Wednesday, November 27, 2019

A Mindful Way of Being


This spring a member of the Hunterdon Hiking Club began leading Mindfulness Hikes. I noticed these listings because the thought of walking mindfully in silence satisfied two of my most treasured experiences: walking in nature and silence (except, of course, the sounds of nature). However the hikes always fell on Thursdays which is the day I work at Unity so I wasn’t able to attend.

Last week though I switched my day at Unity to Wednesday and went on a Mindfulness Hike on the Delaware Canal Path across the Delaware River from Frenchtown. The email read: wear warm clothing and bring a time keeper because each participant would walk at their own pace.

A skim of ice on the canal
That Wednesday morning about 10 of us plus the leader, Carolyn Creed, gathered in Frenchtown. Carolyn gathered us together in a circle (even though it was 35 degrees) and explained the concept of mindfulness walking. Quoting from the HHC Newsletter: Mindfulness is the practice of quieting the mind so you can be fully aware of the present moment. This practice relaxes the body and quiets the mind, reducing fatigue and anxiety. Walking while practicing mindfulness may bring the added bonus of a fuller enjoyment of being outdoors with friends and Nature. For each walk, Carolyn will provide simple instructions for practicing a mindfulness technique, such as noticing the breath or just being aware of the sounds around you.

The path back
Carolyn suggested techniques like concentrating on our breaths to get silent, then to notice how we feel, then to notice what’s around us and finally to pay attention to any messages we received in the silence. Smiling at each other was fine. Taking pictures if we so chose was fine.

With the orientation complete, we all set our timers to 30 minutes and began walking toward the cliffs to the covered bridge where we joined the canal path. It was a beautiful clear, crisp, sunny/cloudy day. Along the walk I took a few pictures which I’ve shared here.

At one point a hiker with binoculars and a camera walked toward me from the other direction. She stopped me to point out a Great Blue Heron perched at the very top of an evergreen tree overlooking The Giving Pond. She also identified two raptors that had been circling over the cliffs earlier – one was a Turkey Vulture and the other was a Red Tail Hawk. She asked about our group and I explained we were on a mindfulness silent walk. Though she was apologetic, I hastened to assure her that I appreciated knowing what the birds were and seeing the heron. She turned back at the same time as I continued on my 30 minutes, neither of us talking. A short time later she stopped, pointed her binoculars up into the trees near the top of the cliff and said “A Bald Eagle. Do you want to see it?” I replied “Absolutely.” Two other HHC walkers caught up with us and wanted to see it too. The rest of the walk was silent. However I was and am content to have seen the birds even if it meant a small amount of talk.
An angel appears over New Jersey

The Mindfulness Hikes are weekly at various locations in and around Hunterdon County. I intend to join more of them.

Not coincidentally 3 days later a friend gave me a birthday gift of the book “see your way to mindfulness” by David Schiller. The author writes in the Introduction: “The meaning of life is to pay attention, to see. Open your eyes. Reality, that which is before you, is where you live…The aim of [this book] is to encourage the reader to discover the joy of [intentional] seeing, and through it, find a more balanced, mindful way of being.”

A mindful way of being. That is how I want to be more often.

With love,
~JEAN

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