Kurt Hoelting grew up by the shores of Puget Sound, and still enjoys making his home on an island in the Salish Sea. He has lived a migratory lifestyle his entire adult life, heading north every summer to work as a commercial fisherman and wilderness guide in Southeast Alaska. A graduate of the University of Washington and Harvard Divinity School, Kurt is an ordained minister, Zen practitioner, and mindfulness teacher, who has sought to blend his passion for spiritual inquiry into his life on the wild edge of Alaska.

Kurt is the author of The Circumference of Home, which was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award in 2011. His new book, Apprentice to the Wild, was released by Empty Bowl Press in January of 2025.

Following 30 years of teaching mindfulness, including 25 years leading mindfulness-based wilderness kayaking retreats in Alaska through his outfitter/guide company, Inside Passages, Kurt is currently based on Whidbey Island in the heart of the Salish Sea.