Four Critical Parts for Curating Healing Hikes
Healing hikes are deeply intentional and require careful curating and intention-setting. So when participation isn’t anchored with an intention, the result is often vague. Four parts of my planning process make for a unique and magical experience. Consider these when you plan for your group to go out and heal with nature.
Healing hikes are deeply intentional and call for careful crafting. Here are four parts of my planning process that make for a unique and magical experience.
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And if you want to read about an accurate account of a group healing hike, read my featured article on Outside Magazine Online, Nature Therapy for People of Color in Traumatic Jobs
It’s all about INTENTION.
Intention is often a hard concept to explain. So I want to ask, what comes to mind when you think about an intention? Maybe a “goal” or “outcome”? Landing a clear intention is often harder than you think.
When I think about intention, I want to know that you have a purpose for doing a thing; what do you want out of it? I want to hear your participation in a hike has a reason that is connected to something you want for yourself and will carry you to something different.
When participation isn’t anchored with an intention, the result is often vague. Sure it was nice to get outside to feel better, and there’s also opportunity to receive something specific if you ask for something specific. Sometimes tell hikers, If you say, “I want to be in nature for fresh air and to be with the trees” you’ll surely receive that and check it off of your list. BUT, consider this possibility: if you say, “I want to know if I should stay or leave my current job”, you can also receive answers to that. I’ll get to how this happens later in the post, but for now, which type of question could give you more on your hike?
So, to prepare for a healing hike I often prompt hikers with questions like:
What challenges do you want to work through today?
If you can have anything from nature, what would you want to give yourself today?
What questions about life/work/relationships are most alive for you right now?
After doing the hike, what parts of YOU do you want to be different?
I think about intentions for the entire group and for each individual. It helps anchor me with the community and gives me insights about where and how I’m to hold space for them. The group’s intention allows me to attune to the dynamics so I can identify what parts of nature can be the most supportive. Like, if a group is showing up with a lot of grief to process, I may think about a site with Redwood groves because these ancient beings can hold or take our grief.
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LOCATION is key, but honoring the process is critical.
Finding the right location means we only hike in specific parks. I carve out time to find the location and connect with it first, spiritually. Connection allows me to support this as a healing process rather than a casual group recreational activity. Walking in silence as a group means that connection and reflection time as you walk is centered in the experience.
Before any hike, I look for the trails and ask myself:
What area of this park calls me to gather this group or person based on their intention?
What's happening around me that gives me insights into how I can hold this sacred process for someone?
Are there sacred (legally designated or not) places within the park?
Do I know anyone who is ancestrally connected to this land? If not, how can I tap into the ancestors of this land, spiritually (in meditation/channeling) to see if I can feel or sense if this location is available for this work?
When I scout a site, I do the same meditative walk so I can COMMUNICATE WITH THE LOCATION directly, no distractions. If I have a team or support staff scheduled to do the group hike with me, allowing them to form their own connection and communication is just as important in shaping the experience.
Connecting to the location is also an important step in receiving “permission” to do this work on the land. Permission can show up as many different signs, like getting a general “good feeling” or “welcoming sense” from the visit or the park is yes. Visits from wildlife or rare sightings of species can also be a sign or good omen. Checking in with the native community of that land is also key. We can’t go home with icky feelings or more questions than confirmations. If it’s a no-go, we scout another location. ***
And of course connecting with the Native communities in which these are their ancestral lands is a critical step in including the practice and solidarity of the #landback movement. Making sure land acknowledgments and an honoring of the ancestors of the land are part of your process is key to our intentions for our collective healing. Because if the ultimate goal here is to reclaim who we are as a people, then contributions to the Native community’s efforts to be recognized, centered, and supported in efforts to bring back their land sovereignty is something we all as settlers can include in our process. All this to say, this topic of ways of building solidarity with the Native community can use it’s own blog post, in the least.
Connecting the LANDSCAPE to the healing process.
My favorite parts of the process is where I get to use my unique approach of blending academic ecological knowledge and training I have with the my Radical Nature Framework.
coyote hills regional park wetlands in fremont, ca
As an example, if I pick a park with wetlands, ecologically they function as buffer or "filtering" zones. These special zones collect and filter out sediments and toxins in the freshwater that travel from the mountains through cities and neighborhoods before going out into the ocean.
