From first experience to immersion
My independent nature hiking started at the age of 17 with my first backpacking trip with my best friend. We set off for Seitseminen National Park, with poor equipment, before mobile phone time. No idea how we even knew how to navigate, or how to manage water and food supply. We survived for three days somehow, and no one at home even knew to worry.
Since then, nature has captivated me more and more.
Hot days in the archipelago, in the sun. The smell of salt and sea and sea breeze. The smell of pine needles on a hot rock burning your toes. Skin that reddens too much. The sting of salt in your eyes as you swim, the waves lapping against the bow of your boat. The best of summers.
I grew up between two lakes, in Tampere. The sea has become my friend in Helsinki. Saimaa is the biggest summer cottage landscape of my dreams. Punkaharju is always calling me again. And Huuhanranta, kilometres long! Sunset in summer in Järvi-Finland with the cry of the loon, preferably watched from the terrace of the sauna, splashing mosquitoes. The trampling of fish in the shore water. Swimming naked as bird's milk, the taste of humus in my mouth, I am part of the landscape bodily.
I experienced my first nights alone in the forest a few years ago, when I started camping again after a break of many years. Excitement, bad dreams, fear, cold, how could the waves be so loud, birds be quiet, why didn't I go deeper into the forest. Is someone coming. I imagine. Did I remember to hang my backpack in a tree for safety from the mice? Shall I go back to the car? In the morning, a regal scene at the breakfast table on a "private lot". Wise for fatigue. I did it! My fear of the dark woods was at least reduced, if not completely eliminated.
On my last burn-out holiday, I instinctively took the first ferry to the scenic Vallisaari off the coast of Helsinki. On a weekday in May, there was no one there but me. I breathed in the sea breeze, looked out to sea and let go, walking all day in the waves, letting nature love the broken. After a month's rest, I gradually began to make a holistic life change, first by taking up exercise, getting more sleep and reviewing my eating. Then it was time for more radical life changes.
Sometimes the greatest adventures are found close by. The "Lapland wilderness" can be found in the secret, unknown lakes and bogs of Espoo, where I have sometimes taken my bike with a map and adventured. What a surprise, I also bump into hunters! Finland's second largest city is surprisingly desert-like.
At Torronsuo, the record depth and age of the bog is striking. The smell of swamp pepper, it hits you with equal intoxication every time. I peer down the long branches at cranberries and lacquers, marvel at the different coloured red mosses. An ancient, mysterious marsh with its buds.
A splash of rain on the roof of a tent or cabin - a classic treat. Meditation too, at its best leading to a nap.
It was only a couple of years ago that I realised that the forest is green even in November! In my mind, the dark winter was immediately shortened by a month and my outdoor activities continued well into autumn. Nature in its winter dormancy has its own symbolism and its own message of rest and seasonal change.
Other memorable experiences include a staring contest with a deer on the edge of a golf course. Or a fox watching my house, whose rounds are almost on the clock every night. And the nightingale nesting in the bush next door, which roars through the walls every spring so loudly that I can't sleep.
Secretly, sometimes you have to go for a run pause to say hello to a tree. The peace and power of old spruce trees, which inspire running and skiing. By hugging a tree, I feel connected to the whole body of life, and almost every time I want to shed a tear of emotion that is hard to put into words. Relief, connection, security, acceptance as small, respect, gratitude, comfort.
And the berry giants, tempting you to explore one more, not this one, but that one - come on mum! A hunt where no backache is felt until the next day.
Rowing as hard as you can with your children to escape a sudden thunderstorm - respect and humility towards the forces of nature.
Many, many solitary walks in the nature trails of my hometown, in the woods, on the sea ice. In nature, I never feel alone or isolated. If I don't get to a nature spot at least once a week, my mind goes blank.
The sadness of not having understood enough in time and enough to get out into nature! It wasn't until I was 38 that a new dawn came. The sadness of being chained to the city, still is. A cottage craving that hasn't been fulfilled - yet. On the other hand, with every man's right, the whole forest is my kingdom already. How wonderful. There is time, God willing.
Can you dance in nature? Of course! Forest rave! Finally I dared to go. The pine forest is the best platform for your feet and back for all-night trance dancing, absolutely sober, of course. I've had enough of this sport for one year.
A few years ago I discovered forest seeds. That's when I really started to immerse myself in nature and the forest. I had an awe-inspiring experience: I was not alone in experiencing the magic of nature or in seeking meditative states of consciousness. It was just that I had never had a name for my experiences before, or they had been so personal, related to my childhood and youth, that I hadn't realised that it was something universal and very necessary for our minds. It is an age-old phenomenon, but tradition and changing lifestyles threaten to cut off access to these deeply meaningful experiences for everyone. Not everyone has family in the countryside, or a cottage, or the financial means to go hiking or trekking far from home. Yet the same experiences can be achieved inwardly close by - and in less time.
And how powerful those experiences can be. How I really melted into the rock, sank into the earth and flew up to the heights. In the Forest Mind exercises, I saw the details of nature in an amazing way, I really saw them, as if for the very first time. It opened up a whole new level of experience, presence and sensation. And how easy it was in the end! Just a few minutes of stopping and concentrating, and you are on another, more beneficial frequency. This is something everyone should experience.
I confess that I am still in a kind of ecstatic phase. A wanna-be moss preacher - ha!
