A group sunrise walk
Nat Castañeda

 “Between my soul and the landscape, there was a secret correspondence, a mysterious affinity.”

-- Gabriele d'Annunzio

Daily, I will complete a performative action, a sunrise walk informed by the Buddhist practice of mindful walking. I will be documenting my experience with photographs, video and text, paying close attention to the act of seeing and perceiving. On the last day of the conference I will invite the entire group to join me in my walk, which will also be documented.  

There are two landscapes; an internal landscape (emotions, memories, thoughts, perceptions) and an exterior landscape (our natural environment). How do these two landscapes influence one another? How does our environment become internalized in us in a way that is lasting? When walking through our daily lives we miss much of the details of our surroundings. The canyon will not be the same canyon every morning and I will not be the same every morning. What can we learn about our world and ourselves when we unfold our minds from the internal focus and become present in the surroundings of the canyon?  

**About mindful walking: Mindfulness is described as a calm awareness of one's body functions, feelings, content of consciousness, or consciousness itself. In walking meditation, the primary object of attention is to the process of walking itself. Together we will walk to accomplish mindfulness through group presence. We will seek to incorporate our outer landscapes into our own consciousness through the act of walking, looking and breathing.