Spiritual backpacking

Connect your inner world with nature.

Blend your internal self with the infinite Universe.

 BODY

Let the power of Nature carry you to peak condition.

MIND

The healing rhythms of the Universe order your thoughts

and harmonize your inner landscape.

SPIRIT

As you commune with trees, rocks, streams, mountains and the ocean
your soul aligns with the energy of the Divine.

A journey of self through

Nature with Marina Pushnaya

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History of program development

From the time I was a small child I have had a very special relationship with nature. I always felt at home in the forest, and I always felt energy coming to me from the earth, from the trees, and from the sun. At first I thought everyone felt the way I did about Nature. Later, I observed that while many people had an interest in Nature, they did not know how to get as much from this contact as I did. I wanted to find a way to share my understanding with others, and this was the motivation for my developing the program.

This program took about four years to develop. It is a combination of Ecology, Yoga and Field Trips. It is a kind of ecological travel program and I call it Spiritual Backpacking. It is designed to help people connect their own inside worlds with nature. They become healthier, more spiritual and, most importantly, they increase their level of ecological consciousness with the planet.

The most important result

Spiritual Backpacking is a system of tuning the whole person, their body, mind, and soul to resonate with the rhythms and laws of the Universe. It helps to develop the vital power of the human organism, and open creative possibilities. It improves physical and mental health, and thus the quality of a person's life. The main result is a much deeper contact with Nature.

After reaching the necessary level of spiritual development and training, a person can participate in the great mystery of touching something limitless, true and perfect, which can bring the best moments of life. One can really feel oneself a part of the source of all life, and such an experience can take place in the form of contact with God in whatever way one's own religion defines this.

How it works

How is it possible to enter into contact with the great mystery of the limitless universe through nature? Now for further explanation I shall use the term "emanations".

This means bio-energetic waves carrying information about the structure of the object which has radiated these waves. If, for example, you might feel in resonance with the emanations of a lake that you are sitting near, you then receive its calmness, tranquility, and cleanliness to name a few qualities. If I take two reservoirs with different levels of water and connect them with a pipe the levels of water wil become equal. This illustrates the process of moving energy between a person and nature. You can communicate with an object, be it a stream, a stone, a waterfall, a tree. These objects are inseparably connected with nature in the radius of your own perception. I call this Natural Space, and natural space is also connected with open space- the sea, the sky, the mountains and the fields. Open space is also connectd tieh the entire Universe. Finally you can be inseparable with the entire universe at any level through tuning into it's calmnes, tranquility or light energy. This is an inexhaustible source

Conditions of turning-up

In trying to teach people how to be in resonance, in tune with Nature, I wondered what were the conditions which provide better and deeper tuning-in to the emanations which you can pick up from Nature.

The first condition is that the environment in your immediate vicinity is in good condition, both inside and outside. Of course, nobody will go to swim in a dirty river or choose to breath deeply of poisoned air. And everyone understands that one would want to lie down to rest in a clean and beautiful place. But not everybody understands that to really have true rest the personal ecology must also be clean. So how do we make our personal ecology clean, so that we can resonate with the beauty around us?

First, at the physical level we do not destroy the body with alcohol, nicotine, unhealthy foods, and polluted air. And we must have an active lifestyle to decrease the pollution of the body.

At the emotional level, we do not pollute ourselves with dwelling on negative emotions.

At the mental level we do not express negative thoughts even though we cannot help that they come into our minds. Personal ethics must be in harmony with the ethics of universal laws.

The better our personal ecology is, the easier we tune in to the bio-energetic emanations of the Universe, and the less likely we are to be a degenerating influence. Thus we get closer to becoming one with Nature.

So now we have two conditions: good personal ecology and the good ecology of the natural space around you. Now we have to organize the contact properly. I think that backpacking is the optimal form. If we spend the nights in a tent or under the open sky, our communication with Nature is closer and more durable.

