Wellness in the Wilderness (Sydney Williams)

Clearly we are not okay - as a society, as a community, as humans. After a nice weekend with some friends, we realized we had forgotten how to hang out, but only after remembering how good it felt. This might blow your mind, I know it did for me since the time period shared is from the year I graduated high school until near-present day. This article in The Atlantic⁠ talks about this phenomenon:

"From 2003 to 2022, American men reduced their average hours of face-to-face socializing by about 30 percent. For unmarried Americans, the decline was even bigger—more than 35 percent. For teenagers, it was more than 45 percent. Boys and girls ages 15 to 19 reduced their weekly social hangouts by more than three hours a week. In short, there is no statistical record of any other period in U.S. history when people have spent more time on their own."

In this episode, Sydney and Barry discuss:

• Hiking Your Feelings' themes and the universal application of the lessons and topics within
• "If it all ends tomorrow, I'm grateful that we've been doing the work we've been doing, and that I've gotten to know myself this well." - Sydney
• Sydney and Barry have a moment where language moves to embodied understanding, and then Sydney unpacks in real time, how that transition happens - finding the language -> understanding in context -> embodied understanding
• The benefits of having conversations on the trail vs. our tendency to rush through it face-to-face
• Barry shares a skydiving metaphor for how he's been feeling lately
• How to not die in the wilderness (and why Mount Washington in New Hampshire is so underestimated)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• March 4: Intentional Hiking - join us for a chance to win a Kula Cloth and a signed copy of Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love!
• March 5: Public Lands Alliance Conference
• March 9: Hiking Your Feelings launch at SXSW + Book Signing at SXSW
• March 10: Hike around Austin with Hiking My Feelings x The Trail Conservancy, sponsored by Gossamer Gear
• March 12: Hiking Your Feelings Publication Day! Join us for the launch party in San Diego at Diesel in Del Mar, sponsored by Babe Kombucha and Muffin But Good Vibes
• March 19: Hiking Your Feelings Virtual Launch Party
• March 20: Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love Open House

After a brief hiatus, we're back, and now we can finally share something we were teasing for the last half of Season 1: while we were living on Catalina Island, I wrote my second book!

Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love will be published on March 12, 2024 by Mandala Publishing and distributed by Simon & Schuster.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Sydney and Barry discuss the new book, how it came to be, what it's about and why you're going to love it
• Sydney shares about her history at SXSW, how her career started at the festival, and why she submitted a proposal for a book reading at the event in 2024
• Please vote for Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love on the SXSW PanelPicker and help us launch the book at one of the most epic gatherings of creative minds on the planet!
• Pre-order the book here!

Season Two of Wellness in the Wilderness is here and we’ve got an epic mini-season in store for you!

In May, we celebrated five years since we started Hiking My Feelings, and as we were outlining the different guests we wanted to have on upcoming episodes of Wellness in the Wilderness, I noticed a pattern. There are so many incredible humans who have been a big part of our journey - whether that’s helping us get the word out and affirming the work we do, making life-changing introductions, inspiring new adventures and campaigns, or helping us bring our programs to life. Now, we’re excited to share the first of five conversations with five women who have been a huge influence on the first five years of this movement - we hope you love these conversations as much as we do!

Big thanks to the team at Sawyer for seeing the vision and supporting the show, we couldn’t do this without you!

In this very special kick-off episode, I have the opportunity to turn the mic and interview the legendary Gale Straub, former host of the She Explores podcast - the first podcast to give us an opportunity to share the Hiking My Feelings story, not once but twice! When we reconnected around this interview, Gale was in the middle of reading and advance copy of my new book, Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love and requested that we walk through one of the chapters and utilize the prompts shared within to facilitate this conversation about Being Where You Are - we hope you enjoy it!

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Gale Straub (she/her) is an audio producer and nature-lover who calls the Seacoast area of New Hampshire home. For almost a decade, she hosted and produced a podcast called She Explores, all about the different ways we find ourselves outside and a whole lot of incredible women moving through their respective journeys in the outdoors. Gale's also a twice published author and her most recent book is Women and Water, a collaborative effort with Hailey Hirst and Noël Russell. Today, Gale's working in audio, stepping outside whenever she can, and dreaming up other creative projects. You can stay in touch via her website: www.galestraub.com/newsletter and by searching her name on various social media platforms. 

