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Why Buffalo Dance: Animal and Wilderness Meditations Through the Seasons
In this elegantly written and illustrated book, Susan Chernak McElroy offers a series of short pieces—meditations and teaching tales—based on animals and the natural world. Each piece can be used as a starting point for meditation practice or read as it is. Arranged around the seasons, the pieces describe nature's evocative moments: magpies hiding prized baubles in their nests, badgers emerging from their dens, buffalo dancing on picnic tables, elk during mating season, dreaming squirrels, dogs, doves, weasels, horses, bears, and even rivers, rocks, and the wind. With McElroy's poetic language, even these so-called inanimate parts of the wild world of nature are vibrant and alive, offering their gifts to any who stop and pay attention. The book explores emptiness, resistance, new beginnings, attraction, decay, integrity, leave-taking, cleansing, and regeneration. Each of the seasonal sections features a line drawing of an animal during that season, and the pages throughout are adorned with intricate decorative borders and art.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 20, 2006
5 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Susan Chernak McElroy
14 books26 followersTeacher, master storyteller, and author of the classic New York Times Bestseller, Animals as Teachers and Healers: True Stories and Reflections, Susan Chernak McElroy's writings are published in more than twenty languages worldwide. She is a nationally recognized, passionate, and original voice on the subject of our emotional, biological, and sacred relationships with animals and wild nature.
Susan is a dynamic and gifted presenter, and a powerful catalyst for personal growth and change. A long term-survivor of advanced cancer, she speaks from a rich body of experience, reminding us that our evolutionary journey toward becoming more fully human beings has included thousands of years of intimate connection with animals and the living Earth.
Susan is a dynamic and gifted presenter, and a powerful catalyst for personal growth and change. A long term-survivor of advanced cancer, she speaks from a rich body of experience, reminding us that our evolutionary journey toward becoming more fully human beings has included thousands of years of intimate connection with animals and the living Earth.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 27, 2016
Susan McElroy’s writing is like poetry– it has rhythm and grace and that incredible softness that makes reading a healing and peaceful experience. The content, too, is rejuvenating. What some would call sappy, I find beautiful, and a pleasant reminder to live life in a genuine, mindful way. All of McElroy’s work seems to bring out my inner Buddhist and it’s lovely to find that kind of zen, even if I can only manage it for the few moments I have the book open in my lap.
Also, animals are just plain cool which makes these books even more of a delight as McElroy relates heartwarming stories about her life with animals and the wide, wild world that has been her home for so many years.
Needed this! Definitely check it out if you’re looking for a short (but oh-so-sweet) re-charge.
Also, animals are just plain cool which makes these books even more of a delight as McElroy relates heartwarming stories about her life with animals and the wide, wild world that has been her home for so many years.
Needed this! Definitely check it out if you’re looking for a short (but oh-so-sweet) re-charge.
February 24, 2022
Browsing through my bookshelves, I came across this hidden treasure. I was looking for a book for reflection and meditation (to go with my morning coffee and pastry). I have been delightfully surprised and inspired.
The book follows the seasons of the year and uses the elements of nature as the stimulus for reflective thought: animals, trees, weather, etc. Each reflection starts with a quote and is only a few pages long. Actually, the order in which one reads the book doesn't make a lot of difference. If reading during winter, the autumn section is still very relevant and may even "speak to your needs" more so at the time.
Bottom line: this book is for me a keeper and one I would strongly recommend, especially to those who find inspiration in and appreciation for our natural environment.
The book follows the seasons of the year and uses the elements of nature as the stimulus for reflective thought: animals, trees, weather, etc. Each reflection starts with a quote and is only a few pages long. Actually, the order in which one reads the book doesn't make a lot of difference. If reading during winter, the autumn section is still very relevant and may even "speak to your needs" more so at the time.
Bottom line: this book is for me a keeper and one I would strongly recommend, especially to those who find inspiration in and appreciation for our natural environment.
December 31, 2023
I was a bit skeptical of this book as it was difficult to locate a copy to read and the preface mentioned it being "spiritual," but was pleasantly surprised by all of the stories relating to nature throughout the seasons. I look forward to discussing it with my bookclub.
