Puntledge River Sensory Walk

AN INVITATION TO

PERSONAL REFLECTION & WELL-BEING

Puntledge River Sensory Walk
Location: Puntledge Park, Courtenay BC

Welcome

The parking lot is along 1st Avenue and the trail entrance is near the end of Urquhart Ave and near the washrooms building. This is an easy walk, and accessible for most people.

The Puntledge River Sensory Walk is part of the Comox Valley Hospice Society Nature Walks Program (CVHS). It is a self-care program designed to connect people who are journeying through loss, illness, or caregiver fatigue, with the healing powers and beauty of nature. Using this app, you can take part in a self-led nature walk at your own pace, using the themed questions provided for personal reflection, and allow nature to be a therapeutic environment in which wellness can occur. By focusing on the present moment and experiencing the sights and sounds of nature, many find that a sense of wellbeing and calm reduces feelings of sadness, hopelessness, fear, anxiety and loneliness.

Along the guided nature walk will be rest or reflection points that have been chosen as places to pause and reflect related to the theme of Sensory. Please dress appropriately for the weather and bring along a journal, a pen, some water, and a cell phone (if you have one).

Before You Begin

Be alert to high wind events, river levels, dogs off-leash and the potential for wildlife encounters.

Take a moment to check in with yourself. What is your mood like? How are you feeling? What bodily sensations are you noticing? What thoughts are running through your mind? Now take a deep breath and look around at your surroundings, using all your senses.

#1 Stop - The Bridge

Walk down the path and stop on the bridge.

Reflection Points

Listen: What do you hear?
Look around: What do you see?
Sense: What do you feel as you take this all in?
Smell: Are there any aromas, fragrances, smells that you notice?
How about the sense of taste? Is there anything you’ve noticed or become aware of?

Again, breathe in deeply and continue to take in this experience with all your senses. Notice all that you can and then walk down to the bench and take a seat. This is an opportunity to journal your experience on the bridge.

#2 Stop - First Bench

Take in your current vantage point from this bench.

Reflection Points

What are you experiencing here?
How is your body responding to this location? This viewpoint?

#3 Stop - Second Bench

Walk to the second bench that faces the playground.

Reflection Points

What sights and sounds are you noticing here?
Are there children or other people to watch?
What playground memories do you recall?

#4 Stop - Big Tree

When you are ready, continue along the path; stop at the big fir tree on the right of the path and then wander down to the riverfront.

Reflection Points

As you approach the river, what do you sense and notice in your body?

#5 Stop - The Rapids

Here you will see the rapids and also some pools and back eddies.

Reflection Points

Contemplate the rushing and still waters; what can it teach you about the rhythm and flow? Take time to journal any thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations.

#6 Stop - The Big Rock

Return to the path, and when you see the big rock across the river, look behind you for the path in the woods.

#7 Stop - Into the Woods

Leaving the main path, take the narrow path into the woods. Stop at the big fir tree located on the left, opposite a fallen log, that is slightly behind you and to your right.

Reflection Points

Listen to the woods. What sounds do you hear now?
What does the temperature feel like?
What does being in the woods evoke in you?

#8 Stop - Finding Your Tree

Trees have much to offer symbolically. Is there a tree in the woods that calls to you? Maybe you’d like to take time to draw, paint or photograph it.

Reflection Points

Examine your tree up close. Notice the colour, shades of the bark, and feel its texture.
Take a deep breath in; are there any fragrances or aromas you notice?
Make contact with your tree by resting against it or giving it a hug.
What thoughts, feelings, or sensations arise as you spend time with this tree?

#9 Stop - Fallen Log

Continue on the small path, stay left at the junction, where the path goes around a fallen log. You may sit here and journal your experience in the woods.

Reflection Points

Take time to notice the ground around you. What do you see now, that you might normally miss?

#10 Stop - The Crossroads

When you are ready, continue on the path until you reach a 4-way intersection. At this point you have a choice, you can continue to follow the guided directions, or choose to explore on your own.

Reflection Points

Notice how this choice feels: exciting, curious, confusing?
What sensory information will you use to make your choice?

#11 Stop - Optional Private Corner

If you go straight ahead (the left path in the photo above) you will come to a dead end, where there is a blackberry patch, an upturned root, and a private corner.

Reflection Points

What do your five senses tell you about this place? And even your sixth sense?
What's it like when you're faced with dead ends or barriers in life?

When you return to the crossroads, turn left and continue until you come to a T junction.

#12 Stop - The Y Tree

If you chose to turn right at the intersection, you will travel along the path until you come to a T-junction. Turn right again and ahead of you will be a large Y-shaped tree; beyond that you will see the river.

Reflection Points

Use your senses to feel the change from the woods to the open pathway, and beyond, to the river.
What sounds and smells mark this change?
How does your mind and body respond to this change?

#13 Stop - The Look Out

As you pass by the Y tree and cross the main path, you are out of the woods and back to the river. If you are able, and the river isn't too high, consider making your way to the riverbed.

Reflection Points

Notice the edges where land and water meet; how do you meet and blend with different aspects of yourself?
Look into the water. What colours and textures do you see? What is being reflected today?

#14 Stop - Green Metal Shed

As you rejoin the main path, continue along to your right until you see a green metal shed, this marks the last view of the river.

Reflection Points

Notice the flow of the river from this vantage point. Does it feel different from previous views of the river?
If you were to close your eyes for a moment, what would your other senses tell you?

#15 Stop - Choice Points

A little further along the main path, you will see a large maple tree that has lost its top. The path on the right goes uphill to a residential area on Willemar Avenue; to the left the path goes back into the woods, where there is a picnic table. Straight ahead is the second bridge.

Reflection Points

Before deciding which path to take, try this little experiment:

i) Turn towards one of the path choices and ask yourself, "If I choose this path, what would be my body's response?"

ii) Pay attention to the sensations in your body and make note of it.

iii) Turn toward one of the other path choices and repeat.

Does this affect your decision or the path choice you make now?

#16 Stop - The Creek

Just before you arrive at this bridge, you will see that the creek flows under the path you are on. Stand facing the downward flow.

Reflection Points

Allow your mind to empty like the water empties out of the creek. Leave whatever you need to leave behind, before stepping onto the bridge.

#17 Stop - The Bridge

Stop on the bridge and look down into the creek.

Reflection Points

Be still here and allow yourself to be filled with the sensations of the solid bridge under you; the moving water; the uphill path beckoning; and any sounds, smells, and tastes you are aware of.

When you are ready, take the path uphill staying left, not exiting via the yellow gate.

#18 Stop - Valley View

At the top, stop at the fence and enjoy the view of the bridge and the forest below.

Reflection Points

What are you experiencing from this perspective?

#19 Stop - The Bench

Stay along the fence until you come to a bench in the park facing the road. Here is a final place to sit and journal your walk experience.

Reflection Points

Contemplate the rushing and still waters; what can it teach you about the rhythm and flow? Take time to journal any thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations.

The parking lot is about 150 metres down the river beyond the bench.

If You Would Be Your Best Self

If you would grow to your best self

Be patient, not demanding

Accepting, not condemning

Nurturing, not withholding

Self marveling, not belittling

Gently guiding, not pushing and punishing

For you are more sensitive than you know

Humankind is tough as war

Yet deliberate as flowers

We can endure agonies

But we are open fully only to

Warmth and light

And our need to grow

Is fragile as fragrance

Dispersed by storms of will

To return only when those storms are still

So accept, respect

Attend your sensitivity

A flower cannot be opened

With a hammer

- Author unknown

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