The Pace I Thought I Was Walking

There are moments in practice when nothing goes wrong, and yet everything shifts.

During one of the walks, one of us moved at an exceptionally slow pace… so slow that at one point, I had to consciously slow myself down even more. I genuinely thought I was already walking mindfully. Turns out, I wasn’t. Not quite. My idea of “slow” still had somewhere to go.

At the same time, another one of us shared that they felt they were rushing to keep up, yet didn’t want to match the super-slow pace either. Two very different nervous systems. Two very real experiences. Suddenly, the walk became less about birds and more about relationship… to speed, to space, to choice.

What unfolded was an unexpected balance. Some of us paused longer, letting the birdsong fully arrive. Others continued at their own rhythm, meeting the group again further along the path. No one was wrong. No one needed fixing.

And that’s what stayed with me.

Something clicked: if this is truly a mindful walk, then it may need to be even slower than I think is reasonable. Slow enough to feel uncomfortable. Slow enough to reveal habits. Slow enough that “keeping up” stops being the goal altogether.

What I love most is realizing that I’m not just learning from modules or books. I’m learning from the field, from bodies in motion, from feedback, from moments that gently challenge my assumptions.

This reminded me that mindfulness isn’t about finding the perfect pace. It’s about noticing the pace you default to, and what happens when you’re invited to meet something else.

That’s where the real practice is. 🌿