August 28, 2018
A wonderful collection of meditations on nature, the seasons and how they all relate to our inner life and experience! A precious book!
September 19, 2018
The author guides us through the seasons in Teton Valley, Idaho discussing each season and its effect on the animals she encounters. Her insights help us understand the passage of time and how we may relate to it. The book is sprinkled with Indian lore and wisdom, and her observations and life journey are well worth reading.
She also relates extremely well to the natural environment around her, and has a compassion and appreciation for the animals that she encounters.
Her personal experience with the four-day Sundance ceremony, and the Cherokee water purification ritual were most interesting, and showed her commitment to experiencing life.
To those who have grown up in the south and don't have much recollection of a snowy winter, the insights may be a little less relevant.
I read this book quickly the first time, and then went back re-read sections of it to better understand the strength of the messages and wisdom that was being communicated.
She also relates extremely well to the natural environment around her, and has a compassion and appreciation for the animals that she encounters.
Her personal experience with the four-day Sundance ceremony, and the Cherokee water purification ritual were most interesting, and showed her commitment to experiencing life.
To those who have grown up in the south and don't have much recollection of a snowy winter, the insights may be a little less relevant.
I read this book quickly the first time, and then went back re-read sections of it to better understand the strength of the messages and wisdom that was being communicated.
December 27, 2021
Beautiful, moving, incredibly peaceful. Makes me want to go camp alone for a week and touch some trees and listen to the world
May 27, 2015
I really loved this one, it offered me insights and peace. It had a similar feel as Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and I recommend it highly. Here are the quotes I need to remember...
"The deep and enduring questions - who we are, what we are, what is true, how we heal - are inseparable from our relationship with the natural world because we are the natural world. The percentage of our bodies that is salt water is the same as the proportion of the earth that is ocean. What is left of us is composed of minerals, in a proportion which mimics that of the surface of the earth. The water and clay that fashion us are given to us by the earth, and we, in turn, exchange our molecules with hers on a regular basis. We are, in effect, miniature living planets. The Original Instructions encoded within us for living in a good way are the same instructions that the planet follows: care for your children, take only what you need, keep your nest clean, support your community, be cautious but never fearful, trust life."
"The Buddha says that all suffering comes from wanting things to be different than they are."
"Whether our play ever turns into work is not really the point. The point is to play, because otters, crows, bears, and bison tell us it is worth the doing. In the evolutionary process, only what works survives. Millions of years of play add up to a powerful advertisement for its efficacy. Frolic and you will be in good company."
"Go to a place in nature that attracts you…Ask this area for permission for you to be there. Doing this increases your sensitivity to the are. Ask if this place will help you learn from it. Look for adverse signals of danger such as thorns, bees, cliff faces. If the are still feels attractive, or becomes more attractive, you have gained its consent to be there." -Michael Cohen
"Best of all is it to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be fore every pulse a thanksgiving and for every breath a song." -Konrad von Gesner
"Our bodies flow with rivers of plasma and salt water set to the meter of the beating heart. Nature, too, has her own circulation system of waters, and her heart is the rhythm of the seasons, constricting the waters in winter, releasing them with a gush in summer, Behind every living thing is a steady, comforting, driving pulse. Behind every dream is a rhythm. Listen. You'll feel it."
"Miracles seem to rest, not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from far off, but upon our perceptions being made finer so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear that which is about us always." -Willa Cather
"The deep and enduring questions - who we are, what we are, what is true, how we heal - are inseparable from our relationship with the natural world because we are the natural world. The percentage of our bodies that is salt water is the same as the proportion of the earth that is ocean. What is left of us is composed of minerals, in a proportion which mimics that of the surface of the earth. The water and clay that fashion us are given to us by the earth, and we, in turn, exchange our molecules with hers on a regular basis. We are, in effect, miniature living planets. The Original Instructions encoded within us for living in a good way are the same instructions that the planet follows: care for your children, take only what you need, keep your nest clean, support your community, be cautious but never fearful, trust life."
"The Buddha says that all suffering comes from wanting things to be different than they are."
