What to Expect on a SING
Each SING (Spirituality in Nature Group) begins with a welcome and safety orientation to the days event. Events are generally 2 - 3 hours in length. Events are rated based on trail or water conditions: 'easy, moderate or challenging'. A SING event generally focuses on cultivating a contemplative spirit while on the trail or on water. Events may include a suggested meditative practice.
Most events are free, a few may have a rental fee for equipment or parking. Registration link is at our Events/Register tab. Note: While safety is a priority, each event provides a liability waiver, acknowledging that any outdoor event provides some element of risk and that participants will hold leaders and partner organizations harmless. Each event has a maximum for participants, RSVP go to: Program tab.
Meditative Practices for the Trail or Water
Reflecting on a Wisdom Reading
Option 1: To help ease into a spirit of listening and noticing we may share in Lectio Divina an ancient practice of listening to a piece of sacred wisdom, read three times over the course of our hike/paddle. Each reading includes a question, followed by a time of hiking or paddling in silence.
In this way our hike/paddle is accompanied and shaped by the wisdom reading, your own thoughts and being in nature.
Wisdom readings are drawn from a variety of sources, examples include: Poet Mary Oliver; indigenous elder Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass); 12th century Christian mystic Hildegard of Bingen; Celtic mystic John O’Donohue; environmental prophets John Muir, Terry Tempest Williams.
Being present
Option 2: Being in the Moment. Listening, noticing, responding are the essentials of the spiritual life and for experiencing the wonders of nature. To help us we may be accompanied by a meditation mantra fromThich Nhat Hahn (Buddhist monk and teacher); or, Centering Prayer a simple yet profound way of helping us live in the now (from Trappist monk Thomas Keating).
Each hike/snowshoe or paddle event concludes with a ritual of honoring our time together. People are invited to share, if they wish, something special they noticed, surprised by or grateful for, from our time on the trail/water.