Metaphorically we can stand in the wetland and think about what in our lives do we need to "filter"? Or we can prompt the question, “What’s stuck for you or muddy right now and how would you like to flow again based on your intention for this hike?”
When I prepare for a group’s hike, part of the consultation call is to determine the location as it connects to the group’s healing needs. And in order to connect the landscapes or park trails with the group’s needs, I ask these guiding questions:
What are the self-care and wellness needs of the group and are there ecosystems in the area that metaphorically connect to their personal growth and healing needs?
Are there any parts of the trails ideal for deeper reflection time? Because people benefit by immersing themselves in the moments of simply sitting on the trail to reflect.
PERMISSION and walking with GRATITUDE
Probably the most important part of the planning process, but is often the part that we take for granted. And I too am still guilty of coming onto a site without the proper ritual of GIVING THANKS and ASKING PERMISSION. But it's a very important piece that honors the natural cycle of giving and receiving (the circle of life).
The opening circle is a time for each to ask for permission in their own way. Then I ask the group to feel or sense the permission to keep going. The “yes” that happens is something you just have to experience IRL, but in general it’s that good feeling to keep going.
Finally, gratitude is also the language of nature. Sharing out what we’re grateful for is a sacred ritual done to honor our time together, the ancestors who have cared for and nurtured the land since time immemorial. It is also a sacred ritual you can do EACH TIME you are out in nature.
I hope this glimpse into the prep work of healing hikes gives you the sense of just how special and intentional these experiences are. They’ve been such an integral part of my life and healing journey and I hope you get inspired to take these same intentional steps before your next outing.
If you’re feeling called to be on a healing hike with me, below you’ll find ways to sign up for different options or apply for your group to have this unique experience together!
Navigating The Depths of Grief
Our emotions of grief and loss flow through our beings and find release through our tears. Embracing the act of shedding tears became a pivotal step in my healing process. Through these experiences, I have gleaned invaluable lessons about the profound emotion of grief
Grief is often associated with negative emotions and the hardships in life that we desperately hope never to revisit. However, as I delved deeper into the process of grieving, my perspective on it began to shift. Since embarking on an intentional healing journey in 2013, I've confronted the realities of my grief head-on. Like all emotions we experience as human beings, grief holds immense significance and serves as a crucial process if we seek to live authentically.
Fortunately, nature provided a sanctuary where I could truly feel and embrace my authentic self. I began searching for ways to access my grief through the embrace of the natural world. Through these experiences, I have gleaned invaluable lessons about the profound emotion of grief. I share them with you now, in the hopes that they will help you reimagine your own relationship with grief and serve as a testament to nature's unwavering support throughout your healing journey.
Grief Feels Like….
ocean waves of sadness and joy rise to the surface at their own accord, on their own time. The ebbs and flows of grief are most manageable when we surrender to the process, but of course, that's easier said than done.
The Elements….
have become an integral part of my healing work. Water, in particular, held immense significance when I was still navigating the early stages of self-discovery, trying to understand my essence and origins. Studying its properties, observing its behaviors, and witnessing how it interacts with other elements, water became a representation of movement, action, and the reflection of my soul. Just like dreams of traversing through water, I learned that our emotions of grief and loss flow through our beings and find release through our tears. Embracing the act of shedding tears became a pivotal step in my healing process. It was cathartic, even though it didn't change the circumstances or situations that initially gave birth to the grieving process.
The Heaviness…..
used to weigh heavily on me, feeling born out of the uncertainty and the void it created. It pressed upon my soul, burdening me with its weight, because even though I knew what needed to be done, I felt constrained from speaking openly, free from judgment from the external world. Until...
Receiving my batok (traditional Filipino tattoo)….
it was then that I discovered the vantage point from which my ancestors once traversed the waters. The ocean became a symbol of processing grief because from their eyes, traveling on the open ocean was like seeing the unearthing of new worlds, new lands, as they emerged from the horizon, as if coming from the underworld. In our cultural beliefs, it is said that we journey back to the stars on a bangka (canoe), as we transition from physical beings back to spirits.
