Walking Toward the World We Most Want to Inhabit: A Journey for Peace, Friendship, and Collective Movement

By Sen Wilde, Spiral Goddess Collective Community Engagement Coordinator

Almost 250 people walked the final stretch to Augusta. Sen set and maintained the pace/carried the lead banner for the final walk.

“When we move our bodies together, we have the potential to change more than just our bodies, and more than our lives. We change our culture. Movement means transformation… a promise of a better future. A different way to be.” —Sarah Hentges, Demystifying American Yoga: Embodied Movement for Individual and Collective Transformation

This quote has been echoing in my heart as I reflect on the past eight days—days filled with movement, meaning, and deep connection. On Earth Day, I joined more than 300 people in a collective Journey for Peace and Friendship, walking a total of 83 miles from the Penobscot Nation on Indian Island to the Maine State Capitol in Augusta. With each step, we moved in loving solidarity with our friends, neighbors, and all beings—toward a future rooted in justice, healing, and hope.

The Journey of Peace and Friendship was not just a walk: it was a bold act of community visioning. Organized by the Land Peace Foundation, a nonprofit based in Monroe that focuses on preserving Indigenous Lifeways and strengthening Wabanaki kinship and ally networks, the journey invited participants from all walks of life to come together to actively embody our deepest held social values and spiritual aspirations—values like kindness, mutual care, collaboration, compassion, and acceptance.

We walked through blistering sun and pouring rain. We traversed small towns, cities, and steep, hilly countrysides. We walked through laughter and silence, grief and gratitude. And along the way, we witnessed the beauty of what becomes possible when perfect strangers come together with a commitment to co-create a world that reflects love over fear, unity over division, and peace over violence. We learned that friendship isn’t merely a bond between individuals—it’s a sacred commitment to move together, even (and especially) when the road ahead is long.

For me, it felt like an extension of everything we strive for here at the Spiral Goddess Collective. At the SGC, we believe that movement is medicine. We know that healing happens in community. Our classes and community offerings—from yoga and dance to meditation and sound healing—are designed not just to move our bodies, but to move energy, shift consciousness, and bring us closer to ourselves and one another. We come together to practice being human in the most wholehearted, embodied way we can.

This Journey of Peace and Friendship was a living expression of those same values. It was a reminder that the most profound movements don’t happen in isolation; they happen together. Whether we gather on the road, in a circle, or in a studio, moving together allows us to regulate, reconnect, and remember that we belong.

Our daily work for a kinder, more compassionate world is in the ground we’re walking on and in the air we breathe. When we walk, dance, stretch, or breathe in unison, we co-create a rhythm of care that is deeply transformative. We remember that we are not alone, and that even small, intentional actions—taken together—can ripple outward to create real and lasting transformation.

Though this walk has come to an end, my journey has just begun. I carry the lessons, connections, and strength gathered along the path with me. I carry the stories. The songs. The footsteps of those who came before and those who will come after. I carry the wisdom that peace isn’t a place we arrive—it’s a practice we walk every day. It’s in every word we speak and every action we take. It’s in the sacred reimagining of the world we want to co-create.

I’m deeply grateful to Sherri Mitchell Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset, Reverend Sara Hayman, and all of the leaders, organizers, and walkers who made this Journey possible. And I’m deeply honored to continue moving alongside each and every curator, instructor, participant, and community partner at the Spiral Goddess Collective. May we all continue moving toward the world we most want to inhabit. Embodying that vision, together.

Hundreds of people joined the Journey of Peace and Friendship from the Penobscot Nation on Indian Island to the Maine State Capitol.