Contemplative Hiking

The best thing about having a regular contemplative practice in nature is that there’s always a place to go, literally or just in your mind, where you are taken out of your ego self and into a realm that holds beauty and timelessness.

Feeling burn out is a sign that you need time away to do something new and rejuvenating to your mind and body. If you’re a hiker and enjoy being out in nature, it’s a good time to find a trail in a new location—somewhere you’ve always wanted to go or a place with new scenery and landscapes. When even hiking doesn’t sound all that fun any more, you know it’s time to get out of your usual rut and go somewhere unfamiliar.

While there have been certain social milestones made in the last two centuries when it comes to human social progress, other forms of economic or technological progress hasn’t all been good.

A funny 6-minute cartoon. Sally tries to explain to her neighbor Frank why she’s keeping chickens and converting her suburban backyard to food production.

In winter, since we don’t spend as much time outdoors, we really cut ourselves off from the sights and (particularly) the sounds of nature. All we listen to most of the time are sounds that come from machines or other humans: the hum of the computer, the blare of television, the rumble of a car motor, the chatter of a co-worker.

I don’t think that people are born disliking nature. Children are drawn to animals and are natural “tree-huggers” (as well as tree-climbers!) If they dislike or fear nature, it’s because of a traumatic experience or because they’ve been sheltered from it because of growing up in an urban, human-centered environment.

Every time I go on a hike, I notice something new that I hadn’t noticed before: an oddly shaped tree, a bright green and fuzzy patch of moss that’s especially inviting, or a bird or animal that catches my attention. The same river is never the same river twice.

What I’ve discovered about my teen and hiking is that she enjoys it under certain circumstances.

The feeling may have been fleeting. It may have lasted a few hours. It may have even jolted your perception of the world and your place in it. However long it lasted, it affected you. You suspect that for that brief moment in time, you had touched the Divine. Whether you call it God, Spirit, Universe, or simply Nature, you knew that you wanted to experience more of it.

I recently was introduced to a wonderful website for parents who love being active outdoors with their children: www.OutdoorBaby.net. This website contains a plethora of resources, tips and information on how to enjoy just about any outdoor activity with little ones, whether it be hiking, fishing, climbing or backpacking.