What Feels Lighter Now....
is my presence with grief. The weight has lifted as I embarked on a journey of reconnection, delving into the teachings and traditions that have recently revealed themselves to me. I began by comprehending the significance of water and how it plays a vital role in the process of grief. The fragments of knowledge shared by storytellers, the custodians of culture, and active practitioners have guided me on this plane, as I yearn to understand the essence of who I am and where I come from; this is what I call– Ancestral Healing.
Continued Gratitude….
to all that have been and will be. I cannot pinpoint exactly where my journey of grief commenced, whether it began on this plane or another. Nor can I predict its ultimate destination. However, what I can share with you is the realization that I belong to multiple dimensions, and it is through these dimensions that I become whole, standing firmly in my power.
Grief has no definitive endpoint; it transforms into other emotions such as passion or, my personal favorite, praise (learned from Martin Prectel’s, The Smell of Rain on Dust). Grief does not exist in isolation, and neither do you. Stay tuned for part two of this series, "Grief: Death and Transformation," where we'll delve further into this profound journey. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to stay connected.
Your Nature-Based Coach,
Raynelle
How You Know It's Time to Heal
But it took a lot of years and life experience to get to a point where I decided to engage in some real and deep healing. For a long time I thought certain reactions or ways of viewing people were normal, until I realized I can do things differently. I’ll be share with you a couple of ways that helped me embark on a healing journey that proved to me, worth charting unknown territory.
How You Know It’s Time to Heal
3 Signs that say you’re there
Someone once asked me, "What's the most challenging part of working in community?" I answered, "When community doesn't believe healing is needed."
All I could think about were times where I witnessed normalized violence and toxicity in my family. For a long time I thought certain reactions or ways of viewing people were normal. Like, road raging as a young adult. I knew it was dangerous and violent, but I grew up with a road raging father. At the time it seemed normal to be around that. But then somewhere in my body and psyche, I began to agree with this attitude and response and I adopted it when I was younger. It wasn't until I started to give myself permission to pay attention to how I was impacting the world, that I realized I can do things differently. Mostly this was because my impacts on others were sometimes negative.
But it took a lot of years and life experience to get to a point where I decided to engage in some real and deep healing. So, I wanted to share with you a couple of ways that helped me embark on a healing journey that proved to me, worth charting unknown territory. And FYI, these things still happen to me all-the-time! We don’t reach a point of being “healed”, rather healing is a constant journey throughout life; there’s always something to work on.
Here are just three signs that let you know when it's time to heal.
You find yourself frustrated and overwhelmed by things that normally don't bug you - here's a sign that where you are in life is just not enough. You want more and you know more is possible.
How does this translate to what needs healing? If you can thread your frustrations back into its origin, what we’re really being presented with is our sense of value and self worth. Frustrations about how things are done or how you’re observing them can give you clues into what you know to be possible. What exactly are you frustrated about? Have you felt similarly in the past and what was the core of that frustration? Find common threads in moments that left you feeling the same type of emotion and it can lead you to a place in life where you felt like you knew something was better or possible for yourself.
You're going through or have just come out of a major life event or situation - life has just thrown you a bunch of information and opportunity to flex your abilities. Here's life showing you your capacity and IT showing you that you are made for more.
It could feel more like you’re in survival mode, but doesn’t survival mode also put us in a place to search urgently for extra resources and support? Like clamoring for something to help you in times of great need, we’re also pushed out of our comfort zones or edges just to make it through the next step. Oftentimes, stepping back from the situation or reflecting back on what just happened can help reveal what needed healing from those events. Like having a realization that you just survived something tremendous, or that you just made it through those tough times. Finding out exactly what you did or what you were thinking in those critical times can bring so much awareness to your capacity to hold challenges now that you’ve overcome them. You’ve just gone through some kind of healing when you’re able to wisely observe key points in your life.
More than a few things in your external environment seem chaotic, but not always directly because of you - this is the Universe's way of saying, "I know you see this! Now, what are you going to do about it, oh wise and gifted one?"
