Guided walking meditation to notice the beauty around us – even in the city

This guided walking meditation from Kazumi Igus provides an opportunity to slow down and notice the wonders of the natural world in our urban environments.

City life often seems hectic, noisy, and isolated from natural beauty. It’s not often that we slow down and absorb everything there is to experience. But even in urban areas, if you pay attention, you can hear birds calling, notice your favorite color in shop windows, and look up at the vast sky above.

In this guided meditation, we slow our progress and enjoy the beauty of our surroundings, no matter where we find ourselves.

Guided walking meditation to notice the beauty around us – even in the city

Read and practice the guided meditation text below, pausing after each paragraph. Or listen to audio exercises.

1. Let’s start by taking three deep breaths.
2. As we get started, I want to bring your attention to how you move If you are walking around town or trying to get from one place to another. How fast are you moving? How are you walking?? What is your pace? Do you have a destination and time frame? Or do you have some space? Wherever you are, slow down a little. If you can walk truly Slow and won’t obstruct traffic, you’re welcome. If you are not walking and are in a wheelchair, feel free to slow down. If you really want to be somewhere, try to relax in that space, whatever it is. Slow and steady, but maybe not too slow depending on where you are.
3. Draw your attention to how You walk – your balance. Are you making a move? Start by noticing small changes in the muscles involved. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s okay. You are just noticing where you are in this space now.
4. Then, acknowledge that our minds are racing sometimes And we have Lots of things happening In our life, just take a deep breath and bring your attention back to each step. Begin to settle into a rhythm. Notice each muscle involved in creating this movement to propel you forward and shift your weight. Maybe if you’re in a wheelchair, you use your arms. How are hands involved? Are you carrying anything? Maybe a backpack, bag, or someone’s hand. Focus on being truly present in your physical space, your physical body. Take a deep breath. As we move through our urban areas environmentWe begin to notice other things outside ourselves.
5. The first thing I want you to pay attention to is the smell around you. Depending on where you are, this can be pleasant or unpleasant. Breathing, can you recognize a specific smell? Maybe you get too many scents at once. You may notice the change in smells as you pass through different areas. As you experience these scents, notice what you think about. Are you creating a story? Do you find yourself wanting to be near the good smell or perhaps turning away trying to avoid the bad smell? If that’s the case, that’s okay. It’s all normal. Simply experience the smell and describe it as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. See if you can identify pizza, feces, grass, or something else.
6. Then take a deep breath and turn your attention to the sights. What can you see? Start by focusing on the color that brings you happiness. If it’s a bright color, you might notice it on candy or potato chip wrappers, perhaps in advertisements, signs, or storefront windows with a lot of flyers. If it’s something more earthy, like green or brown, you may start to notice it in nature – trees and plants. Simply choose your color and start noticing it on your journey. Even if the color is on something man-made like clothing, hats, backpacks, signs, things like that, that’s part of the urban environment. If it is about flowers, trees and plants, we only notice the natural parts of the urban environment. Both are necessary.
7. We take another deep breath and turn to looking at nature. Starting with animals. So, let’s not focus on people and their pets. Let’s look for animals that exist in this environment without being owned by humans. Depending on where you are in the world, you may notice lizards, ownerless cats, squirrels, or insects.
8. I would like to draw your attention to birds. Birds are what we call them Types of indicators. They tell you if your environment is healthy. So look up. Look around. He listens. You may even need to stop for a moment. If you can hear the birds, Start listening For differences in their calls, and perhaps even different species. If you have mockingbirds, sometimes it’s the same bird that makes a bunch of different calls. Really stop listening to it as if they are telling you something. If the sound of traffic mutes some calls, that’s okay. The urban environment is complex. It has man-made things and natural things. If you can see the birds, note their behaviors, colors, and any other details you can think of. And notice your thoughts while seeing or hearing birds. You may be able to see or hear seagulls if you are near the coast, rock pigeons, doves, finches, finches or chickadees. See if you can identify any of these types by location or by calling. Take a deep breath, and notice where the birds are. Maybe in plants, trees, shrubs, or on the grass.
9. Those of us who live in urban environments often suffer from plant blindness And don’t notice the plants. Take a moment to observe the leaves and if you can see any patterns in how these plants grow. Are there any flowers? Maybe you can recognize a specific type. Can you name it? Take a deep breath. The experience of being around plants and animals in nature.
10. As you keep moving, keep observing Your colour, new plants, new animals. Notice what you’re thinking And if you’re telling yourself a story or if you’re asking a lot of questions. If you are, take a deep breath and then focus again on the details of the experience, such as the shape of the leaves and the color of the feathers. As humans, we cannot survive without natural parts of the environment. So it is very important for us to be aware of how our movement through the world affects the nature around us and how the nature around us can affect our experience. Take another deep breath. If there’s a big tree or a squirrel standing there looking at you, or an interesting plant, stop for a moment.
11. Be grateful to be a part of this urban environment. Express some Gratitude You can even try it today. Take a deep breath. Find your walking rhythm. Slow but steady, or whatever works for you. Continue to notice color, plants and animals. And continue to take deep breaths.