Malcolm Buckley's Blog - Posts Tagged "long-distance-walk"

In my book The Viking Way ‘A Walk for Denver’ I refer to my journey of 170 miles over 12 consecutive days as a Pilgrimage, due to the fact that it was as much an inner journey through my unresolved grief for Denver as it was an outer transient experience of the path itself.

A Pilgrimage is defined by The National Trust as, ‘ a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance, typically to a shrine or location of importance in a person’s beliefs or faith’. A devotional practice consisting of a long and meaningful journey, often undertaken on foot.

I removed myself from my home environment and life conditions for two weeks, and stepped out of the non-stop demands and ‘busy-ness’ of normal life. I Immersed myself into a natural environment, and into a state of ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’.

Walking a long distance path over multi-days keeps you in the present moment at all times, where the opportunity to feel more in tune with self brings a high degree of awareness, empathy, love and compassion for everyone and everything.

I experienced a lifetime of emotions during my 12 days of The Viking Way, due to both the outer conditions around me, and the powerful inner release of prolonged mental stress and emotional grief.

There are generally three stages of personal growth when engaged on a long distance multi-day walk, I will look at those complex stages and the inner transformations they create in my next blog.

Walking every day for weeks or months with nothing more to achieve, brings a level of simplicity to life, The only focus is to get from point A to point B at the end of the day safely, finding food, water and shelter are all the outer conditions life on the path asks of you.

The natural world is a healer, just being in nature, nurtures and empowers a lost soul. My Viking Way walk elevated me high enough from the abyss to the point I could re- stabilize myself , steady every aspect of my being that had been thrown out of balance. It enabled me to find my footing and build on that platform of strength to reach a point of safety emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Prolonged emotional and/or mental stress inevitably becomes physical, bringing potential illness as the immune system weakens. Self-awareness is important here, self-acceptance is crucial. Both are required before action can be taken to prevent a full physical, mental and emotional shutdown.

That’s why going for a walk is a wonderful, healing action to take if the body is under stress and strain.

The path teaches and provides, it allows us to slow down, to heal and to resonate with the rhythm of nature. To illuminate our true journey through life, enabling us to see what really matters, and can gift us a greater sense of our life’s purpose.

A pilgrimage can, and most likely will provide a spiritual revelation, a life changing epiphany without any initiation or demand from self, the natural world and the path itself, always provides what is needed.