Community of Wellbeing: Hiking

We know the tangible benefits of outdoor activities to our physical and emotional wellness. Not so obvious, is the deep connection, compassion and camaraderie we experience, so essential for our overall wellbeing.

It came in small, but deeply heartwarming gestures; a pair of gloves from Sanjeev Dixit when he noted my freezing hands; his thoughtful and kind act of offering his hand to Annie Dandavati on a particularly slippery and steep slope of the Summit hike. It came as an offer from Jyoti Baid to help me by carrying my heavy backpack for a section of the hike, or the snacks shared by Srini Burli. Deep conversations on a long 15 miles trail offer an opportunity, not easily available in our usual social get togethers, for people to get to know each other and connect deeply. Encouragement and helpful hiking tips from veteran hikers Sowjanya Dixit, Deepa Prashant. It was an opportunity to learn about the amazing software @Sowjanya Yarramaneni and her team are developing, and about Jaya Burli's interests of which I was previously unaware. And the wonderful feeling of relief when Nirmal Baid came to my rescue when I got separated from the group and was unsure which fork to take, and as I got somewhat fearful, as it was getting dark. I remembered my hike to Mount Dana last year, along with my wife Annie Dandavati , where we actually got lost, and a 6 to 7 hour hike turned into a 17 hour ordeal, and a near struggle for survival, with the freezing, night temperatures at 10,000 feet. So we learned, that to build a community of wellbeing, just go hike and engage in other wellbeing related activities. Just do it with people you can count on!

Interested, please join if you are in the Bay Area, our Bay Area Wellbeing Community, or Global Wellbeing Community from anywhere around the globe.