A slow trek, contemplating Nature and Resilience

It may be the same country but the food, language and culture is totally different. Nature dictates how humans live up in the mountains. The mountains and nature can teach us a kind of inner and outer resilience that will help us live happier and more sustainable lives no matter where we are. On top of it, we learn to live without the modern conveniences of phones, computers and Internet. Even the toilet is different!

Ajay Rastogi and the Vrikshalaya centre team recently accompanied school kids on a trek to learn Resilient Leadership. This is education at the far edge: it brings us back in touch with ourselves and brigs an awareness of how being out here closer to nature ‘feels’ in the head, the heart and the hands.

What is the quality of the feelings in physical discomfort? How can we stay calm in the face of mental and emotional challenges? How do we see our relationships with each other after we have been close to our friends and classmates on a journey from camp to camp and village to village?

For most kids this is the first time in their lives that they have slept outside or been out in the wilderness. The knowledge they gain from the experience can’t be quantified – we embrace diversity not by knowing but being out in Nature.

We also learn about our own needs, the feeling of catching your breath or searching for a glove in your layers of jackets with fingers that are numb from the cold. Suddenly we gain an appreciation of what we have. These values can only be felt and understood experientially; it is definitely hard to know through description or theory.

Waking up to dazzling snow clad mountains, and resting with the multi-coloured sunsets. Waking up early in the morning, shivering and searching for the lost cap inside your sleeping bag. Stepping outside to catch a glimpse of those beautiful first rays of sun that melt the mountain in a golden glow.

Are all these phenomena happenings that connect our inner worlds with the universe that we are part of. A mindful explorer can feel the quality of being. How good it feels to simply be alive. This connection to the outside nature, the macrocosm and the human being, and the microcosm is very deep and intimate. It’s the essence of the several contemplation of nature sessions and discussions the kids had during the course of the five day slow walk.

Thanks to everyone at Tatva School, Chennai for coming so far and walking together. You are all amazing! Never forget to nourish the spirit of inquiry in yourselves through thick and thin! You have an innate way that knowing that emanates love– gratitude for carrying on the light of the Waldorf education.