Meditating on My Feet as a Movement Chaplain

My “movement boots”

Embodiment practice

When Rabbi Joshua Abraham Heschel marched with Dr. Martin Luther King he said he felt “as if his legs were praying.” I know that feeling. Marching for science and climate justice, for the rights of sex workers, for the unions, for Black lives, for Native land back, for access to abortions, to put an end to the death penalty, for trans kids, for immigrants’ rights, for the unhoused…my protest is a prayer for peace and justice with my whole body.  

Likewise, I walk the halls of the jail in solidarity with those who are or have been incarcerated. My feet are in service to the bound. My steps are for abolition and community care.

As I walk, I give gratitude for the miracle of my body. I don’t want to take standing up on two feet for granted. I remember Thich Nhat Hahn’s walking meditation: “Peace is every step.”

I meditate as I walk and offer love. “With an unending love You love us,” and I want to offer that too, to the best of my ability.

I can recount long walks I’ve taken as a Movement Chaplain with justice activists and organizers to hold space for them to grieve, mourn or celebrate.

When I wash the feet of the deceased in preparation for burial, I meditate on impermanence. My feet will be washed by someone before I am laid to rest in the ground, too. I think about my small feet as a child, the places I’ve walked to arrive here in this moment, and wonder when my last walk will be.

I walk to find the 72 Names and 13 Divine Attributes of the Holy One of Blessing. On this path, I try to remember that those are my names and attributes, too. 

Please, HaShem, direct my steps in peace and show me where to serve, so that I may discover more about who I am as I walk on this journey.