Walk With Your Wolf

by Jonathan Hoban

'Drawing on perceptive insight and profound wisdom, Jonathan Hoban reveals how the simple act of walking can displace our minds from a place of chaos to tranquil calm, and makes a beautiful and inspiring case for walking with your wolf.' - Dr Mithu Storoni, author of Stress-Proof Nature is our greatest healer. It's time to start walking and reclaim the wildness in all of us. When did you last take a walk? Not a stroll to the shops, or to the pub, but a walk that got you energised, stimulated your senses, allowing you to de-stress? If the answer is that you'd love to walk, but don't have the time, there really are more reasons to get outside than you might think. When we walk we find the space to process our feelings and we begin to have the courage to be vulnerable and honest with ourselves. Walking awakens the intuition that helps us face up to our difficulties and walk alongside them, enabling us to find positive solutions to our problems. Our ancestors knew all about movement - they walked across the planet, understanding nature and learning to respect and work in harmony with it. Written by a London-based therapist, Walk with your Wolf is part memoir, part self-help and part reflection on the connection we must re-establish with our natural, intuitive selves if we are to live healthy, fulfilling lives. Offering practical advice and exercises on how to walk and think as a method of confronting difficult emotions, this book will allow you to reconnect with your intuition, confidence and power. 'An important message about the power of reconnecting with the primal self to achieve balance in the modern world. A fascinating read' - Megan Hine 'Deftly blending science, his own narrative and his experience as a therapist, he is at our side as we find a way of engaging with and being healed by nature. Like the wolf in the book's title, we can reconnect with our own elemental lupine instincts which are so often repressed in our stressful and artificial world - both a wolf's wildness as well as its sociability and need to be part of a pack. Follow in Hoban's easy to apply footsteps and you will never walk alone again. - Rachel Kelly, bestselling author of Walking on Sunshine and The Happy Kitchen 'Jonathan Hoban challenges us to use nature as a setting for reconsidering our lives and our stresses. He asks us to 'walk alongside our difficulties' giving ourselves the physical and mental space to look at ourselves anew and to decide what we really need. For that commute to work, or indeed for that break on the park bench, I commend this book.' - Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO of the British Council

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2019

About the author

Jonathan Hoban is an Integrative Psychotherapist and Founding Director of central London practice Creative Counselling London Ltd. Born in Wimbledon in 1975, Jonathan spent his formative years walking with family and friends in the green spaces of Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park.

Jonathan trained to be a counsellor after he received personal therapy and reaped the benefits from it. His gratitude arising from the process led him to want to help others in the same way mental health professionals had guided and helped him. He has since developed techniques, philosophies and methods to help clients reconnect with their sense of power, confidence and intuition.

Reviews

[Socrate · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Simte-te ca lupul în pădure” de Jonathan Hoban nu este doar o carte, ci o invitație subtilă la a-ți lua papucii de interior și a-i schimba pe o pereche de bocanci gata să calce poteci neumblate. Psihoterapeut londonez cu o pasiune pentru „terapia prin plimbare”, Hoban ne propune un remediu aparent simplu pentru agitația lumii moderne: mersul pe jos prin natură, cu un strop de introspecție și o doză zdravănă de aer proaspăt. Dar să nu vă lăsați păcăliți de simplitatea ideii – această carte este un lup în blană de oaie, care te prinde în colții săi blânzi și te trage afară din confortul canapelei.
Titlul, inspirat de o vorbă înțeleaptă – „Simte-te în largul tău, simte-te ca lupul în pădure” – setează tonul: libertatea nu e doar un lux, ci o necesitate. Hoban pleacă de la premisa că, asemenea lupului care hoinărește nestingherit, și noi, oamenii, avem nevoie de spațiu pentru a „fi”. Nu e vorba de plimbări grăbite spre supermarket sau de alergatul după autobuz, ci de acel mers contemplativ care te reconectează cu tine însuți. Autorul împletește sfaturi practice cu exerciții de mindfulness, creând ceea ce el numește „terapia prin plimbare” – un antidot la stresul urban, servit cu o cană imaginară de ceai fierbinte.
Ce face cartea cu adevărat savuroasă este tonul lui Hoban: cald, accesibil, cu o notă de umor britanic care te face să zâmbești chiar și când îți spune că ai uitat să respiri cum trebuie. Nu e un ghid pompos de auto-ajutor, ci mai degrabă o conversație cu un prieten care te ia de mână și te scoate la aer, amintindu-ți că natura nu e doar un fundal frumos pentru selfie-uri.

[Kamile · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Moss 慈映夢図 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff. A bit lightweight, ideal for late teens I'd say. Not the definitive self-help book but it never claims to be and it's a good enough jumping-off point for anyone new to it.

[Julia Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you suffer from anxiety or depression then this is a great self help book. The audio worked well and having seen the benefits of walking myself I found that I was nodding in agreement to many aspects of the book. I liked that the author revealed some of his own issues which made me feel empathy towards him and it felt more real.

I learned quite a lot about bring my authentic self and that we all need to get back to nature to feel genuinely content in life.

[Mrs J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful self help book for stressed Londoners

This book is set firmly in a London culture and context, and will appeal to people who are stressed, burnt out and overwhelmed, for whom walking for themselves is a strange concept.

The author uses his own experiences to encourage the reader to find space for themself, know themself better, and look for ways of being free in a culture that doesn't understand freedom and rest.

[Henry Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something for Everyone

The unlimited benefits of walking is explored in a powerful way that we can all relate to on some level. An especially great read for those finding life a bit tough or for anyone who is willing to try and find some further meaning to life through the simple activity of walking.

[Kate Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

**listened via audible**

This was just ‘OK’.
Very slow paced and very repetitive.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for simple ways to improve their health and wellbeing. Well written with personal account on why this method can help .

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to read when you are in a dark place.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a great book ,it challenges you to take nature to help reduce stress and just the day to day things that happen in your life and redirect it to a positive thing