Week 4 (Circumambulation)

 After learning about the practice of circumambulation, I thought I would test it out for myself. My girlfriend, Ally, and I went to walk a circumambulation around Yellowwood Lake on an abnormally sunny and warm Saturday in February. While the lake might not be sacred to most people it is to us. We’ve shared some of our favorite memories on the trails there in past summers and every time we return it feels like we regain our proximity to those memories, conversations, and emotions we experienced there. 

From the beginning to the end of the circumambulation the lake was always to our right as we set out clockwise around the lake. Having never visited the lake in winter before we were shocked at how open the forest felt. All of the dense vegetation and leaves had hibernated for the winter allowing for three-hundred-sixty degree views in the forest. The lake was in view and Ally noted that she had never realized how close the trail was to the lake during our past hikes. Last July we were in the same spot but it felt more like a green humid tunnel. We could hear people fishing and kayaking on the lake but could never see them. Now the warm winter wind whipped between the trees and exposed the towering hills to our left and the patches of pine groves on the opposite side of the lake. 


 As we ventured further through the forest we couldn’t help but notice the high volume of people out on the trails today. Everyone seemed to be making their own paths in the open forest and no one seemed to be walking in a loop around the lake like us. A family splashed with their golden retrievers in the water, a couple over dressed for the weather passed without a word wielding big walking sticks, a pair of elderly women resting at the top of a climb, and a middle aged couple drinking beer bottles in the swamp. We passed through these interactions like we passed through our memories of the lake, seeing these people have some of the same experiences we have had in the past.


We rounded the north side of the lake and began walking south along the east shore. The warm weather woke up the marsh and the sound of frogs chirping in a chorus and mating birdcalls deafened us. Coming to the last part of our loop we took a wrong turn and ended up walking the paved roads around the lake to get back to our car. Once back it felt like we had walked through all the memories of past walks and could feel the lake still to our right even as we drove away. We had entered with our minds bogged with stress from our weeks and had released it during our circumambulation. Without the clear intention of clearing our minds the circumambulation had us focusing on our gratitude for the lake and each other. Beginning and returning to the same spot did not feel like we were walking in a literal circle, but rounding back to where we began having traversed our memories and stresses as two people anew.


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