Week 1 - A mindful walking practice
Practice mindfulness and creative thinking with this simple walking practice
Welcome to our first Creative Wellness activity! This week, a mindful walking practice that you can do outdoors in your backyard or on your daily walk (make sure you wear a mask and keep socially distanced!
Full instructions are below and make sure you send us your submissions! Email them to creativeresilienceinnerwest@gmail.com along with your name, age (optional), suburb.
There’s bonus links to resources down the bottom if you want to do more mindful walking!
Let’s get started
Mindful walking activity - appreciating the nature around us
Go for a walk. (Make sure you wear a mask and keep socially distanced!)
You might know your route or destination before you set out on your trip, or you might decide what path you take along the way.
Take some deep breaths before you start.
Walk for at least ten minutes. Walk as slow or as fast as you like, but make sure your pace allows you to take the time to be mindful of your movements and observant of your environment.
As your body moves through the environment, notice and appreciate the elements of nature around you. It doesn’t matter where you are walking. Nature is always all around us.
Take note of one aspect of nature you might not have noticed before. It might be a tree, a flower, or the soft breeze you are walking through. It might be birds chirping, the rustle of leaves in the wind, or the warmth of the sun. Don’t forget to look up at the sky and down to the ground.
Notice the colours, sensations, sounds or smells of nature as you walk.
What do you notice?
Take a photo, video, or sound recording on your phone to capture what you observe.
After you finish your walk: reflect on what you observed. What stood out to you? What did you notice about it? What were you thinking or feeling?
Send us what you captured and write 1-2 sentences about the experience. Why did you choose to capture this?
Send your submission with a short description, your name and suburb to creativeresilienceinnerwest@gmail.com
We want to see what you’ve created!
It can be a photo, a video, a drawing, a sound recording, an artwork, a poem, anything!
Whatever you are inspired to create, we'd like to see it. Send a copy to us along with a description or statement of what you did and your inspiration. Email to creativeresilienceinnerwest@gmail.com along with your name and suburb (age optional).
We encourage submissions in languages other than English.
If you need assistance or if you have questions, contact Susan Chen on 0470 593 207 or email creativeresilienceinnerwest@gmail.com.
Bonus resources
Keen for more mindful walking practices? Check out these great resources:
Get practising, because we’ll have more mindful walking activities in the coming weeks!