IN THIS EPISODE:

• We catch up with Gale, who recently wrapped up an almost 10-year run hosting the She Explores podcast and learn about what is up next for her

• Per Gale’s request, Sydney gives an intro to Chapter 7 of Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love - Being Where You Are: Unpacking Distractions

• Sydney and Gale also go through the Mindful Miles prompts from Chapter 7, encouraging readers to use the prompts as conversation starters on and off the trail

• ⁠Pre-order the book here!

Sydney and Barry bring you up to speed with everything Hiking My Feelings, or should we say Hiking Your Feelings?

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Gladys McGarey began her medical practice at a time when women couldn’t even own their own bank accounts. Over the past sixty years, she has pioneered a new way of thinking about disease and health that has transformed the way we imagine health care and self-care around the world. The cofounder of the American Holistic Medical Association, Dr. McGarey has mentored everyone from Dr. Mark Hyman to Dr. Edith Eger and has helped hundreds of patients live happier and healthier lives. In a voice that is both practical and inspiring, Dr. McGarey shares her own extraordinary stories and eternal wisdom from her early childhood in India and chance encounter with Mahatma Gandhi to her life as a physician and a mother of six children, to her survival of both heartbreak and illness. And she doesn’t just look backward, she looks forward. At 102, Dr. McGarey has a ten-year plan and an eye on a healthier and more joyful future for all.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Dr. McGarey shares her six actionable secrets to enjoying a a life that is long, happy, and purpose-driven.

• She teaches you how to spend your energy wildly in order to embrace your life fully and feel motivated every day.

• You’ll learn that you are here for a reason, and how to find the “juice” that helps you stay grounded in your life’s purpose.

• She shows you how to move—spiritually, mentally, and physically—helping you let go of trauma and other roadblocks, and how to discover the deep learning that comes from pain and setbacks.

• Orienting you in the love she considers the most powerful medicine, she’ll show you that you are not alone, and guide you on how to build a community that’s meaningful to you.

This week we are thrilled to have Liz “Snorkel” Thomas joining us for a conversation about, well, all the things - manifesting your dreams, accomplishing huge goals, failure, teamwork, knowing your weaknesses, finding joy in the wilderness - this chat really does have something to inspire anyone and everyone.

I supposed at the end of the day, this is a chat with a legendary human about her legendary hiking career, and all the traits that helps one become legendary.

---

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Liz Thomas is a professional hiker, speaker, and outdoor writer who held the women’s self-supported speed record on the 2,181-mile long Appalachian Trail from 2011-2015. Called a "thru-hiking legend" by Outside Magazine, Liz has hiked 20+ other long distance trails including the Triple Crown of Hiking (Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail) and first known traverses of the Wasatch Range and Chinook Trail.

Her innovative urban thru-hikes of 14 cities led The Guardian to call her “The Queen of Urban Hiking.” Liz is a former staff writer for the New York Times/Wirecutter and current Editor-in- Chief for the outdoor webmagazine Treeline Review as well as Backpacker Magazine contributing editor and columnist of “Ask a Thru-hiker.” She's the author of Long Trails: Mastering the Art of the Thru-hike, which received the National Outdoor Book Award for Best Instructional book with judges calling it destined to become the “Bible of the Sport.”

Liz has talked hiking and gear on Good Morning America (TV), in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, The Washington Post, Men’s Journal, Women’s Health, Gizmodo, and Outside Magazine. She represented the sport of hiking at President Obama’s Great American Outdoors Initiative. Liz’s keynote speaking engagements have included colleges and universities including Yale and MIT, the Trust for Public Land National Leaders Conference, American Hiking Society, and on Capitol Hill.

Learn more at www.eathomas.com or @lizthomashiking or Treeline Review.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• We reconnect with Liz, who we originally connected with in 2020 during an episode of the Virtual Campfire podcast

• Did Liz plan to be this epic or did this just happen? (Spoiler alert, she’s a goal-setter and a go-getter!)

• The art of letting go, knowing your weaknesses, and asking for help

• The magic of the trail - like losing a bite valve on a thru-hike and finding a new one on the side of the trail 10 miles later

• Bringing those backcountry lessons to your front-country life

• What is failure and how do we move through it?

• Finding joy in the wilderness

• AND SO MUCH MORE

🙏 Help us bring "Reconnecting with Nature: Healing Ourselves and the Planet" to SXSW in 2025!

In 2022, I had the pleasure of interviewing surf therapy visionary Natalie Small LMFT, founder of Groundswell Community Project. The similarities in our work became immediately clear - if I am hiking my feelings, Natalie is surfing her feelings, and we are both helping others do the same. It was only a matter of time before we started to visualize a world where our powers combined helped unite lovers of land and sea in deeply healing experiences.

For our first step/paddle into this new world together and hot off the heels of my book launch at the conference in March, we are thrilled to submit our panel for your consideration at SXSW in 2025.

ABOUT OUR PANEL:
In today’s technology-driven world, our disconnection from nature is more apparent than ever, impacting our mental and physical well-being. Join us as we explore innovative approaches to reintegrating nature into our daily lives and workspaces. By leveraging the healing power of the great outdoors, we create pathways to improve mental and physical health while fostering a deeper connection to the planet. Together, we'll discover how nature-based therapies and outdoor experiences can serve as potent solutions to the widespread disconnection and environmental challenges we face today.
TAKEAWAYS
🌱 Gain insights into how modern lifestyles contribute to our growing disconnection from nature and the subsequent impacts on mental and physical health.
🌱 Discover how you can incorporate nature into your work and daily routine to foster personal health and contribute to planetary healing.
🌱 Understand the broader implications of reconnecting with nature for communities and the environment, and how collective efforts can lead to change.
Voting is open through August 18, thank you for your support!

VOTE HERE: https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/149826

This week we are thrilled to have Gabaccia Moreno joining us for a conversation about all the things - People Over Profit (inspired by our panel at Outdoor Retailer), doing life (and business) differently, paying people what they’re worth, the Outdoorist Oath, and so much more!

We recorded this episode together in the van in a parking lot in Salt Lake City - one of our first in-person interviews in awhile - and the joy we're sharing is palpable. Settle in for a great chat that will leave your cheeks hurting from smiling so hard, and inspired by the possibilities of business and life done differently.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• We catch up with Gabaccia and take a walk down memory lane, recounting how we originally connected and how life has brought us full-circle
• Doing Business Differently: How the Outdoorist Oath is spreading the wealth, extending opportunities to the community
• “You can’t put a price on the work we do” (at the Outdoorist Oath and Hiking My Feelings)
• Doing Life Differently: honoring the call of the great outdoors and downsizing to maximize living life on our own terms, not merely exchanging our time for money to help pay a landlord’s mortgage
• Sponsors Who Walk the Walk: Why we’re stoked to work with Sawyer
• And more!

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Gabaccia Moreno is a first-generation Mexican-American multimedia storyteller, consultant, and passionate outdoor advocate. She holds a B.A. in Theater and Anthropology from SUNY College at Buffalo and an M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University. Growing up visiting the Maya forest gave her an appreciation for the land and its wildlife at an early age. , one that prevails today. Her works, whether artistic, creative, or entrepreneurial, have always intersected with the social and environmental issues that surround her. 

She currently serves as the Executive Director of The Outdoorist Oath, an organization creating educational tools and models to help and encourage people to become allies for planet, inclusion, and adventure. She’s the Director of Social Responsibility on the board of Hiking My Feelings and sits on the Joshua Tree National Park Association Diversity Council.

Gabaccia has also served as National Monuments Fellow (via The Wyss Foundation) at Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, where she worked on initiatives to ensure historically and deliberately excluded communities have access to the process of protecting our lands and waters. Other credits include contributions to Backpacker Magazine, hosting her own Live conversation series named Exploring Responsibly and Explorando Responsablemente on Instagram, and being the 2021 resident host for the She Explores Podcast. In her free time, you’ll find her writing, advising businesses and nonprofits, or adventuring outside, probably taking photos, fishing, backpacking, hiking, practicing yoga, or conspiring with friends to make the outdoors more welcoming for all.

