
In 2006 Stephen Legault experienced a period of tremendous upheaval, the result of bad decisions and a lifetime of anger and fear that left him in a deep depression, struggling to come to terms with the choices he had made. While running on a sun-dappled trail around Victoria’s iconic Mount Doug he realized that, like so many other people, he felt alone and afraid and was suffering, and that he had to do something about it. Having been toying with meditation for years and studying the teaching of the Buddha since he was a teenager, Stephen decided to address his suffering by dedicating himself more fully to a spiritual practice. One half of that practice was sitting still in meditation. The other half was running up and over southern Vancouver Island’s rocky domes of arbutus and Garry oak.
Illustrated throughout with colour photographs highlighting the tranquil beauty of India, the American Southwest, Canada’s West Coast and the wild landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, Running Toward Stillness is an invitation to run through the woods, along the seashore and on mountain trails in order to experience moments of sublime delight, to share the imperfect insights gained on the trail and while sitting in meditation, and to learn that while we all suffer, we can learn to understand the root of our suffering. Most importantly, we can share the knowledge that there is an end to suffering, that this wonderful gift can be ours and that we are one part of nature moving through the rest of creation.
About Stephen Legault
Stephen Legault is a full-time conservation activist, writer, photographer and organizational development consultant. He is the author of Carry Tiger to Mountain: The Tao of Activism and Leadership, which he wrote based on his experience using the Tao Te Ching as a guide to his lifelong work to protect wilderness and wildlife, and Running Toward Stillness, a meditation on Buddhist spiritual practice, running and parenthood. Stephen is also the author of a number of historical and environmentally themed mysteries, including The End of the Line and The Third Riel Conspiracy, featuring Durrant Wallace, a sergeant with the North West Mounted Police in the late 1800s; The Slickrock Paradox, a Red Rock Canyon Mystery set in Utah's Canyonlands region; and The Vanishing Track, the most recent mystery featuring Cole Blackwater, an environmentalist who finds himself solving crimes. He is currently working on new books of photography, essays on spirituality and more mystery novels. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, with his wife, Jenn, and two children, Rio and Silas.
Table of Contents
Running Toward Stillness | 1 |
---|---|
Contents | 9 |
Preface: Start Again | 11 |
Part One: Lacing Up | 15 |
Three Simple Things | 17 |
Dreaming Freedom | 23 |
Working It Out | 26 |
Does It Love Me? | 32 |
Socks | 38 |
Trail Notes: Part One | 42 |
Part Two: Uphill through Rocks | 43 |
God in the Hills | 44 |
Crossing the Divide | 50 |
The Plain of Six Glaciers | 54 |
Six Drawings | 57 |
Breaking the Shell | 61 |
Fucking with My Fifth Chakra | 64 |
No Illusions on Jocelyn Hill | 67 |
The Fractal Equation for Beach Glass | 70 |
Running Toward Stillness | 74 |
The 29th Day | 79 |
Stepping into Fear | 84 |
Needles | 86 |
Philosopher Kings at the Royal Roads Cafe | 91 |
Racing Waves | 98 |
Faith | 103 |
Hearts and Hope | 106 |
Sanctuary | 109 |
Praise | 111 |
Trail Notes: Part Two | 117 |
Part Three: Over Rolling Country | 119 |
A Thousand Normal Things | 120 |
Pulse | 124 |
Running Toward the Sun | 128 |
Morning Glory | 132 |
Big as the Sky | 135 |
Trail Notes: Part Three | 138 |
Part Four: Striding Out | 139 |
Namaste | 140 |
The Electric Current of Spirit | 147 |
Bubbles | 151 |
Waves | 155 |
Conduit | 158 |
Running Toward Responsibility | 163 |
A Cetacean Model for Patterns | 171 |
Mystics on the Beach | 177 |
Union | 183 |
One Moment of Wildness | 188 |
Three by Seven | 200 |
Power Up | 207 |
Discovering Dharma | 216 |
Already Home | 223 |
Harnessing the Third Coincidence | 226 |
Terrain-ing | 232 |
Holiday Shopping with the Buddha Claus | 238 |
The Illusion of Forward Progress | 241 |
The Soft Shall Overcome the Hard | 244 |
Breaking the Buddha | 249 |
Trail Notes: Part Four | 256 |
Part Five: Downhill through Forests | 257 |
Our Brief Lives Beneath the Oceanic Sky | 258 |
Why Move Again? | 261 |
The Path through the Woods | 266 |
40/9 | 271 |
Entering the (Costco) Market | 276 |
Water Tonglen | 283 |
Lighten Up | 288 |
The Prayer Tree | 295 |
Bedtime Stories | 301 |
Autumn Trails | 305 |
Trail Notes: Part Five | 310 |
Afterword: Start Again | 311 |
Gratitude | 315 |
About the Author | 317 |
Follow the Trail | 319 |
By the same author
View allBook details
- Publisher
- Rmb | Rocky Mountain Books
- Categories
- Buddhism, Spirituality, Running & Jogging
- Published
- October 2013
- Pages
- 288
- Chapters
- 75
- Language
- English
- ISBN Paper
- 9781927330647
- ISBN PDF
- 9781927330661