Meditation

I am generally an anxious person. I worry.

Today, I tried something new while walking Loki. I walked at a very steady pace and concentrated on my breathing. Breathe in through the nose for 4 steps and breathe out from the mouth for 8 steps. As my heart rate increased, it was more and more difficult to keep breathing out for the entire 8 steps. Sometimes I faltered and needed to catch my breath, but I kept trying to maintain the exercise as best as I could it for the entire duration of the 45 minute walk. It's not that easy to maintain.

After about maybe 25 minutes of concentrating on breathing steadily, I noticed that I was walking very steadily and had actually achieved a sense of focus and calm. What surprised me was that it did take a long time to achieve this sense of calm. Twenty-five minutes is a long time! Before, when I have tried to calm myself down with breathing techniques, I would only stick with it for maybe a couple minutes at the most. I don't think there are many people who can sit still and do nothing, but meditate. Walking the dog is an excellent time to meditate and I'll be sure to continue doing so.