This Dharma Thought brought to you by Steve Allison-Bunnell of the Joining Rivers Sangha which meets Mondays at 7 PM.
A hike can be a great opportunity to visit with a companion or daydream. It can also be a wonderful walking meditation, easily experiencing presence and increasing our awareness of what is around us. Earlier this month hiking up New World Gulch, I enjoyed friendly silence with my spouse, spreading my attention throughout the forest. Without being able to identify them all, I noticed being surrounded by many birds, all calling back and forth. I began to see green huckleberries plumping on the bushes. This soft immersion, rather than hyper-vigilance (“Is there a bear there?!”) was rewarded when, almost back to the car, a motion in a tree turned out to be a pine marten. This was a first after over 25 years in Montana, and we all stood still, watching each other with curiosity. How do you nourish your immersion in the world around you? Where is your favorite place in nature to experience Interbeing?