I went through a lot of these types of messages when I was younger, about the time of my first Saturn return (typically happens around ages 28-32). So many things imploding, exploding, relationships going awry, structures and institutions unraveling…sound familiar these days?
Now, pandemic times have certainly played a perfect example in what I’m saying here. So what healing has this pandemic revealed to us? Much of what we see today in our external environment is causing us to go inward and ask ourselves, “what went wrong?” , the challenges around this pandemic have been around the care for others and the long brewing tensions between us racially and culturally. So, when it seems like the world around us is about to topple over, we can begin asking ourselves,
What did I miss?
What was I not paying attention to or investing my time in that caused me to not see beneath the surface and now this is what would be the outcome?”
Because life is actively showing us that we’ve missed the assignment. So, what can you do now to get back on track and focus on your well-being?
In many ways, the signs that you're ready to deepen your life experience and skills require you to FIRST know and believe that healing is needed; that you simply want things to be different. What stops us from diving into a true healing journey can be the facts that
you’re not really ready to face the dark stuff, the shadows, the traumas, the yucky feelings
you may be intimidated by your level up; like knowing that the different you will be more powerful puts you in a place of resistance
you just don’t know where to start
More often than not, the majority of us WON’T sign onto a healing journey because of the reasons I just pointed out. What’s more common is to find yourself at rock bottom or in a situation where you’re left with no other choice but to begin healing. So no matter what, we all have the capacity to get started on some version of a healing journey.
And healing isn't just about when you are directly harmed and in need of support. Healing can also mean that younger versions of you still need tending to because you're not able to access your full and whole self today, as an adult. The latter scenario is one of the biggest areas I tackle with leaders in private sessions!
As a leadership coach with healing centered approaches, I always advocate for the normalization of these challenging times and yucky feelings because the more we ignore them, the more those feelings will start to nag at us to get to the healing it needs before you can level up. This is where triggers come from; unhealed parts of our past that get signaled to come back to us as adults. Now, have you cultivated the tools and wisdom to now offer your younger, hurt parts? That’s where someone like me can be that support for you.
If you want to know more about where you are in your time to heal through barriers and blocks preventing you from the life of liberation you crave, you check out my offerings below
sign up for the next cohort of Trailheads To Healing
book a quick consultation with me to explore private coaching
join any type of healing hike to put you in direct connection to the Universe’s messages for you
check out other events or workshops to get to know more about my work
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Healing Hella Hurts
If you’re really serious and ready to invest in the real work of healing, then get ready for ALL THE FEELS. In relation to those around you, since you’re changing/transforming yourself, the people around you might not recognize you and that can be hurtful for everyone. This post focuses more on the physical affects of doing your transformative work, or healing.
“If you don’t hurt, then you don’t know”
Since I like to keep it real, it think its Important to talk about the reality of the healing process. Because it’s not all rose baths and massages.
If you’re really serious and ready to invest in the real work of healing, then get ready for ALL THE FEELS. It’s no wonder few people will dive deeply into their healing process because there’s risk in what happens getting pretty ugly or uncomfortable. In relation to your own body, things may come up, quite literally as I explain more later. In relation to those around you, since you’re changing/transforming yourself, the people around you might not recognize you and that can be hurtful for everyone.
In this post, I’d like to focus more on the physical affects of doing your transformative work, or healing. For instance, the after care piece of a healing hike, can be overlooked. I wanted to be transparent about the possibilities and encourage you to trust that if something physical and out of the ordinary does come up with your body, this is a good sign of energetic movement, change in perception, or release of toxins. Remember, our emotions are directly connected to our physical bodies, but that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily aware of what those connections are and how they can show up after doing healing work like processing through emotional baggage.
We can protect ourselves by being prepared, paying attention, and having an after-care plan. Here’s what it is:
THE REALITY
Healing work is hard because it can literally hurt. Sore muscles, migraines, even vomiting can happen after processing through some deep emotional stuff! That’s because our emotional energy can exist in particular parts of our bodies, more noticeably when there’s stuck energy. Engaging in the unseen mediums such as energetic, metaphysical, or ancestral modalities can result in some unanticipated and non-symptomatic-like bodily responses. Crazy, right? But its true.
