In 2006 Stephen Legault experienced a period of tremendous upheaval, the result of bad decisions and a lifetime of anger and fear that left him in a deep depression, struggling to come to terms with the choices he had made. While running on a sun-dappled trail around Victoria’s iconic Mount Doug he realized that, like so many other people, he felt alone and afraid and was suffering, and that he had to do something about it. Having been toying with meditation for years and studying the teaching of the Buddha since he was a teenager, Stephen decided to address his suffering by dedicating himself more fully to a spiritual practice. One half of that practice was sitting still in meditation. The other half was running up and over southern Vancouver Island’s rocky domes of arbutus and Garry oak.

Illustrated throughout with colour photographs highlighting the tranquil beauty of India, the American Southwest, Canada’s West Coast and the wild landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, Running Toward Stillness is an invitation to run through the woods, along the seashore and on mountain trails in order to experience moments of sublime delight, to share the imperfect insights gained on the trail and while sitting in meditation, and to learn that while we all suffer, we can learn to understand the root of our suffering. Most importantly, we can share the knowledge that there is an end to suffering, that this wonderful gift can be ours and that we are one part of nature moving through the rest of creation.

Stephen Legault is a full-time conservation activist, writer, photographer, and organizational development consultant. He is the author of a number of historical and environmentally themed mysteries, including The End of the Line and The Third Riel Conspiracy, featuring Durrant Wallace, a sergeant with the North West Mounted Police in the late 1800s; The Slickrock Paradox, a Red Rock Canyon Mystery set in Utah's Canyonlands region; and The Vanishing Track and The Glacier Gallows, the most recent mysteries featuring Cole Blackwater, an environmentalist who finds himself solving crimes. Stephen is also the author of Carry Tiger to Mountain: The Tao of Activism and Leadership, which he wrote based on his experience using the Tao Te Ching as a guide to his lifelong work to protect wilderness and wildlife, and Running Toward Stillness, a meditation on Buddhist spiritual practice, running, and parenthood. He is currently working on new books of photography, essays on spirituality, and more mystery novels. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, with his wife, Jenn, and two children, Rio and Silas. Visit Stephen online at stephenlegault.com and follow him on Twitter at @StephenLegault.

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