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.