Movement

Although most people think of yoga when they hear movement meditation, this practice may include walking through the woods, gardening, qigong, and other gentle forms of motion. It’s an active form of meditation where the movement guides you. Movement meditation can be found to have been practised within the ancient spiritual traditions of Mesoamerica, in the form of Magical Passes (Toltec in their roots, causing a similar increase in energetic awareness and sensitivity as Qigong). The Sufi Whirling Dervishes of Turkey are practising a form of moving meditation, said to lead to a trance like spiritual state. Movement meditation is good for people who find peace in action. Some people find moving meditation relaxes them because it allows their mind to wander. Others say the mind rests as it is at one with the movement. With the walking meditation practise of Thich Nhat Hahn it is thought that the mind is perfectly aware of the movement, focussed on the body, not passing thoughts, and so the sense of perception is awakened by the movement. In this way engaging the body in a movement can bring a person to a place of emptiness and space within their minds whilst increasing their connection to self.