In 2023, I began a nature based spiritual practice. During my first 12 week course in the spring, one of my practices was the soul wander in wild nature. Over the years, I have become skilled in this practice. I enter into a meditative state of mind while in motion.

Today, I awake to a heavy snow fall blanketing the earth. I step outside to feel the cool air on my cheeks and feel the quiet of the snow. The air is crisp to breathe. I feel invigorated. Alive. The blood curses through my veins keeping my body warm. I walk slowly. With owl eyes I experience the woodland all around me. I lift my feet mindfully stepping over the snow-covered trunks and branches on the ground. I leave my tracks in the snow up the ridge. Deer and squirrel tracks crisscross over my path I leave behind. I can hear the songs of winter resident birds in the distance. I look back and can see my tracks being erased by the heavy snowfall. I continue up the ridge, then around the backside and turn downhill into the bog, now frozen beneath the snow.

With the shorter days and colder temperature of winter, I retreat from a busy schedule and allow time for myself outside. I feel a strong urge to continue my wandering and meditations outdoors, even on the coldest days. Today with the heavy snowfall, the wander is pure magic.

The randomness of the branch patterns and fallen tree trunks on the ground are now a continuous white landscape. Looking through the woodlands, the branches appear as woven patterns drawn against a light grey sky. The snow is now falling in large crystalline shapes—a white glitter of snowflakes. The flakes melt on my upturned palm. Accumulation on the branches appears like painted white outlines. I marvel at this wonderland. This angelic woodland that muffles the distant sounds of the train running along the Hudson River.

In the woods, I leave the world behind: of work, of politics, of family. I enter into an altered state-of-mind. I’m in a dream state where I see myself wandering in a labyrinth of trees. Time is suspended. The physical world around me is metaphysical. Buildings and roads have disappeared. Paths are hidden. Names of places become insignificant. My neuropathways are rerouted. Reason fades away. I’m in the present moment. My expectations are relaxed. I slow my walk to a trance-like pace. I can see myself from above. The earth is buried beneath the snow. I am alone and trudging through the forest. The solitude is divine. I am…here. I reach out to grasp the snow falling from above and have a sudden realization that this place existed before me and will long outlive me. In this thought, I feel a sense of peace.