How Walking meditation happen

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Walking is a bodily posture, is tied to the body.

When one's attentiveness is fixed on the theme of the body then one is developing mindfulness of the body [kayagatasati] which is a healthy perception to entertain as it is distant from unwholesome themes that give rise to worry, lust, anger & delusion and this distancing results in seclusion & jhana.

Walking is fairly immersive and one should simply feel the thoughts & sensations as one is walking, perceiving beginning & the end as one would in inhaling & exhaling for Anapanasati which is likewise a bodily theme.

Another benefit to walking meditation is that walking stirs up energy, it is difficult to fall asleep whilst walking and it might wake up one beset by sleepiness.

The only thing you change is the posture, you can still relax or contemplate as you would otherwise.

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There are four meditation postures: walking, standing, sitting and lying down. Walking is beneficial:

AN5.29:1.1: “Mendicants, there are five benefits of walking meditation.
AN5.29:1.3: You get fit for traveling, fit for striving in meditation, and healthy. What’s eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted is properly digested. And immersion gained while walking lasts long.

And here are some challenges to overcome while walking:

AN4.11:1.1: “Mendicants, suppose a mendicant has a sensual, malicious, or cruel thought while walking.
AN4.11:1.2: They tolerate it and don’t give it up, get rid of it, eliminate it, and obliterate it.
AN4.11:1.3: Such a mendicant is said to be ‘not keen or prudent, always lazy, and lacking energy’ when walking.

Here are the details of walking:

MN91:9.34: These are the thirty-two marks of a great man possessed by Master Gotama.
MN91:10.1: When he’s walking he takes the first step with the right foot.
MN91:10.2: He doesn’t lift his foot too far or place it too near.
MN91:10.3: He doesn’t walk too slow or too fast.
MN91:10.4: He walks without knocking his knees or ankles together.
MN91:10.5: When he’s walking he keeps his thighs neither too straight nor too bent, neither too tight nor too loose.
MN91:10.6: When he walks, only the lower half of his body moves, and he walks effortlessly.
MN91:10.7: When he turns to look he does so with the whole body.
MN91:10.8: He doesn’t look directly up or down.
MN91:10.9: He doesn’t look all around while walking, but focuses a plough’s length in front. Beyond that he has unhindered knowledge and vision.

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