Especially when you live with the community where everyone is practicing the same, it's very easy. Because everyone is doing that, so you are transported by the collective energy and it's so natural that you can do that. You walk in such a way that every step brings you home to the here and the now, so that you can get in touch with the wonders of life. That's called mindful walking. And you don't need to set aside some time to do that. Walking from the parking lot to your office, you can enjoy every step. Every step can bring freedom, can bring healing, can bring joy. You celebrate life with every step. And this is possible.

In a retreat, like the one we are going to have in Nottingham University, every day we do collective walking meditation one hour. And if everyone practice, making steps mindfully, together we create a very powerful collective energy of peace and of mindfulness. And everyone in the group will be nourished and healed by the energy of mindfulness and peace. That is the advantage of practicing together as a community. Alone we can also generate the energy of peace and mindfulness and compassion. But we do not profit from the collective energy which is very powerful.

So if the whole family enjoys a walk, making every step, mindful, the collective energy generated by the whole family will be more healing, more nourishing. And the quality of the practice of breathing and walking will increase when we can truly focus our attention on our in-breath or on the step. And that is why the second exercise of mindful breathing is to follow your in-breath all the way through. Doing so, you have more mindfulness, you have more concentration, and you enjoy more your in-breath or your step. And you can always coordinate your in-breath and your steps. In walking meditation, we coordinate our breathing with our walking.

Suppose you breathe in and you make two steps while breathing in. And you may say, "I have arrived, I have arrived." You say it silently, in your mind. "I have arrived. I have arrived." It means, I have arrived in the here and the now. The here and the now is my destination, where life is available. And you might enjoy arriving with every step.

Many of us have the habit of running. We walk like running. We are not ourselves, we are not free. But when you walk like that, with every step, mindful, concentrated, you walk as a free person on this beautiful planet. You walk like a Buddha, an enlightened being. And you enjoy every step—"I have arrived, I have arrived." That is not a declaration. That is a realization. Because with mindfulness and concentration, you are able to arrive truly with every step. Arrive where? Arrive in the here and the now. Arrive in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is on Earth, in the here and the now. The Kingdom is now or never. And mindful breathing, mindful walking make the Kingdom available. That's my experience.

In the Buddhist tradition, we don't use the expression the Kingdom of God, but we use the expression the Pure Land of the Buddha. The Pure Land is now and here. You don't need to die in order to be born in the Pure Land. In fact, you have to be very alive in order to step into the Pure Land. The same thing is true with the Kingdom of God.

You don't have to die in order to go to the Kingdom of God. In fact, you have to be very alive, very mindful, very concentrated, and with one step, you can enter the Kingdom of God and you can get in touch with all the wonders of the Kingdom that are available in the here and now. And that is the practice of walking meditation, mindful breathing. If we live in a practice center, we enjoy that every day with our brothers and sisters in the practice.