Mindful Walking Among Trees

I am a walker, walking has trained me to notice. Noticing has connected me with nature. Paying attention has inspired creative writing and photography.

Walking meditation can involve slow walking with focus on the feel of the sole of the foot reaching the ground, the feel of the air upon the fingers as the arms swing forward and back.

Walking meditation can also focus on the natural sights, sounds, smells, and touches around us. Walking, for me, is often about trees – growing or losing leaves, plump bushes or elegant maples, multi-limbed birches or the stalk of a newly planted linden.

You may walk mindfully among trees on your own, or you might invite a lonely friend or someone needing assistance to accompany you. Some people might schedule regular times for mindful walking with a group.

To accompany you on your walks, I offer you some of my favourite quotations on trees.

Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.
~ Kahlil Gibran

We did not come to remain whole.
We came to lose our leaves like the trees,
The trees that are broken
And start again, drawing up from the great roots.
~ Robert Bly