Walking as medicine

How can I invite the world to move through me?

How am I growing?

What gifts do I bring to the world?

Who do I want to be?

How can I best love myself and others?

By walking the Camino de Santiago I am simplifying my external world. Each day I wake early, pack my backpack with a few belongings, and I walk. I stretch, snack and keep walking. I pass time caught in beautiful conversations or diving deeper into my internal world, asking myself the questions of what it means to feel alive.

What I love about the simplicity of walking each day is that it creates space to think, to feel. In the morning hours, when the sky slowly lightens from deep navy to greenish-yellow and the sun rises red over the hills this is when I feel most connected to the land and to my spirit. When the birds swoop low and sing I slow and listen. I feel the world flowing through me.

Walking is medicine. Some days I wake exhausted, sore, hungry and in search of breakfast, but I am always eager to walk. I’m rewilding by walking, tapping into a natural kindship with the fields of sunflowers, grape vines and the little wild bunnies that bound across the trail.

The Camino de Santiago isn’t, for the most part, wild. Unlike my time on the Pacific Crest Trail I am not filtering stream water or camping under stars. On this trail I almost always have cell service, I shower everynight and eat pastries. Some days I hike through lush mountains and forests, but for the most part my journey of rewilding here comes from within.

A few days ago I meditated in a beautiful sanctuary for pilgrims in the town of Castrojeriz. As I closed my eyes I envisioned a pink ribbon of light weaving through me. With each exhale I dropped deeper into the Earth, weaving myself to the large interconnected web of life.

I’ve been meditating more now. Placing my hands on trees, doing breathwork, humming as I walk. But more than this, I’ve also greatly appreciated the depths of conversations with fellow pilgrims, with people sharing their goals and fears. I love that we talk about who we want to be rather than what we do as a means of making income. Through both meditative acts and connecting with others I’ve been exploring new depths of myself… and I’m so grateful for this gift of time.

My last few days have also been inspired by a question I read in that sanctuary: “What is the difference between being a living thing and being truly alive?”

Being truly alive for me is connecting with my inner child by singing, dancing and picking grapes off vines and eating them then and there. I feel alive through laughter while hiking in the pouring rain and by moments of awe running my hands along crumbling walls built many centuries ago. Most of all I feel alive when I’m aligning my inner and external worlds, by being present, by honoring my true essence… a thing I call rewilding.