The Mindful Hiker: On the Trail to Find the Path

The Mindful Hiker inspires me to see my own favorate hiking trails in a different way, to elevate them from favorite to sacred. It is a memoir of a slice of time and place, as well as a workbook, to help one deepen one's relationship to a specific path, park, beach, or even a single tree. Stephen's book also teaches Buddhist dharma, reminding us of non-attachment, impermanence, and gratitude. Delightful to read; I have given it as a gift to fellow hikers.

Point Reyes National Seashore is one of my favorite places to hike and to meditate. So, I was delighted to find someone who is as in love with the out-of-doors as I am. Stephen's book is neat to read and to meditate with. It clearly brings up mental images I have stored up over the years and questions I have wrestled with. Coincidentally, since reading his book, I visited my daughter who lives in the Boston area only 25 miles from Walden Pond. Made a daytrip there and bought a book contaning both Emerson's Nature and Thoreau's Walking, under the same cover. What a neat connection with mindfulness. If you love Nature and like walking, or have some sort of relationship with the out-of-doors and the Inner Life, I'm sure you will find much to meditate about in this book.

Sometimes the most simple acts can be the most powerful. Author Stephen Altschuler elevates the act of hiking -- walking for pleasure while communing with nature -- to dizzying heights in this part how-to, part environmental manifesto, and part love letter to northern California's Point Reyes National Seashore. Altschuler considers this area where he does most of his hiking his friend -- the place where he spends time with God. Hiking its trails and vistas offers a feeling similar to other pastimes people become passionate about -- like yoga or fly fishing -- that allow them to become suspended in time. Altschuler used his time hiking at Point Reyes to make sense of our tumultuous times and help him through divorce and midlife crisis. He points out the similarities between a hiking trail and a spiritual path, giving examples of Moses and Martin Luther King "going to the mountaintop" during their most important quests. The mountain trail mimics life, with its trailhead, forks, rises and dips, and eventually -- a summit. Altschuler urges us to use our senses of observation, to see, smell, and feel nature, "by slowing down and seeing what is before us." He not only describes this lovely approach to life, but encourages us to participate, by adding questions and suggestions at the end of each chapter, inspiring readers to think, recall, journal and learn about ourselves and our world. This is a modern day Walden that belongs in every hiker's backpack.

When I read the "Mindful Hiker" I felt like I was coming home. The author offers us insights into the rich environment of finding inner peace through the wonder of nature. Prior to reading this book I didn't know that others felt the same strength I have felt through the "meditation" of walking. I didn't know there was a language to describe the connection between nature and well-being. Every chapter was written with such honesty that it was hard to turn away from my own. By the time I finished this book I felt that I had been on a journey of the soul and I was grateful for the opportunity. I highly recommend this book to any of us hikers and mindful spirits.