bella crazy, but she's being surprisingly calm. But I always got to check in with them and see how they're doing.

Now I'm just going to do a quick reflection on the walk itself. It was an absolutely perfect day. Probably the best day all year. And I'm not just saying that the wind blowing, the temperature perfect, the leaves starting to change. But the one thing was trying to film this video. There were a lot of obstacles, whether it be noise and people walking by, getting in the way of the shot, but I still enjoyed the walk either way. So I noticed those annoyances. It was a test. I passed the test. I was able to notice them, accept them, and still be okay.

So as you hear the church bells ringing in the back, that means we're at the top of the hour. My neighborhood has a lot of churches, some ukrainian churches. It's a really unique neighborhood. And every day those bells help me keep track of time and know when my appointment's starting. But anyways, folks, I hope you got something out of this. I hope you learned how you could do your own walking meditation wherever, whenever you want. And honestly, it is so beneficial. Have a great rest of your day.