Meghan S.We have all had a walk around the block, and many of us have heard about — or even dabbled in — the world of meditation. Both can have great impacts on your physical and mental health, and are a daily habit of many millions of people around the globe. Many people enjoy a session of mindfulness meditation in the morning to help them hone in and focus on what is truly important before a day of toil and challenge. Exercise is a common method to induce endorphins and get yourself prepared for the rest of the day, as well. However, until recently, the two popular activities have not directly intersected to a large degree. Then came along a new TikTok sensation: the silent walk.
While the idea of a silent walk has been around for a long time in one form or another, it has never been at the forefront of public discourse like it is currently. Essentially, a silent walk is often described as a form of moving meditation. Rather than doing what many of us do while on a walk, jog, or bike ride — blasting out tunes, or fully engrossing ourselves in a podcast episode/audiobook — you instead focus on your movement. You don’t listen to anything at all, and instead… just walk.
People Have Been “Silent Walking” For Ages
Silent walking — despite just recently blowing up on TikTok — has been around for a long time. In fact, Zen Buddhist monks pioneered the practice of walking meditation, and still practice it to this day. Often known as “Kinhin,” this form of walking meditation involves walking around a room in a clockwise pattern, while holding a specific position or moving at an exaggeratedly slow pace. Just like with silent walking, Kinhin is performed in order to hone in your focus and awareness while on the move. While silent walking definitely got its stride (get it?) from Kinhin, the former is much less structured and methodical, and is instead more impromptu and easy-to-learn.
Benefits of a Silent Walk
Silent walks are for more than just going viral, they have some pretty great health benefits, as well. Surprisingly, walking might be more beneficial for us on a physical level than a hasty jog or even an arduous run. According to research published in the medical journal “Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine,” moderate exercise can help reduce the risk of heart disease, but there is also evidence that too much strenuous exercise can have a negative effect on cardiovascular health. This is important to think about when you consider that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.
Meditation also has its own unique suite of benefits. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, meditative practices can improve your quality of life by improving mental health. Studies have shown that meditation can help with anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia, and can even help combat the symptoms of narcotics withdrawal. Combining meditation and exercise into the silent walk, then, can have palpable physical and mental benefits.
How to Perform the Silent Walk
If you are looking to break into this new trend that is going viral all over social media, then you are in luck. It is not as intimidating as it may sound from the offset, and really just includes combining two distinctive — but beneficial — things: walking and meditating. In a similar vein to Zen Buddhist monks, you are going to be focusing on your movements, and tuning out outside noise. You are also going to want to emulate a mindfulness meditation routine, because you are going to want to try and keep your mind clear of distractions and outside influences that can cloud your thoughts. Try and keep your consciousness clear, and focus only on the movement of your body, and the silence within. It won’t be easy, but after a while, you will have nailed down the practice, and can benefit from it fully.