"Whether our play ever turns into work is not really the point. The point is to play, because otters, crows, bears, and bison tell us it is worth the doing. In the evolutionary process, only what works survives. Millions of years of play add up to a powerful advertisement for its efficacy. Frolic and you will be in good company."
"Go to a place in nature that attracts you…Ask this area for permission for you to be there. Doing this increases your sensitivity to the are. Ask if this place will help you learn from it. Look for adverse signals of danger such as thorns, bees, cliff faces. If the are still feels attractive, or becomes more attractive, you have gained its consent to be there." -Michael Cohen
"Best of all is it to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be fore every pulse a thanksgiving and for every breath a song." -Konrad von Gesner
"Our bodies flow with rivers of plasma and salt water set to the meter of the beating heart. Nature, too, has her own circulation system of waters, and her heart is the rhythm of the seasons, constricting the waters in winter, releasing them with a gush in summer, Behind every living thing is a steady, comforting, driving pulse. Behind every dream is a rhythm. Listen. You'll feel it."
"Miracles seem to rest, not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from far off, but upon our perceptions being made finer so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear that which is about us always." -Willa Cather
June 13, 2015
In this elegantly written and illustrated book, Susan Chernak McElroy offers a series of short pieces,meditations and teaching tales based on animals and the natural world. Each piece can be used as a starting point for meditation practice or read as it is. Arranged around the seasons, the pieces describe nature’s evocative moments: magpies hiding prized baubles in their nests, badgers emerging from their dens, buffalo dancing on picnic tables, elk during mating season, dreaming squirrels, dogs, doves, weasels, horses, bears, and even rivers, rocks, and the wind.
With McElroy's poetic language, even these so-called inanimate parts of the wild world of nature are vibrant and alive, offering their gifts to any who stop and pay attention. The book explores emptiness, resistance, new beginnings, attraction, decay, integrity, leave-taking, cleansing, and regeneration. Each of the seasonal sections features a line drawing of an animal during that season, and the pages throughout are adorned with intricate decorative borders and art.
This is another literary find from my quiet day design, "Meeting God in Nature".
With McElroy's poetic language, even these so-called inanimate parts of the wild world of nature are vibrant and alive, offering their gifts to any who stop and pay attention. The book explores emptiness, resistance, new beginnings, attraction, decay, integrity, leave-taking, cleansing, and regeneration. Each of the seasonal sections features a line drawing of an animal during that season, and the pages throughout are adorned with intricate decorative borders and art.
This is another literary find from my quiet day design, "Meeting God in Nature".
July 10, 2009
I related wholeheartedly (indeed "whole-being-ly") to this book. First, it is a beautiful, hardcover book that simply feels good to hold. Second, I could feel the authors' kinship to and deep understanding of nature on every page. For instance, Susan Chernak McElroy writes in her introduction: "Nature remains the clean and pure page we write ourselves upon. She remains the bedrock of our human experience, the mother, father and spirit revealed to us in physical forms we can touch and know in real-time communion." Now, what's not to love?! In some ways, this book gave me the same pure and inspired feelings as May's The Wisdom of Wilderness.
March 8, 2016
Beautifully written book. The author encourages people to notice animal activity according to the seasons and to draw parallels in their own lives. The seasons have their own rhythm and we need to start living with the specific season's rhythm, instead of fighting it. Would highly recommend.
February 8, 2010
This little book had some nuggets of good insight, but mostly it was like reading someone's journal for a year. Which is fine, if that's what you're looking for in a book.
May 1, 2008
Wonderfully spiritual book about connecting with nature. I could identify with a lot of it and the rest was really insightful.
April 23, 2009
This is a collection of beautifully written stories taken straight from the author's experiences. A treasure. I love it and will continue to open up and read the stories in days to come.
July 22, 2017
It was an ok book, but was not what I was looking for. I really like her earlier books tho.
November 19, 2009
Beautiful snippets of writing. Arranged by season. Life lessons taught by nature and her creatures. Lovely.
January 5, 2016
i enjoy this. some affirmation on things i've already learned just from spending time with Mama Earth & recognizing the ways we are connected to her.
December 9, 2021
Second time reading! I feel a little more synchronized with my roots and nature and that's an amazing feeling.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews