A Sacred Saunter with Dr. Mattie Decker

Join us for a special Sacred Saunter session of Forest Bathing. Dr. Mattie Decker will lead a saunter on the trails and grounds of the Light Center. Sacred Saunters provide space for contemplation and reflection in nature, opening and closing with a sharing circle. This is a way of experiencing Nature as Spiritual Practice. Mattie allows plenty of space for individual exploration in ways that respect each person’s unique needs. This event is a collaboration with Conserving Carolina and the Episcopal Transfiguration Preserve.

“People ought to saunter – not hike! Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, “A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these [trees] are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”- John Muir

Mattie is a certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide. She is also a Zen practitioner, an Episcopal oblate with the Sisters of Transfiguration Preserve, a retired education professor, and is certified in wilderness first aid. Forest bathing is a practice from Japan that has been gaining attention in the West.

Please register by Thursday, June 6. Suggested donation: Advance $25; onsite $30.

To make a donation and reserve your spot, click here: