Announcing Seasonal Walking Events- Daylong Walking Retreats in Portola Valley Hills, CA

Join me for a series of four seasonal contemplative walks in a beautiful landscape!

We will walk the same trails each season in an area with diverse environments including forest, chaparral, streams and ponds. With a distance of about 6 miles, it’s a walk of moderate difficulty with some elevation - an evocative path for a journey through the four seasons. Walking the same route each season -often completely in silence- supports self-reflection, witnessing and observation. On this walk, you will experience what it is to be on a pilgrimage and to allow nature to touch you in a deep way.

In addition to walking in silence, the walk may include a guided meditation, a contemplative nature practice, the reading of poetry and sharing circles.

Be a pilgrim for a day: leave your phone behind and be ready to slow down, to fully engage your senses and to be amazed by the beauty that exists in the natural world. Come home refreshed and reconnected to yourself, others and nature, ready to fully engage your whole self to life.

These walks are open to self-identified women of all ages and backgrounds. The only requirement is that you are able to walk the distance and stay with the group. Bring a lunch, plenty of water and hiking poles if you need them.

Any questions, please contact me.

Dates:
Winter- February 15
Spring- May 9
Summer- August 22
Fall- November 7

Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Group Size: 6 to 12
Location: Portola Valley
Cost: sliding scale (suggested donation of $10 to $35 per walk). No one will be turned away for lack of funds. It is in the spirit of generosity that I embrace the 2500-year-old Buddhist tradition of dana and provide these events freely to all who are interested.

Cancellation: No refunds for cancellations made 7 days before the walk.

Registration: Register here for all four or any of the events.


Solvitur Ambulando- A New Coaching Offering for the New Year

Solvitur Ambulando- A New Coaching Offering for the New Year

Solvitur Ambulando is a Latin phrase that usually translates as “it’s solved by walking”. My eponymous new coaching offering is a coaching session that is conducted while walking together in nature. I am offering it in response to what I have recently witnessed in my coaching practice: clients prone to anxiety, restlessness, sleeping difficulties, tied to their electronic devices and social media apps with little time for exercise, self-reflection, let alone time outdoors, and as a result not prone to engage in a self-development program while still looking to grow and get answers to some deep questioning. So, I am adding to my life coaching programs and walking events, a simple coaching while walking offering that can be purchased in single or multiple sessions. While walking with me as your life coach, my intention is for you to experience a different way of being, to learn to be more grounded and present, to ease your anxiety, to increase your creativity, to be more resourceful, and to learn a new practice that will support you for life.

What Good is a Book of Poems? by Hafez

What good is a book of poems if you are
reading it while riding

in the back of a wagon that is heading toward
the edge of a cliff?

A greater awareness is what our relationship
is supposed to be about.

I was hoping something I might have said by
now could have made you stop, get your bearings,

and start traveling in a direction that will yield
lots of fruit. May be you are? That would be nice.

A Year with Hafiz- Daily Contemplations - Daniel Landinsky

i have a small heart

わたしのチイサナココロ [i have a small heart] is a short documentary accompanying one woman's journey along the Kumano Kodo through the Kii mountains of Japan. This ancient pilgrimage route, one of only two Unesco World Heritage pilgrimage sites in the world, is considered the spiritual heart of Japan.

Bajir Cannon/ Maki Itami Cannon/ Megumi Ueno