Christian Mindfulness-reflection on walking meditation
Walk and talk therapy has been a wonderful way to prepare for session. I have helped clients set an agenda, if you will, for their work. As we walk, we process the smaller issues—the thoughts that come up toward session. As we pick up the pace, we might begin to set intentions for the work ahead. What is the emotion we want to target? What would walking do to the body to help us recognize the feelings and sensations in our bodies that those emotions bring up? As the therapist, I might evoke deeper meaning with probing questions, reflections, reminders of skills we have worked on together. We walk in concert with one another. This is us being together, mindfully—therapist and client. The support I offer is emotional, but it is also presence.
As I walk, and listen, I am also preparing myself. I am gaining clarity on the needs of my clients, and the memory we might need to process, the traumatic experiences that might be returning to the surface, the unspoken feelings that will emerge. Tuning in is a mindfulness based process. As a therapist, I derive meaning, interpreted from the data that the client brings in our work—each step is a symbolic step toward a therapeutic destination. Just for that particular moment.