This week we are thrilled to have Katie Wightman, former Field Institute Director for the Sequoia Parks Conservancy, joining us for a conversation about the courage to revisit a dream from an earlier chapter in life, managing fear around trying something new, and how she finds wellness in the wilderness!

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Katie Wightman worked for the Sequoia Parks Conservancy in Sequoia + Kings Canyon National Parks for 11 years and loved every minute. She had the privilege to work underground in Crystal Cave, organize the Dark Sky Festival, organize Science and Nature Camps for youth in the Central Valley, the backcountry Pear Lake Winter Ski Hut, and also Directed the Education Program for the SPC where she worked to provide as many opportunities as possible for people to connect with their public lands. Currently she is working on her Bachelor's of science in Nursing and is hoping to work in Emergency and Critical Care as well as continue in Wilderness Medicine. In her downtime she loves ultra running, amateur astronomy, and playing with her loving pup Sierra dog!

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Katie and I sit down to chat from the historic Wolverton Service Camp in Sequoia National Park, home of the Volunteers in Parks Project in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks

• We are greeted by a yellow rumped warbler and a golden crowned kinglet - get pumped, birders!

• Katie shares about the relationships between the National Park Service and their official nonprofit partners. In the case of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, their official partner is the Sequoia Parks Conservancy.

• We talk about her transition out of Director of the Field Institute at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks and returning to a dream from an earlier chapter in life - nursing.

• How Katie finds wellness in the wilderness - and how trail running was a “very Katie solution” to getting far out in the backcountry in a limited amount of time.

• You’re never too old to change your mind, and just because you fail at something doesn’t mean you’re a failure.

This week we are thrilled to have Sirena Rana joining us for a conversation about her work in trail design - she is quite literally blazing trails and making outdoor experiences more accessible through intentional and inclusive trail design via her company, Trails Inspire.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Sirena Rana shares her love for the outdoors through writing, photography, public speaking and trail design through her company, Trails Inspire. An avid hiker, backpacker, rafter and canyoneer, Sirena's favorite places are the Grand Canyon and the Sky Islands of Southern Arizona.

Inspiring and empowering others to take on their own adventures is her passion. She is especially interested in reaching people like her who didn't grow up hiking and camping. Sirena is the author of Best Day Hikes on the Arizona National Scenic Trail by Wilderness Press.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• We catch up with Sirena, who was on the original 20-night season of our Virtual Campfire podcast

• Sydney gushes about some Saguaro fruit leather Sirena sent, and Sirena educates about the use of the fruit in indigenous cultures, demonstrating one of the many reasons we love being in community with Sirena - we always learn something whenever we’re out exploring or in conversation with each other.

• Sirena tells us all about the trail system she recently completed in the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve and the finer details of trail design and trail building

• Part of her trail design includes honoring the indigenous people who have stewarded this land for thousands of years, and protecting native species of plants that are used by the local indigenous communities. Sirena shares the story of seeing the Tohono Oʼodham harvesting bear grass used for basket weaving for the first time on the trail and how the trail names are inspired by the Tohono Oʼodham and Apache

• Who is Sirena building trails for? “Suburban Sirena, who moved to Arizona 29 years ago and knew nothing about hiking.”

Is 2023 the year you prioritize finding your version of Wellness in the Wilderness? Looking for inspiration to weave more intention into all aspects of your life? This week we're chatting with Anastasia Allison, founder of Kula Cloth, about how her decision to let life be easy has transformed the way she experiences life and continues to innovate in her business. Through the power of shared story, we're excited to tap into the sense of possibilities that a new year brings, and share some rituals and activities that have helped us breathe life into our wildest dreams.

When time spent outside is an integral part of your lifestyle, how do you cope when an injury keeps you indoors? When we avoid our emotional breaking point, what happens to our physical bodies? And how do we re-integrate after a period away from our favorite activities and places? For Drew Petersen, skiing has been part of his life for as long as he can remember. Once a toddler on skis and now a professional skier, Drew has been exploring the intersections of mental health and time spent outside and connecting the dots on his own mental health journey. Ever the storyteller, Drew's latest film, Ups + Downs (2022), has started a new conversation about mental health in the outdoor community. But what led to the making of Ups + Downs? What is Drew working on now? And how can healing + sharing our stories shine a light on difficult topics and give others permission to do the same? Tune in to find out!

