Hiking is a refreshing activity that not many would form an alliance with. Yet, it is blissful because of the various discoveries one could make while hiking. Hiking introduces you to a breath of fresh air from your buzzing mind, responsibilities, and stressors and has the potential to make you feel alive, especially when you take a look at your location– whether it is on a certain mountain or a reserve, where you can see everything around you. Hiking is not just a sport. It is a discovery of yourself and your location. While this would not really feel like a mindful thing to do, it very much is, especially when you unwind from your thoughts, and your agendas and just embrace nature and its superpowers.
Brief Definition of Hiking
Hiking is a sport that involves discovering various natural places and walking – or hiking – in them. To hike professionally differs from a regular walk in that there are certain items an individual must make use of, such as hiking shoes, a hiking stick, and the ability to navigate the way through a natural setting or location. There are specific items pertaining to hiking because hiking is not an easy sport, and it takes time to get used to it. Of course, there are easy hiking trails that are for amateurs in the sport, yet, typically, hiking takes some getting used to.
Hiking as Meditation
In fact, hiking is considered as a meditative practice – being so far away from the traffic that inhibits our lives and so close to our natural surroundings, valleys, mountains, and cliffs is surreal and uplifting to our spirits. When we are separated from our “outside world”, that is the first step that makes hiking meditative. A second thing that makes hiking meditative is that we step out of our thoughts while hiking – or, at least, we should be doing this.
Steps to Hike in a More “Mindful” Way
There are various steps we should consider in order to make our hikes more mindful and worth it. There include –
- Staying in the present. Be aware of where you are hiking and to your physical body as it is walking – the way your muscles contract, for example. Be aware of the breaths you are taking and repeat certain affirmations in your mind to stay focused on where you are hiking.
- We should always be aware of our surroundings, especially given that we are trudging on a beautiful piece of land. We should use our five senses to feel the land around us.
- Hike with your thoughts dedicated to someone you love and care about. Your hike in this way would turn intentional and is extremely beneficial to enhance your patience, perseverance, and positivity. Then, change these positive thoughts about your loved one to ones about yourself.
Hiking is an experience to remember. While there are many experienced trails that not every person is able to go on, there are a variety of alternatives for beginners. This experience should be one that everyone should try atleast once in their lives in order to develop a sense of ease that one is prone to when hiking.