by Jean Eis

The Tootsie Roll Trail

Winding, rocky, rooted path

Walk gently on you.

by Ruth Smith

I share with you several treats of nature I photographed during my four hour Soul Walk. During this time with nature, I felt a range of emotions flow through my body. I’ve never spent this amount of time with nature, slowing down enough to respect my feelings and body, and allowing my feet to step tenderly, one step at a time.

by Rachel Malpasso

I’m waiting for the birds to join me at their feeder.

I’m trying to be patient,

Quiet,

Relatively still.

by Sarah Alvestad

My growth ring project is finished and like much in life, it turned out differently than I had originally planned.

by Nicole Kaye

Apart from the woods

I had lost myself,

Entangled, and mind-bound

by Suzanne VanOver

During my soul walk, this mother tree revealed a parent embracing a child and that with consciousness, there is safety.

by Johanna Bowen

I awake to the alarm

Of a cricket

by Whitney Wallace

I’ve always been attracted to the stones.

To the rocks.

I would collect them in my pockets and my mother,

much to her dismay,

would find them rattling around,

forgotten,

in the washing machine.

by Marion Kastner

When we slow down and take time to notice, we experience so much more.

by Laura Transue

sometimes it feels like

jumping off a cliff

being more than human

being blessed with worthiness

by Shawn Ramsey

I struggle to relax as I enter the forest

Fidgety and anxious

Unsure about this assignment

Featured article in the January/February 2023 edition of Forest Landowner’s magazine

by Glenna Lee

I came to the forest to watch a leaf fall.

Last year, I watched leaves land,

Altogether a different miracle.

by Mary Judd-Pechie

Many years ago, Tree lived alone in the Forest. Tree stood tall and proud, reaching up to Sky, Sun, Clouds, Moon, and Stars. Tree was content.

Then one day Lichen came along. “Tree”, said Lichen, “Are you lonely here, reaching up to Sky, Sun, Clouds, Moon, and Stars?” “No”, said Tree, “I am content- are you lonely, Lichen?”

by Cara Hatch

I don’t know where I’m going but I know I’m not lost.

This knowing flooded my body and mind at approximately hour 3 of my Soul Walk. I was walking down a rocky hill in the middle of Murphy Hanrehan Park in Prior Lake, MN having already meandered through about 7 miles of hiking trails. I’m not the best trail map (or any map) reader and I’d never spent this much time solo, with nature before.

by Irena Nayfeld

Can it be possible that all my walks are soul walks?

Can it be true that I move from nothing but soul?

No “shoulds”, no clocks, no obligations

I am on a permanent soulwalk

Where my soulfeet lead, I go

by Nora Palmer

These recipes were inspired by a week’s worth of daily “sit spot”, a core practice of forest therapy.

by Lynette Griffin

The Earth offers peace

Forest Bathing relaxes

Delight in beauty.

by Gerald Vance

What happens when we intentionally spend two hundred forty minutes in nature? What possibilities would be created by being immersed in the ambiance of the natural world without expectations, free from judging and judgment, and emotionally vulnerable…simply being?