Finding Our Soul in Solstice Canyon

On a September morning this year, a small group met at fabulous Solstice Canyon Park for a nature hike. The beauty of the area is amazing and inspirational, and these features were enhanced by our guides Rabbi Levi Cunin of Malibu Chabad and Chana Schulman, an environmentalist and naturalist who lives in Corral Canyon.

Cunin brought along a magnifying glass so that we could see the intricacies of the spider webs that are revealed in the early morning fog and are hard to find in bright sunlight. He drew an analogy about our own lives and finding what can be revealed during the “foggy” times in our lives.

As we walked, we became aware of the fire damage that happened in 2007. Although the trees were burned, there was new growth sprouting from them. We learned that in the darkest times, we can search within ourselves to find a new beginning. Cunin also brought along and blew the shofar in honor of the Jewish New Year, which began the next week.

Schulman pointed out all the foliage and trees. She was able to estimate the age of the trees by their girth, and it was very impressive for us to be in such ancient energy. Yes, you guessed it, at the end of our hike we did a tree hugging around an old live oak tree. Schulman did a meditation, asking the tree to give us postive energy as go forth in our daily life.

We are lucky to have this wonderful hiking ground in our Malibu neighborhood. We had a wonderful time and are planning a weekly hike with our guides to continue the learning and the spiritual and physical upper that we received.

Yes, we found our souls in Solstice Canyon.