Bringing yoga to hiking

Feeling the warmth of the sun on your face. Feeling the roots of trees under your feet. Hearing the leaves whispering. Feeling the body move at ease. Having a goal. To the top of that mountain. Not knowing how the body will respond or how tired it will get until tomorrow. Letting go of fear. Noticing I’m high and that I’m eager and want to climb quickly.

Like the typical stress A personality that wants to reach the goal without caring too much about the process.

But I do care about the process. I need to be in the process, I need to be in the now. So I force myself to stop; I watch the orange and white butterflies dance. I stop and hear the woodpecker and then I see it hammering close to me, and it reminds me of my first year of concussion when woodpeckers appeared on a weekly basis. For me they have a message: “keep up. Do not give up.”

It makes me happy to be still with nature and just observing. Stopping to watch the view and regulate my pulse. Talking to strangers. Beautiful encounters. Also noticing how some women look down avoiding eye contact. Finally reaching the top and lunching to a beautiful view. Feeling blissfully happy to be back hiking again. Finally taking advantage of living at the bottom of a mountain. Enjoying being able to sweat again, testing the pulse.

But most of all just enjoying and being in the moment. Yoga is not limited to the classroom: it is when you through practice remember to apply it in other situations than on your mat, that life becomes more blissful.