wakethebigdog

Hiking has always been a moving experience for me. I have loved the feeling of accomplishment I get when I overlook a beautiful glacial lake in the Cascades (Washington State, USA), the yellow, orange, and red of Fall foliage in Vermont (USA), and an incredible array of glaciers in the Annapurna Himals of Nepal.

For the last couple years however, this feeling has deepened into a very spiritual experience. This is a common feeling among experienced hikers. As fellow Annapurna hiker Peter says, “Whether they know it or not, everyone on this trek is on a spiritual journey.” I say “experienced” because I think it takes awhile to start to value the walking meditation that naturally begins to occur. Instead of fighting with body and mind to reach the next resting point I try to silence my mind and relax into the joy of the journey. If I can reach this point, I achieve a very heightened state of awareness and all my senses open up.

A particularly moving experience on the Annapurna Circuit is turning the Tibetan prayer wheels that mark the beginning and end of villages along the trek. The prayer wheels of each village are vary unique and reflex the energy of the village that built them. Some elaborate; painted brightly with 50 or more wheels, and some are very simple made of old coffee cans or even just mantras carved on stone.

I feel these prayer wheels are a great example of how one religion’s practice (Buddhism) can invoke a universal spiritual experience. A Christian can turn the wheels and pray to Jesus. A Hindu can chant their favorite mantra. I choose a more silent meditation as I begin the next leg of my journey.

The prayer wheels in the Himalayas make it very easy to channel spiritual energy while you hike, but it’s not hard in other places too. The next time you go, I encourage you to leave the iPod at home, depart from your group a bit, concentrate on your footsteps and breathing, and see what happens.