Walker Abel has published four volumes of poetry, all with Homebound Publications. His poems spring from the two fundamental influences of his adult life: decades of intimacy with wilderness areas of the West, and decades of engagement with the practices and teachings within Taoism and Zen Buddhism. For 27 years, Walker taught environmental studies field programs in the University of California system. These 9-week classes were conducted entirely off-campus on a series of backpacking trips. As an ecopsychologist, Walker loved watching students open to the transformative effect of extended nature immersion, as he also loved experiencing those effects inside himself. Walker is currently a student of Roshi Teja Bell, who blends Taoism and Buddhism into an embodied synthesis (qigongdharma.com).
