Welcome to Emergence Magazine's podcast. I'm Emanuel Vaughn Lee, executive editor of Emergence

magazine, located on the unseated ancestral lands of the Coast Mewalk people of present-day

Marin County. Each week, we feature a new interview, narrated essay, or story,

exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality.

As the pandemic begins to ebb, and we begin to emerge from a difficult and transformative year.

We are taking a moment to pause as the warmth of summer and the cool shade of trees,

here in the northern hemisphere, beckons to us.

Kimberly Ruffin is a certified nature and forest therapy guide,

and the author of Black on Earth,

African American, ecoliterary traditions.

As a companion to Kimberly's past emergence essay,

bodies of evidence,

she created a guided practice of walking through the forest.

For Kimberly, faith is a continuous exchange of belonging,

an experience that's palpable among trees.

During this walk of faith, the working definition of faith is a continuous exchange of belonging.

The exchange occurs among you, an outdoor place you determine, and the other elements of nature there.

In essence, it's an opportunity to let nature support you

and to give a little of yourself in the support of the rest of nature. Here are a few suggestions for

getting ready. The walk will be about 45 minutes long, including the time when I am speaking,

and the timed silence included for you to connect with the natural world through your senses. I'll let you know good places to pause

if you'd like more time. Connection to the ambient noise around you is important. So I recommend that you disable notifications

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