*Mindful Nature Journaling Hikes are a part of New York City Natural, a project exploring and celebrating NYC's parks and green spaces.

Mindful Nature Journaling Hikes engage participants with nature threefold; the hike immerses participants in natural surroundings, the meditation tunes the nervous system into nature’s wavelength, and the journaling provides the means to closely observe and thereby connect more deeply with nature.

Each hike is 1 1/2 hours total; we hike 30 minutes into a green space, pause at a quiet spot, and sit for a 5 minute guided mediation followed by a 20-30 minute nature journaling session whereby participants sketch, write, doodle, and/or notate their impressions.

Through observational journaling, a symbiosis occurs between observer and subject, that is, our attention enlivens the natural subject matter we are looking at and it reciprocates by showing us more. Put another way, the act of quieting down and focusing our attention sharpens our senses allowing more details of nature to reveal themselves. For example, while drawing a plant one may begin to notice such things as tiny hairs on a stem, a subtle scalloping of leaf edges, or a tiny insect in the pistol of a flower, things we may not see at first glance or in a photograph. Often, while journaling in nature, birds and insects creep in closer and sounds of the natural world, seemingly, raise their volume, it can be quite magical. It’s an exciting exchange whereby we simultaneously feel our separateness as a specices and also our unity as a collective expression of the natural world.

To begin the journaling session participants are encouraged to note the quality of the atmosphere (temperature, air quality, weather) as well as the date, time, season, and place, after which they may sketch, doodle, notate, and/or write about whatever aspects they’d like whether it’s an acorn, a tree, or a whole forest vista. If they are not confident in their drawing ability I encourage blind contour drawing or tracing bits of nature into the journal with written descriptions (leaves, branches, flowers, etc.). Others may choose to write in their journal but if they are not confident in their writing skills I suggest writing a simple haiku, bullet point notations, or a stream of consciousness. Anything that puts pencil to paper while simultaneously focusing on the natural surroundings for 20-30 uninterrupted minutes.

After the the hike and journaling session people report feeling many things including; calm, peaceful, grounded, inspired, energized, alert, more alive, de-stressed, awakened, and more connected to nature as well as having learned about the particular natural area and it’s ecosystems.