Contemplative Hiking

My resistance to the fact that it was still winter and that it was going to be several months more of bare trees and snow on the ground in the mountains was making me feel irritable. It was causing me to suffer when I didn’t have to. There’s a way to obtain relief from suffering and worry, resistance and anxiety. All you have to do is disassociate yourself from ego, get out of your head and snap right into the present moment. This contemplative activity is about doing just that.

Crap. Now what? I thought. I was still a good half mile away from my house. Behind me was a neighborhood of tract homes I could walk into, and hopefully find shelter on someone’s porch if necessary. I knew from reading that article that the worst thing I could do was act like prey by running. Although, that’s exactly what I felt like doing. I wanted to grab my dog up into my arms and run like hell.

Like so many activists, I was angry and felt victimized. I believed that shame and blame were appropriate and effective tactics to use against my “opponents,” and I took myself and my work very, very seriously. I was burning out and this only fed the anger and resentment. I was also not as effective as I could have been with a healthier attitude.

Should you take your dog on a contemplative hike? I’m biased, but my gut reaction is no, you should not.

In order to practice the skill of intuitive wisdom, you have to get away from all those distractions and stay completely present and open to hearing what you really feel and know in your heart. You can do this on solo walks, hikes or through mindful meditation at home. By cultivating this inner knowing you acknowledge that you have all the resources inside yourself already to solve or simply understand just about any problem or hardship that confronts you.

There is no right way or wrong way to do a contemplative hike, but there are certain ground rules to follow. The purpose of these rules is to open your mind to the experience and allow you to tap into your own wisdom and natural healing ability that’s usually hidden by everyday chatter and distractions.