Have you ever felt like you were drowning under water, as if you could not come up for air, like you were in a fog that was crushing you until you can hardly breathe?
I lost my best friend, my mother over 22 years ago. I am one of the fortunate ones who truly loved my mom. I not only adored her, but I looked up to her. Our love affair was cut short when I lost her to cancer at the age of 58.
I knew at that time I would forever be different, just… different. When a loved one becomes sick, life as you know it dramatically changes. When you watch a parent die, a part of you dies right alongside them. You have to adjust to this new normal of living without her, and just like that, overnight. It is very sudden, nothing can prepare you for the pain that is to come. You try your best to go through the motions of life as I was just getting married, but it is next to impossible to not feel the loss. It was all consuming.
I needed to process how I was going to live, how I was going to feel. I was terrified of losing her. The one thing my mom did not teach me was how to survive without her. I felt an unbearable pain that ripped through me at every waking minute and I carried this pain through much of my adulthood until I found..the great outdoors.
Hi I’m Lisa, I am a mother of 2 incredible kids, and a wife of 22 years to an amazing partner and friend. It was after the loss of my mom, over 22 years ago to cancer it took all my strength to forge ahead. You see when a parent dies, part of your heart will always be broken. In that time of unbearable grief, I started on my path of self-discovery and self-love, and learned how a hike changed the trajectory of my life as I once knew it.
HOW A HIKE CHANGED THE COURSE OF MY LIFE AS I KNEW IT
A friend suggested I get outdoors and go for a hike with her. I didn’t know at that time how this hike, the one that got me out of bed, would change the course of my life.
WHAT DID HIKING HAVE TO TEACH ME?
What I learned was that I absolutely loved hiking and being out in nature, but mostly I loved what hiking had to teach me. Hiking forces you to go within, be in the moment and be away from the noise in our lives. It puts you in the present moment because you are forced to be there, to be raw and real with yourself and with others.
HIKING IS MY MOVING THERAPY
I noticed that when I hiked and was out in the wide-open space, breathing fresh air and surrounded by beauty and nature, I started to feel better mentally as well as physically, I was getting stronger in my body as well as my mind, and I started to heal trail after trail, and it was in these moments, hiking with friends, alone, with my hubby and my dog, I started to feel alive again. I learned a lot about loss and grief, and that we are never alone in all of this. Hiking is my moving meditation, my moving therapy.
I have been hiking for over 20 years now. I wanted to shout out to the world the experience I had and what hiking taught me about life, health, love, loss, sadness and happiness, and how it changed everything for me. And it can for you too. I started to think about all the people I can empower with what I learned so they don’t feel alone in their struggles or challenges, all through the healing power of nature and being outdoors. These trails have given me so much and I wanted to share this knowledge, I just needed a platform to do it.
So, went back to school 2 years ago to become a health coach and it was here that I found my trail, working alongside women to guide them to their own greatness and that is how Finding Your Trail Hiking Program was born!
FIND YOUR TRAIL IN 6 WEEKS
Today, I guide small groups of women through the trails of Los Angeles where I challenge them physically through hiking, emotionally through sharing and connection and spiritually through meditation for a 6-week (once-a-week) empowerment course.
FYT gives you this sense of togetherness we are missing, a sense of community. FYT is a community and what we all have is discovered is:
1. we are never alone
2. we need our sisters
3. we crave deeper connection with one another
4. we have lost the art of togetherness with our cell phones and computers
5. When women come together the magic happens
6. we are never stuck
7. There is always tomorrow
8. There is always a new way to think about things
Each and every one of us have struggles; we may have bad days, bad months or even a bad year, and in my case many years, but when we step out onto those trails and get outside we feel… Liberated. Strong. Centered. Empowered. Grounded. I have witnessed it time and time again.
Sometimes you need to step outside, get out of bed, get some air and remind yourself who you want to be.
Sometimes all it takes is a hike.
What is your moving therapy?
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