Benefits of walking
Uphill and a few days walk north of Seville on the Via de la Plata (Camino 2017)
If you were to ask me about my favourite exercise, I would have to say that it is walking. It’s gentle and it is meditative. For these reasons, I would recommend this activity to you.
I have walked the 1200 year old pilgrimage route, known as the Camino, to Santiago de Compostela in North Western Spain three times. The first two times was the 800 kilometres route from the French side of the Pyrenees mountains. The last time was 1000 kilometres from Seville in the south of Spain to the north. The latter journey takes about 40 days. My motives for the walk were much more than for the exercise, although getting the joints moving was definitely a plus.
If you want to know more about my walking the Camino, then read my book entitled My Camino Walk - A Way to Healing. It’s available in both paperback and Kindle. I also have copies at the clinic.
In this blog, I want to focus your attention less on the physicality and more on the meditative aspect of the journey.
There’s a powerful metaphor for walking because walking is straightforward. You just place one foot in front of the other and propel yourself forward. Walking approximately 25 kilometres a day on the Camino becomes your main focus, so it can empty the mind of anything not related to your journey. That is why I call walking a mediative practice. If you cut out the chatter or extraneous data to which we are all subjected in life, this can help provide clarity. What do we do at the crossroads and are we on the right path?
Of course, walking in nature past lakes and across mountains is going to give you a substantial blast of oxygen so that can account for some of the benefits.
Most of the time, I walked alone. I found myself reflecting on my life, the paths that I had taken that proved fortuitous, as well as moves that were dead-ends that lead nowhere.
Walking allowed me to reflect on and appreciate all the good things I have in my life and to let go of past regrets and disappointments.
Again, there is the powerful metaphor of the baggage we carry through life. For my journey, it is recommended that my backpack not exceed 17 lbs because the accumulative weight on a 30 or 40 day journey can weigh one down unnecessarily. However, the emotional baggage that we tend to carry for much of our life can weigh us down even more. Perhaps it’s time to let it all go so that we can move on.
Walks of marathon-like proportions may not be a viable option for you now. However, I would recommend taking time out for perhaps a one or two hour jaunt.
On each of my three Caminos, I took c. 1500 photos. This is just a sample. No use of Photo-Shop. Enjoy!
The start of my first Camino in 2010 - on the outskirts of St. Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees
Higher and higher in the Pyrenees mountains 2010
“My Kingdom for a Horse” - I think that would be a bargain on my first day of walking ( Camino 2015)
Puente la Reina (Camino 2010)
Pilgrims in the distance - “Ultreia!” The word is a pilgrim encouragement loosely translated as “onward and upward”
Me and my shadow !
Taking the bridge from here to there. On the “Via de la Plata” from Seville (Camino 2017)
I wondered whether the vibrancy of the blue was a figment of my imagination? Sensory overload ! (Via de la Plata - Camino 2017)
A new friend ! I wish I had her name because I hate calling her “1468”
The long and winding road (Camino 2010)
In the city of Burgos (Camino 2010)
Salamanca on the Via de la Plata (Camino 2017)
Arrival in Santiago de Compostella (Camino 2010) Wait, that backpack is heavier than 17 lbs !
