I decided during the middle of the day to do a walking meditation, down 5th Avenue.  I focused on each step.  It was difficult at times because New York, as some of you know, is full of mostly assaulting stimulants: images, sounds, aromas (not to be confused with rosé aromas), etc.

It was a cool sunny day, and every time something tripped me up (no pun intended), I came back to the breath and focused on my body/movement.  The experience, however, was challenging in ways I both expected and didn't.

Expected: to be distracted a lot, but the thing that distracted me the most was my mind.  My thoughts moved in and out of a certain unhappiness I’ve been having with my life and I couldn’t just shut it off so I let it be, despite my desire.

Not Expected: deep pockets of silence.  So quite it scared me.  I would “wake up” to make sure the noise, people were still there.  Like if it wasn’t there, that meant I wasn’t o.k.  Am I so conditioned?

So, would I do it again?  Probably not…that is, not down 5th Avenue. 

And yes, as one would expect in New York, no one took a second look.  But actually, there were times where I felt people parted the way for me.