Additionally, our thoughts can pay a big part in how our bodies feel/react to our environment. Have you read/heard the news today? Was your heart beating with frustration?
As an example, if we engage with a deep seeded trauma and work to bring up something buried so deep, then release it, this can feel a certain way. Perhaps, even resulting in the body reacting the way it needs to so the energy can move out. Like, “purging a trauma” out of your body can literally play out like vomiting all those negativities out.
So, What is needed for a safe journey ahead? Well, every person is different and has their own emotional and physical process. But here are some things we can talk about…
Let’s first talk about AFFECTS, not effects, but AFFECTS. And I use affects here because its a verb and it means to influence something. Your healing actions should influence your healing process, not result in an effect (noun) to your healing process. If we’re engaging in non-symptomatic shifts in your well-being, then expect non-symptomatic things to happen.
AFFECTS ARE SIGNS OF MOVEMENT/ADAPTATION
No pain, no gain, right? Right.
It doesn’t always have to happen painfully. What I’m trying to emphasize here is that if it does happen, trust in the nature of things. A waaay long time ago I wrote about how “stressors” in the environment cause mutations to happen in plants. It’s part of the natural process of Resilience and Adaptation. I said,
“Stress (or stressors) are actually those signs we have in life that something is happening and is calling us to adapt. Something is happening that needs some attention because a change is about to happen. And only then, when the stressors make themselves known is when we are called to do some work to figure out how to adapt.”
Just like our plant relatives, we are resilient and we adapt. The good thing about us being conscious of our environment and able to move and search for help or resources in the face of “stressors”, is that we can consciously prepare ourselves for the journey of engaging with a “safe” and “sacred” stressor, such as a coaching session, healing hike, spiritual journey, etc…
Now that we’ve started with some language and natural law, let’s talk about preparation and protection.
PREPARATION & PROTECTION
I can’t express enough, the importance of preparation; know what you’re getting into, how to find the right practitioner, and try to get a sense of how ready and how deep you’re willing to go into your healing journey. This also helps the practitioner know if you’re the right fit for them. Do your research, get your recommendations and referrals to the right practitioner or do some sample sessions! If you’ve been on one of my hikes you know that I send everyone a pretty extensive preparation welcome letter before arrival. This is key to having a good session!
Your healing journey needs a protected container. This is why the opening and closing circles of our healing hikes are soo important to the entire experience. It’s an essential part of building the sacredness of our time as well as setting the tone (or intention) for our experience. It’s also a good way for us to protect ourselves from any distractions or interruptions from other park visitors. Think of this process as a metaphor for your process of any type of healing session you engage with. Get grounded, call in your source(s) and proceed with faith.
AFTER CARE
I often mention this at the end of our hikes or sessions, especially if we’ve just had some deep emotional experience in nature;
pay close attention to how your body is reacting and what your emotional state is like for the next few days
The affects of emotional processing sometimes takes a few days to cycle through or reveal itself. It’s important to take note (no matter how subtle) of any changes you might be feeling or if any unexpected physical or emotional things bubble up. This again, is a good sign and it might not feel good or look pretty.
Here are some of my after care tips for healing hikes or private sessions:
always stay hydrated, before and after; water is a good “leveler” of energetic exchange/change. You might notice after an emotional session you’re super thirsty. Know that you just did a lot of work!
rest well after a session, especially if you felt a sudden onset of fatigue or lethargy. This could be a sign of an emotional hangover or detox. Take a day off if you can’t concentrate or function well at work
if your gut instinct is telling you your physical or emotional affect is from the session, trust it is from the session and will pass as you take care of yourself
if your gut instinct is telling you your physical or emotional affect is from another person, trust it is from another person and will pass as you take care of yourself. You might be more sensitive to others’ energy than you thought!
the most important in this container is to PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to yourself with the intention of understanding more about how you process through things.
This is where you’ll benefit the most and one of the main reasons why I always say, this is a JOURNEY, not a cure.
You can heal yourself!
