Meditations on the Trail: A Guidebook for Self-Discovery

by Christopher Ives

Overview

Discover how to explore and deepen your connection to nature with a rich array of do-anywhere meditations.

Meditations on the Trail offers a rich array of do-anywhere meditations that will help you explore and deepen your connection to nature, and yourself, in new ways, making the most of your time on the trail.

This small book—perfect for throwing in a daypack or a back pocket as you head out for the trail—is filled with practices to take you into the heart of the natural world and uncover your most vibrant self. You’ll return home grateful, more aware of interconnection, and maybe just a little wiser.

“For walkers of all paces and geographies, this lovely book is a helpful guide for savoring moments on the trail, and feeling how deeply related we are to all existence.”—Stephanie Kaza, author of Conversations with Trees: An Intimate Ecology

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614297529
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	05/11/2021
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Christopher Ives is a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. In his teaching and writing, he focuses on ethics in Zen Buddhism and Buddhist approaches to nature and environmental issues. His publications include Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage; Meditations on the Trail: A Guidebook for Self-Discovery; Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics; Zen Awakening and Society; a translation (with Masao Abe) of Nishida Kitaro’s An Inquiry into the Good; a translation (with Gishin Tokiwa) of Shin’ichi Hisamatsu’s Critical Sermons of the Zen Tradition. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Mindful Packing 1

2 Pausing at the Gate 7

3 Connecting through Your Senses 13

4 Moving at 80 Percent 19

5 Pouring Yourself into Walking 23

6 Doing Tasks as Meditation 29

7 Feeling Embodied 33

8 Being an Animal in the Woods 37

9 Exchanging Air with Trees 43

10 Realizing Interbeing and Expressing Gratitude 51

11 Settling into the Rhythm of Walking and Letting Go 59

12 Walking as Flow 63

13 Monitoring Thoughts 69

14 Intuiting the Unborn 73

15 Extending Outward 77

16 Opening Up Sky Mind 81

17 Getting Filled 85

18 Extending and Enveloping 89

19 Presencing 91

20 Sitting Still and Taking In What's Happening 97

21 Extending Loving-Kindness 101

22 Leaving No Trace 105

23 Slowing Down on the Way Out 109

24 Concluding the Hike 113

Appendix: Seated Meditation 117

Notes by Page Number 121

Bibliography 127

Further Reading 131

About the Author 133

Editorial Reviews

Practical, elegant, and personal, Christopher Ives’ book is a treasure, transporting our hikes into the ordinary profundity of Zen practice. It will certainly be in my backpack!

Judith Simmer-Brown

For walkers of all paces and geographies, this lovely book is a helpful guide for savoring moments on the trail, and feeling how deeply related we are to all existence.

Stephanie Kaza

“Meditations on the Trail is a guidebook to hiking as a spiritual practice that can nurture our capacities for attention, presence, and joy. Ives offers us a sparkling net of Dharma jewels: traditional teachings made accessible through practices that cultivate deep connection with the pulsing matrix of life that envelops and supports us.

William Edelglass