Why I Walk
Recently a friend asked me why I walk with heaven under my feet, and why and how this became my main spiritual practice?
As I reflect on this inquiry, I notice various reasons for walking with heaven under my feet.
It is fascinating for me to see how these different reasons revealed themselves, one by one, by engaging with this walking practice.
Inner knowing
In spring 2016, my meditation teacher introduced me to the practice of feeling heaven under my feet, and I immediately felt a deep inner knowing that this practice was for me.
At that time I was longing to dedicate my life to something that was bigger than my personal life. When my teacher described the practice it felt as if my soul lit up! And, in response to the stirrings of my soul, I said “Yes!” in a way I had not experienced before.
There was no doubt in me that I would follow the path of walking.
This continues to be my strongest reason to walk.
Love of walking
My inner knowing was also confirmed by the fact that in my life, up to that moment, I had already experienced walking in nature as one of my favorite activities. I did not only go for walks to clear my head, I had also enjoyed many delightful walking holidays with my friends. I had even worked as a tour guide in Sinai, bringing my guests on walking trips into the mountains with the help of local guides.
Clearly the walking practice fitted perfectly into my life and I was looking forward to deepening my experience by locating it more consciously between heaven and earth.
As I engaged more deeply with this practice a number of nourishing aspects of walking in this way also became apparent.
A new sense of aliveness
From the first moment of imagining heaven above, around and underneath me as I took each step, a new sense of aliveness filled me. I was aware of an inner movement of energy coming up from the earth through my legs and into my belly, where it spread and created a warm comfortable feeling.
As my attention was drawn to my inner senses, worries I might have had or repeating thought patterns in my mind vanished, at least as long as I was walking.
Experiencing the world anew
Centered in my inner senses I started to perceive the outer world in a new way. The beauty of nature opened itself to me anew. I delighted in the singing of the birds, felt the wind caress my face, felt drawn to touch trees, smell flowers, discover the details of leaves.
This new and intimate way of being in nature added richness to my life. And, the desire to feel this richness became another reason to walk.
My walking path led me to countless beautiful and sometimes difficult, yet always enriching experiences and situations, people and places. Each of these encounters enabled me to discover and embrace new places inside of myself, making me more whole on the way.
Integrating polarities
Yet the prime gift of the walking practice consists in noticing and then enabling me to integrate polarities. I am delighted to say that I feel a growing capacity to hold the tension of opposing ideas without needing to defend one or the other. I can see more often that aspects of both positions are needed in a situation - instead of two extremes, a continuum of options and possibilities between two poles emerges.
My biggest delight is that I have brought peace to my inner masculine and feminine aspects which used to fight inside of myself all the time. My inner feminine, which was tired of constantly being directed by my inner masculine, now enjoys the clarity and strength of the masculine and has learnt to clearly and confidently speak up, most notably for phases of rest, relaxation and receiving.
Embodying peace
Having experienced all that I describe here, I like to believe that the way of walking that I practice is one way of bringing peace to the Earth. First we bring peace to ourselves, which then in turn can lead to peace around us and in ever growing circles.
Walking with heaven under our feet is an embodied way of bringing two important parts of life together. Spirit (heaven) is brought into matter (earth) with every step.
The practice of walking enables us to allow both spirit and matter in equal measure into our lives, so that we can enjoy and serve life on earth in cooperation with visible as well as subtle and invisible dimensions.
Walking between heaven and earth has brought peace to my life.
It can bring peace to your life too.
Would you like to walk with me?
