7 Ways Hiking Benefits Your Body, Mind and Spirit

. Hiking on uneven surfaces, like trails, requires muscles in the legs, hips, abdomen, and back to keep you striding along and not stumbling.: Hiking in the great outdoors offers a chance to inhale deeply the smells of the woods, listen to the chorus of birds, insects, and other animals, and observe how all the flora and fauna join together in forming an interesting and colorful habitat.

The seventh benefit of hiking, a bit more abstract, came to me during yesterday’s hike at a place called, in Groton, Conn. I hadn’t hiked this trail since spring. Now it was October and the trails were covered in fallen leaves. There were no blue or yellow blazes on the trees to guide me, as there had been on the trail I'd hiked the previous day.

A few times it seemed the trail could have gone in any of several directions. Without clear markers, I had to payto flattened leaves that indicated where others had gone before, marking the right way to follow. It occurred to me that in life, when there are no blazes on the trees to guide us, when the trail is covered in fallen leaves, we have to look for the metaphorical"flattened leaves" others have left to help direct us. We watch how they live and read or listen to their words for guidance.

It also occurred to me that the imprints of my own feet were contributing toward marking the trail for those who will follow. Hiking, you see, isn't only about exercise or fresh air. It's also about life and staying connected to what Thoreau called wildness, the naturalness of nature that stands ready when we are, to remind us there's a bigger picture that our quotidian worries often don't let us see.

mbcraymond JMAndriote

JMAndriote Nature is unfairly overlooked when it comes to mental health.

JMAndriote Wonderful! Thank you for sharing!

JMAndriote nwi_jsp ♥️💕

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Jessica Alba Might Have Saved You From Blisters on Your Next Hiking TripJessica Alba took to Instagram this week to share her preferred method for combating blisters on hiking trips.
Source: POPSUGAR Fitness - 🏆 401. / 53 Read more »

Creative Ways To Stay Active While Working From HomeFortunately, there are ways to prevent all of one’s muscles from atrophying while working from home indefinitely. 💟🕉️☮️
Source: ForbesWomen - 🏆 477. / 51 Read more »

7 Ways to Make Your Move More Eco-FriendlyA very useful list of small-but-impactful packing swaps. This tweet from is retweeted via foods_HQ which tracks selected cooking related handles and retweets them 24x7. Follow to be always up to date with everything happening in the food world. Retweet and spread the word.
Source: Food52 - 🏆 113. / 63 Read more »

5 Ways to Improve Your Gut Health, Other Than Eating YogurtGrowing up, whenever I felt like my gut health was out of whack, I was told to grab a probiotic-rich yogurt out of the fridge — and that was the end of
Source: POPSUGAR Fitness - 🏆 401. / 53 Read more »

1,000 Ways to Love Rasam—Southern India’s Signature Peppery Broth'Rasam Digest,' an encyclopedic book by Usha Prabhakaran, is set to give the ancient, versatile, culture-melding dish its due. RMercado_PR Parece sabroso My all time favorite BourbonGirl76 Any link to buy the book?
Source: Food52 - 🏆 113. / 63 Read more »

5 ways freelancers can increase cash flow while their income is down - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web. Ditch the financial planner
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »