All Episodes - Walks with Asha
Reflections, insights and observations about life Inspired by walking with a dog named Asha. Written and narrated by Marilyn Webster. Produced by Joshua Packard.
View Podcast Details31 Episodes
A wayfinder's tale
I made a map that tells a story – about where I’ve walked (and about getting to know wooded paths and trusting how I find my own way).
Eulogy
When I failed to act on my desire to hold a ceremony for a beloved tree, I wrote this letter.
Tenderness of new beginnings
Listening to the whispered wisdom from leaves of an unfamiliar shrub encourage me to meet myself with tenderness as I explore the next iteration of my work.
Walking through doubt
Two walks, two months, one place: When doubt, grief and anger became a key that unlocked wonder.
Lying On A Frozen Pond
Lying on a frozen pond, trusting the ice will hold me, feels akin to the decision-making that took me away from the solid ground of the familiar.
Mary Oliver at the beaver meadow
“Norma,” my inner critic, visited while I lingered at the beaver meadow. Mary Oliver’s poetry helped me reclaim my enoughness.
When 'heart' becomes a verb
How journaling the phrase “headed into the woods” turned “heart” into a verb. (And what happened next.)
Cocoons and liberation
Finding a Northern Casemaker Caddisfly larva in a beaver pond started me thinking about my own portable cocoon.
Geese and indigo: Thoughts on wonder
Walking by the beaver pond with Asha, expecting to see Canada Geese but finding the pond empty of birds, prompted me to consider wonder, both noun and verb.
While looking for birch seeds
What I found while crunching through the snow searching for birch seeds.
Respecting No
How Asha’s instinctive No led me to begin to acknowledge and respect my own body’s No’s — without layers of Supposed to or Should.
Stepping into the fog
When I start to get lost in uncertainty, I turn to this comforting lesson from a foggy morning walk.
Considering delight
So many delights and I haven’t mentioned the bluets, Canada-mayflowers, sensitive ferns and all the plants whose names I don’t yet know. Nor Asha’s chipmunk-chasing and puddle-lying. By the time we return home, I feel deeply nourished and energized by this meandering and visiting with woodland neighbors. When I sit down to write, my inner critic Norma starts to intrude on the deliciousness of my walk. “No one cares about your delight,” she says. Read the full story at walkswithasha.com/stories.
I miss what was
Sometimes being with sadness is all that’s asked of us.
Leaning into beauty
These ordinary moments reminded me that despite isolation, worry and fear, beauty arrives in many forms, offering connection, nourishment and comfort.
"Hello, Black Birch"
The reason I say ‘Hello’ by name to the trees as Asha and I make our way through the woods — and what is changing walk by walk, name by name.
Damn mosquitos
Why does being annoyed lead me into unkind self-judgment? What do I miss noticing and what’s available if I make peace with irritation?
Approach, retreat, bark
What Asha’s instinctive reaction to the unknown shows me about greeting my own fear and uncertainty.
The art of walking
Why I devote attention and time to exploring the qualities of both satisfying and unsatisfying walks.
Beyond the rickety bridge
How maps change my experience on woodland walks, and why, even though I might at times want one, it’s often better for me to walk map-free.
Daring to rest
When my inner wisdom sagely invited herself into the conversation I was having with my inner critic, she posed a permission-giving question.
Holding on and letting go
How snow, a dog and a stick helped me hear what my heart most needed.
Don't let the bears get in the way
How the prospect of crossing paths with bears seen wandering in the woods where Asha and I walk helped me deal with the ‘bears’ wandering in my mind.
Drift
Noticing Asha’s instinctive chase-rather-than-wait offered me a comforting invitation into self-kindness and discernment.