Walking Zen

This morning I decided to combine walking with meditating.  I took myself to Lakes Park for the first time in a long time.  It was a quiet morning there, for which I was grateful. It was a perfect morning for walking quietly and listening.

When I was done, having been inspired by the trees and flowers and birds and bunnies and squirrels and the sun bursting through the mild cloud cover, I went to my car and read the next poem in my David Whyte poetry book. 

It was called "Sitting Zen."

Perfect, I thought.  I just walked Zen.

I decided to use his poem as a mentor text.  The last two words are from his poem.


WALKING ZEN

Weeks of waiting
for the park to reopen
after the hurricane,
I made my

way with a hunger
to be in within the trees, by the
water, under the sky.
On the trail

the brilliant yellow Rock Rose
transmitted secrets.
Pine trees asked me to listen.
I took their messages to heart.

I walked with my breath,
my senses engaged.
I saw a cardinal, heard
a woodpecker, smelled

the musty wood fragrance.
Forms around me,
the formless inside me
touched, appreciated, fleeting.

Sometimes I lose my balance,
I need to be saved. But today
I was somehow on sturdy ground,
feet firmly planted.

The trees, my companions
in weathering the storm.
And me, reaching to touch
a flower petal as I passed,
listening
presence.