The Mindful Hiker: On the Trail to Find the Path
By Stephen Altschuler
In The Mindful Hiker: On the Trail to Find the Path, Stephen Altschuler -- author, teacher, counselor, and Tai Chi instructor -- shares in the most beautiful prose the joy he has experienced freeing himself from stress and the chaotic demands of life by hiking the trails of Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California and finding his spiritual path.
He confides that for 20 years Sky Trail has been his trusted companion and even "guru" and explains that whatever sad feelings or joyful ones he brought with him, this trail "did not absorb [his] sufferings but rather showed by example the possibilities in being total" (p. 9) and "how to lead with heart and see soul in every moment, in every activity, in every perception" (p. 10).
Like the Miwok people ten thousand years ago, Sir Francis Drake -- its first European explorer -- both Spanish and Mexican settlers, and later U.S. ranchers, Altschuler has embraced Sky Trail and held it sacred. To him, Sky Trail has been a treasure, a nonjudgmental place for self-exploration, and a place where he found grace.
His intention is not to encourage you to come to Sky Trail as "an obvious spiritual landmark like Mecca or Lourdes or the Wailing Wall or the Potala Palace" (p.16). Instead, Altschuler invites you to search carefully to find your own sacred spot in nature, or wherever you can, and to develop a relationship with it.
When you find your place, you can let go of stress and worry and feelings of both success and failure and find your connectedness to the universe and be in the here and now at peace with yourself and the world. Like Van Leuven, between chapters, Altshculer suggests thought-provoking questions, asks you to keep a journal, and further encourages you to explore to find your path. You will be inspired by every beautiful word of The Mindful Hiker: On the Trail to Find the Path by Stephen Altschuler.
Linda Davis Kyle, Reviewer
Midwest Book Review
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