It is not rare that people consider meditation as something esoteric or far from ordinary life. I did, before. But now I like to say it is not so distant as people may think. There are many similarities between meditation and daily activities.

During my leisure time, I go jogging very often. I quite enjoy the whole process of running. Actually, it reminds me of the experience of walking meditation. To me, I can apply the knowledge of meditation to jog or vice versa.

As an ordinary man, I simply wear my running shoes and run. I never learned skills. But I have got a tip to run longer and farther. It is simple. Keep a steady pace. To achieve that, I focus on my respiration and adjust my pace accordingly. It is totally identical to the method of walking meditation.

In walking meditation, we walk at the slowest pace and in the slightest movement. Hence, we need to breathe as slow and light as we can. Meanwhile, we move our feet exactly adhering to the respiration. Let our breath and pace cohere. So that we can walk stably and steadily and practice longer.

Like many other tasks in this world, there are many challenges in these two exercises. Every time I run over 4 km, I can feel my body stiff and fatigued. Sometimes I even feel weak and powerless. My body resists moving any longer.

I also face such a predicament in walking meditation. After practicing for a period of time, my legs would feel sore and tired. The reason lies in that we walk extremely slowly. We move our legs only and keep other body parts motionless. In this case, we cannot walk as we normally do. We have to control our muscles carefully and precisely. We need to resort to many muscles to support the weight and movement of our body. However, not all of them are in good condition. That is why people easily get staggering in the beginning and get tired in the middle of practice.

Even though discomfort continues, I encourage myself to hold on in such a situation. No matter jogging or walking, I know this is a necessary stage to go through. I do not want to give up no matter how tired I am. On this ground, I keep running or walking one step by one step. I keep focusing on my breathing. Then there are rewards for the hardship, my body becomes smooth and my legs become light gradually. There is a magnificent unity between breath and pace. My body operates like a symphony, so smooth and elegant. It is in such a situation that my thoughts precipitate. Nothing interrupts, like the clear blue sky with no clouds. Only lightness and tranquility I feel. Sometimes, there is a time I even feel I can keep running or walking forever, like the perpetual motion toy.

However, I have to stop. My legs feel exhausted and numb eventually. Although I do not want to, my legs need to stop.

As I described above, jog and walking meditation share very similar principles and patterns. So if you are an exercise fan, you may try this unique exercise: walking meditation. Here are some guidelines.

Not like jogging, we do not need a track to do walking meditation. A space like one single bed size is enough. What you need to do is walk. But try to walk as slow as you can. You have to move your legs very slowly and very slightly. Except for your legs, other parts of your body should keep motionless. That does not mean your whole body stays still. At least one part of your leg should move at any moment. At the same time, focus on your respiration and legs. Make them work coherently and harmoniously. After a while, you can experience a balance between your body parts and tranquility in your mind.

This exercise is not complicated. All you need is patience and persistence. Just like you go jogging or swimming, you can find peacefulness in such kinds of simple and repetitive exercises. Oh, one more reminder, do not listen to music while you walk. Listen to your body and your mind. Enjoy your practice!!

(Ven. Juetao, a Buddhist monk. Obtained Ph.D. from HKU. His research interest is Buddhist psychology, in specific, the cognitive processes of ordinary people in daily life. He is now engaged in the teaching of Buddhism and meditation in Hong Kong.)

We invite you to join the conversation by submitting columns to our opinion section: [email protected]

Apple Daily reserves the right to refuse, abridge, alter or edit guest opinion columns for accuracy, length, clarity, and style, and the right to withdraw and withhold columns based on the discretion of our editorial page editors.

The opinions of the writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play