Next, moving to different places helps people to enter into a higher level of perception. Thirdly, the physical training of walking with a backpack helps people to increase their own bio-energetic power and makes the energetic streams from Nature easier to feel.

Mechanism of turning-up

But what is the mechanism of tuning up our own emanations with those of the Natural Space around us. Well, for one thing we naturally use imagery every day: when we read a book or hear someone tell a story, for example, while we sit quietly our consciousness puts us into another world, the world of images, and we see in our minds the scenes described only in words. Using imagery it is possible to tune up your thinking and feeling to any wave of emanations which come from the universe. It is like tuning a radio set. We can use imagery every day to clean our emotional and spiritual bodies, just like we brush our teeth or take a shower to clean our physical bodies. We would then improve our health and be able to be clean enough to perceive the outer world more and more clearly.

Keeping these ideas in mind, I developed my course to include indoor and outdoor classes. Indoors we learn to work with images of Nature in our consciousness. Then when we go to the countryside we work directly with the streams of bio-energy which come from water, earth, trees, stones, etc. We learn to control our consciousness and tune our mental and spiritual energies to what we want to perceive. We do exercises for concentration and relaxation, and for expanding our fields of perception. In this way everyone can discover that they can feel the emanations of the Natural Spaces.

Now, people with a heightened consciousness also discover that Natural Spaces become attuned to human emanations too, and accumulate information about people in contect. You can observe this by noticing what effects people have on the towns where they live. I personally know of two lakes in Russia which seem very similar in regard to their natural surroundings but I was astonished by the difference in their energy levels. One lake is frequented by fishermen who drink alcohol, and leave garbage around. Rock climbers and tourists who have a higher sense of good ecological practices frequent the second lake, and it is easy to work near the second lake, for the entire surroundings seem to be enveloped with human love and caring. Well, that's an example of attunement of nature to people.

Individual and group work

In my courses we offer both individual and group work. It is important for some contemplation and imagery that they be conducted with no contact between people which might force consciousness to follow the usual perception of the world. At the first level we practice one to two hours of such work every day during the field trips, and near the end of the third level some people feel the need for an in individual hike of several days duration. On these individual hikes in silence and alone you do not spend your energy communicating with people, and you begin to realize how much energy it takes in ordinary life to communicate with others. You then begin to listen to yourself, and to better understand your own motivations and habits. You begin to see your real desires, and your capabilities. You can join your internal infinity with the infinity of the universe.

On an individual hike it is easier to realize the principle of least interference in natural life. I sometimes manage without a tent, and I often do not make a fire unless it is needed for esoteric work. I sometimes do not eat in order to intensify the effect of nourishment from the sun, earth, green trees grass and other energy flows of nature and to allow my being to open its energy field lines and connect them to the Natural Places around me. It is important to note here that only well trained adults should use such methods as these individual hikes. When my students work in a group, they see that it is important to follow some rules, just like traffic moves better if people follow rules. The main principle is that people should promote and not hinder the exoteric work of others. It is absolutely necessary to have an atmosphere of trust and sympathy. The teacher has to watch not to take into a group someone who will not support harmonious relations with all participants. A group must function like a united organism where co-tuned people help each other energetically. In these conditions further productive work is possible for everyone together, and people can actually pass on to each other the insights and achievements which they have gained as a result of their personal esoteric work. It is like one person writing a book and others reading it.

About classes

The lessons include three levels. In the first level we work with the channels of the energy in the body. We work to clean these channels and then fill them with good quality energy. At level one we have outings into Nature of one to three days.

At the end of level one you find that when you go to the country your whole organism automatically without any effort on your part tunes in to a deep contact with Nature. You have deeper rest, and some indications of your health improving appear; you feel the ecology of the planet better.

On the second level we continue with the work in the energy channels, begin the work with energy centers and we clean the channels of the mental body. We have field trips from two to seven days. As a result of this level the health improvements which appeared at level one become stable and new creative possibilities open. At this stage you are begin to see the real possibilities of your spiritual growth.

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