What happens when the worst-case scenario unfolds in slow motion in the desolate wilderness of America's National Parks? How do you return to the places that have brought so much joy and so much pain after tragedy strikes? On April 3, 2021, Emily and her partner, Alexander Lofgren, traveled to Death Valley National Park on a routine camping trip. The next day began the biggest nightmare of their lives - Alex fell from a 70’ cliff and succumbed to his injuries a half hour later. Emily suffered severe injuries while down-climbing the cliff to his aide, but was able to comfort him as he took his final breaths. Unfortunately, this would be the first of six days she had to survive alone, next to the love of her life, on this desolate cliffside until she was found and rescued. Later in 2021, the Alexander Lofgren Veterans in Parks act was passed, and now, thanks to the legislation Alex was working on before his passing, Veterans and Gold Star families have access to the National Parks for life. In this episode, we'll hear about the accident, the physical and emotional recovery Emily has endured since, the vision she has for keeping Alex's legacy alive, how she found the strength and courage to return to the scene of the accident, and her intentions for utilizing the healing power of nature as she continues her recovery.

How does spending time outdoors influence music? For Brendan Dane (Alific), the call of the Loons from his childhood in New England inspired an entire song.

From the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the rugged backcountry of Catalina Island and everything in between, Barry Williams has been an outdoorist and educator in a professional capacity for the past 25+ years.

In a society that seems hell-bent on keeping us separate from our authentic selves, each other, and the planet we call home, Samuel J's music is the great unifier.

How did Catalina Backcountry get started? Why did Cinde MacGugan-Cassidy decide to buy the business? How has her career in public service influenced how she runs the business? And what is her vision for responsible recreation on Catalina Island? This week we'll be chatting with Cinde about how Catalina Backcountry got started, her success so far, and her vision for the future.

Join Sydney as she shares 12 tips to help you find your version of Wellness in the Wilderness.

The two-woman multi-sport, endurance athlete team of Bethany ‘Fidgit’ Hughes and Lauren ‘Neon’ Reed have completed a human powered expedition, traveling the length of the Americas connecting the story of the land and its inhabitants.

Have you ever made a decision so crystal clear that it was almost alarming? What is it in those moments where we're defying expectations that keeps us moving forward in the direction of our dreams, despite the criticism and doubt? For Anna Levesque of Mind Body Paddle, the decision was to get a summer job at a whitewater rafting company when she was in college. Her parents dubbed this choice as a phase and despite their best intentions for how she'd live her life, Anna found her way to the water and never looked back. Now living the life of her dreams, these waters weren't always calm. Even with all of her success on the competitive kayak circuit, she struggled with self-doubt and lack of confidence. Like many elite athletes, she would put a lot of pressure on herself to perform and when she didn’t live up to her own exceptionally high expectations, she would feel like a total failure. The self-doubt didn’t help her confidence paddling difficult Class V whitewater with mostly male colleagues. She loved kayaking and yet she would often come away from those days feeling disempowered. She realized, after connecting with other pro female boaters at the time that she wasn’t the only one. It occurred to her that female paddling stories weren’t being told in the whitewater kayaking world and there were no resources specifically for women, so she produced the first whitewater kayak instructional DVD for women and called it Girls at Play. She launched a video tour across the US and Canada to offer low-cost, community based kayak classes for women. Even still, vulnerability and terror showed up at the premiere of Girls at Play only to receive a standing ovation from respected peers. So how did Anna navigate her way through male competitors calling her the femi-nazi of kayaking to where she is today? Tune in to find out!

After hiking more than 16,000 miles over a span of 20 years, Arlette Laan made history as the first woman to complete all 11 National Scenic Trails in the United States.

If you've ever sat on the beach and felt the waves crashing into the shore, you have some sense of the power that the ocean contains.

After four interviews with legendary athletes in long distance hiking, backpacking, kayaking, and surfing, let's bring it back down for a bit.