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Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > Mind, body, spirit: thought & practice > General
What does it mean to 'Create a Trinity Lifestyle?' It is
cultivating a lifestyle that is centered, balanced and renewing. It
is purposing to have a lifestyle that is determined, disciplined
and devoted. It is maintaining a lifestyle that can be shockingly
simple yet deeply healing and restorative. It is to evaluate your
life regularly and take risks. It is to realize you are not alone.
It is to know your actions affect yourself and others but more than
that, those same actions reflect your attitude and values. Are you
ready to Create a Trinity Lifestyle? But know what you learn may
forever change the 'soil of your life.'
The Appalachian Trail covers 2,180 miles, passing through fourteen
states from Georgia to Maine. Each year, an estimated 2-3 million
people visit the trail, and almost two thousand attempt a
"thru-hike," walking the entire distance of the path. For many, the
journey transcends a mere walk in the woods and becomes a
modern-day pilgrimage. In The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail:
Community, Environment, and Belief, Susan Power Bratton addresses
the spiritual dimensions of hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT).
Hikers often comment on how their experience as thru-hikers changes
them spiritually forever, but this is the first study to evaluate
these religious or quasi-religious claims critically. Rather than
ask if wilderness and outdoor recreation have benefits for the
soul, this volume investigates specifically how long-distance
walking might enhance both body and mind. Most who are familiar
with the AT sense intuitively that a trek along its length kindles
spiritual awakening. Using both a quantitative and qualitative
approach, this book provides the hard data to support this notion.
Bratton bases her work on five sources: an exhaustive survey of
long-distance AT hikers, published trail diaries and memoirs,
hikers' own logs and postings, her own personal observations from
many years on the trail, and conversations with numerous members of
the AT community, including the "trail angels," residents of small
towns along the path who attend to hikers? need for food, shelter,
or medical attention. The abundant photographs reinforce the text
and enable visualization of the cultural and natural context. This
volume is fully indexed with extensive reference and notes sections
and detailed appendixes. Written in an engaging and accessible
style, The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail presents a full picture
of the spirituality of the AT.
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