User:Chriscarroll58/Walking meditation

Walking meditation, also known as kinhin is a practice within several forms of Buddhism that involve movement and periods of walking between long periods of sitting meditation (also known as zazen). In different forms, the practice is common in Zen, Chan Buddhism, Korean Seon and Vietnamese Thiền.

Practitioners typically walk clockwise around a room while holding their hands in shashu with one hand closed in a fist while the other hand grasps or covers the fist. During walking meditation each step is taken after each full breath. The pace of walking meditation can be either slow (several steady steps per each breath) or brisk, almost to the point of jogging.

Etymology
The terms consist of the Chinese words 經 "to go through (like the thread in a loom)", with sutra as a secondary meaning, and 行 "walk". Taken literally, the phrase means "to walk straight back and forth." The opposite in Japanese to kinhin is zazen, "sitting meditation".

Health Benefits
Studies on the elderly, type 2 diabetes patients, and nursing students all demonstrate wide health benefits. Although research is in some cases tentative, results suggest that there are numerous health benefits to walking meditation. One common connection is a reduction/regulation of cortisol in the blood, which is the bodies primary stress indicating hormone. While the body and mind are working harder, stress regulating factors decrease. One study of elderly women practicing walking meditation suggests mindful walking is somehow linked to decreases in depression and stress, in addition to increases in bone development. Another study based on Thai Chi meditation speculates a link between walking meditation and the production of catecholamines, which are linked to the brain's response to stress. Recent advances in medical science also suggest that promoting peace and mindfulness are linked to neuronal regeneration. The act of walking with peacefully and with intention is curative to one who practices it.

Ties to Christianity
Pilgrimages are religious journeys to holy sites that bring the practitioner closer to their God and are traditionally done only on foot. As a means of staying peaceful and grounded in these difficult journeys, one should take from Thich Naht Than's teachings on how to bring oneself in the present moment and ignore those with less pious intentions.