Mindful Walking

Core to compassion focused therapy (CFT) is the ability to notice and engage in distress, and then to take wise action to relieve or prevent it. An important first step in doing this is through attention training and mindfulness, which help us to develop skills in noticing, turning towards, and engaging in things that might be painful or distressing. 

One of the beauties of mindfulness is that because it’s about becoming more aware of where our attention is, and the intention to be more in the here-and-now, throughout our day there are frequent activities that can provide an anchor for attention – for example, brushing our teeth, eating lunch, or walking to work. The interesting thing about all of these is that we often do them mindlessly, where we’re on autopilot or sometimes where our minds are living in the past or future. Mindful Walking is an exercise taken from the Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection. It is an informal mindfulness practice where the listener is invited to bring their awareness to the here-and-now, and become aware of what they are experiencing, as they walk.

The Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection is for anyone who wants to learn more about the ideas and practices of compassion focused therapy. It has been designed to be versatile, so it is suitable to support work with therapists who have been trained in compassion focused therapy, or to be used as a stand-alone collection of exercises. To assist the integration of the exercises into their clinical work, therapists can download the scripts for each exercise and use them in-session.

Individual tracks from the audio collection can be downloaded as .MP3 files, which can be played in most media player apps.

The simplest way to share an audio track with your clients is by using the Psychology Tools ‘Email a client’ function. After obtaining their consent, you can send it directly from this page by clicking ‘Send securely to my client’. Your client will receive a secure email containing a unique link, and when they click the link, they will be prompted to download the .MP3 file onto their device.

• Gilbert, P. (2014). The origins and nature of compassion focused therapy. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(1), 6-41.
• Gilbert, P. (2020). Compassion: From its evolution to a psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 3123.
• Irons, C., & Beaumont, E. (2017). The compassionate mind workbook: A step-by-step guide to developing your compassionate self. Robinson.
• Irons, C., & Heriot‐Maitland, C. (2021). Compassionate Mind Training: An 8‐week group for the general public. Psychology and psychotherapy: Theory, research and practice, 94(3), 443-463.
• Leboeuf, I., Andreotti, E., Irons, C., Beaumont, E., & Antoine, P. (2022). A randomized controlled study of a French compassionate mind training. Mindfulness, 13(11), 2891-2903.
• Savari, Y., Mohagheghi, H., & Petrocchi, N. (2021). A preliminary investigation on the effectiveness of compassionate mind training for students with major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Mindfulness, 12(5), 1159-1172.