*always seek advise from a medical professional in any case that you feel like what you’re experience is something more serious. The after care and advise I give here and throughout my website is not meant to diagnose or prevent or cure any clinical ailments.
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Intention at the Core
Hiking without intention is like walking with the aforementioned notion; that being outdoors is healing in itself. That’s true and important for sure, AND I’m claiming my unique gift of being able to guide others through a healing process that is unapologetic about going inwards for personal growth. I’m focused on my connection to support you in living your their best life and to walk through the trenches and climb up the mountains. In a sense, I’m taking hiking from a recreational activity into a deep healing process. And that requires and demands intentionality.
Intention at the Core
How healing hikes are not your typical experience in nature
My healing hikes go deeper than a walk in nature with a group of like minded folks that seek an escape from the everyday hustle and bustle of life. We go inward from the notion that being outside/doors is healing in itself. During my healing hikes you are actually engaging in a contained self healing process. And it’s a process I guide with ritual and ceremony throughout; from before the hike is scheduled to the moments when we close and I, myself must engage in my own self care to realign my energy.
What I mean by intentionality
From my perspective, hiking with an intention is the most accessible way to reconnect to nature to a point that we are RELEARNING OUR COMMUNICATION to the elements. And to reconnect this way is to practice the very ways our ancestors lived with nature, pre-colonization.
One of the most important steps during the hike is the pause to really think about your intention. “What exactly are you here for? What are you needing from nature today?” I always remind hikers, the more direct (or bottom-lined) your intention, the more access nature has to send you its messages. Hiking without intention is like walking with the aforementioned notion; that being outdoors is healing in itself. That’s true and important for sure, AND I’m claiming my unique gift of being able to guide others through a healing process that is unapologetic about going inwards for personal growth. I’m focused on my connection to support you in living your their best life and to walk through the trenches and climb up the mountains. In a sense, I’m taking hiking from a recreational activity into a deep healing process. And that requires and demands intentionality.
The importance of intentionality being at the core of my hikes is that it heals us as a people on so many levels.
Having an intention during my hikes…
creates a clear purpose for why are you’re even here and you know something is going to happen
creates meaning in the experience and doesn’t waste energy. Nature never wastes energy, it’s just transformed into something else; a law of Nature we often don’t realize or remember. For instance, when we release our trauma/negative energies from our bodies, we ask Nature to take it and transform it to something new
brings back the importance and process of paying more attention to the world around you, resulting in better navigating your world. Essentially it creates more awareness
allows us to practice and reclaim our pre-colonial ways of connecting to nature. It acknowledges that we ALL are indigenous to some land on this planet and ALL had some way, form, ritual, ceremony, tradition that honored and worked in accordance to Nature’s laws and elements. Our ancestors practiced specific rituals and ceremonies, many of them in direct connection to seasons, cosmic events, patterns in the environment, etc… There was intention in everything our ancestors did
allows a process that requires the reconditioning of our instincts and beliefs as our personal power because we’re going back to basics. Instincts, looking at nature, feeling the universality of it, and applying it to your life with intention can heal any broken relationships in our life as well as the disconnection from nature and land caused by colonization. We are a part of nature, so we function as it does.
Intention in all the things
Intention at the core of my hikes is important in getting the most out of the experience and I also want to emphasize how intention is needed in all the things we do, especially for the choices you make for your wellness. Just as I mentioned our ancestors had intention for everything…in today’s world of hyper information, abundance in ways to go about things, and the capitalist system…our ability to hone in on an intention for any one thing gets more difficult.
I see our struggle to regain our ability for intentionality when I see the need for rituals to come back into life. For instance, when clients are challenged with overwhelm or a heavy work load, often times its routine, structure, or balance that is wanted and needed to manage the chaos. This, to me is call to bring in ritual to the day. As a universal approach, ritual is like your quick morning meditation, your breath exercise to ground you mid-day, your soothing stone…whatever it is, we all have a need to find an anchor.
It starts with your intention for that anchor
So, what exactly do you intend to get out of ______________ [insert wellness activity here] _________________?
If you’ve picked up a healing tool like a stone or amulet, what exactly is your intent in using it? How exactly are you connected to it?
Giving yourself permission to take time to really connect to the things we do and choices we make, allows for more power to engage with the tool and its support for us
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Intention at the Core
Hiking without intention is like walking with the aforementioned notion; that being outdoors is healing in itself. That’s true and important for sure, AND I’m claiming my unique gift of being able to guide others through a healing process that is unapologetic about going inwards for personal growth. I’m focused on my connection to support you in living your their best life and to walk through the trenches and climb up the mountains. In a sense, I’m taking hiking from a recreational activity into a deep healing process. And that requires and demands intentionality.
Hiker: Kaya Sattva
Photo: Raynelle Rino
My healing hikes go deeper than a walk in nature with a group of like minded folks that seek an escape from the everyday hustle and bustle of life. We go inward from the notion that being outside/doors is healing in itself. During my healing hikes you are actually engaging in a contained self healing process. And it’s a process I guide with ritual and ceremony throughout; from before the hike is scheduled to the moments when we close and I, myself must engage in my own self care to realign my energy.
What I mean by intentionality
From my perspective, hiking with an intention is the most accessible way to reconnect to nature to a point that we are RELEARNING OUR COMMUNICATION to the elements. And to reconnect this way is to practice the very ways our ancestors lived with nature, pre-colonization.
One of the most important steps during the hike is the pause to really think about your intention. “What exactly are you here for? What are you needing from nature today?” I always remind hikers, the more direct (or bottom-lined) your intention, the more access nature has to send you its messages. Hiking without intention is like walking with the aforementioned notion; that being outdoors is healing in itself. That’s true and important for sure, AND I’m claiming my unique gift of being able to guide others through a healing process that is unapologetic about going inwards for personal growth. I’m focused on my connection to support you in living your their best life and to walk through the trenches and climb up the mountains. In a sense, I’m taking hiking from a recreational activity into a deep healing process. And that requires and demands intentionality.
The importance of intentionality being at the core of my hikes is that it heals us as a people on so many levels.
Having an intention during my hikes…
creates a clear purpose for why are you’re even here and you know something is going to happen
creates meaning in the experience and doesn’t waste energy. Nature never wastes energy, it’s just transformed into something else; a law of Nature we often don’t realize or remember. For instance, when we release our trauma/negative energies from our bodies, we ask Nature to take it and transform it to something new
brings back the importance and process of paying more attention to the world around you, resulting in better navigating your world. Essentially it creates more awareness
allows us to practice and reclaim our pre-colonial ways of connecting to nature. It acknowledges that we ALL are indigenous to some land on this planet and ALL had some way, form, ritual, ceremony, tradition that honored and worked in accordance to Nature’s laws and elements. Our ancestors practiced specific rituals and ceremonies, many of them in direct connection to seasons, cosmic events, patterns in the environment, etc… There was intention in everything our ancestors did
allows a process that requires the reconditioning of our instincts and beliefs as our personal power because we’re going back to basics. Instincts, looking at nature, feeling the universality of it, and applying it to your life with intention can heal any broken relationships in our life as well as the disconnection from nature and land caused by colonization. We are a part of nature, so we function as it does.
Intention in all the things
Intention at the core of my hikes is important in getting the most out of the experience and I also want to emphasize how intention is needed in all the things we do, especially for the choices you make for your wellness. Just as I mentioned our ancestors had intention for everything…in today’s world of hyper information, abundance in ways to go about things, and the capitalist system…our ability to hone in on an intention for any one thing gets more difficult.
I see our struggle to regain our ability for intentionality when I see the need for rituals to come back into life. For instance, when clients are challenged with overwhelm or a heavy work load, often times its routine, structure, or balance that is wanted and needed to manage the chaos. This, to me is call to bring in ritual to the day. As a universal approach, ritual is like your quick morning meditation, your breath exercise to ground you mid-day, your soothing stone…whatever it is, we all have a need to find an anchor.
It starts with your intention for that anchor
So, what exactly do you intend to get out of ______________ [insert wellness activity here] _________________?
If you’ve picked up a healing tool like a stone or amulet, what exactly is your intent in using it? How exactly are you connected to it?