Becoming a person: How long-distance walking can lead to personal growth – A cultural and health-related approach

Abstract

Long-distance walking is an activity that has been practiced across cultures and ages. More recently, it has been associated with notions of mental health, and it has been suggested that long-distance walking may have psychotherapeutic effects. There is still, however, a lack of clarity regarding several central questions, including what long-distance walking is, and why it may be beneficial to mental health. In this article, we provide an overview of understandings and cultural expressions of the long-distance walk, and we provide a new definition, reaching across these various understandings and expressions. Next, we discuss the different explanations given regarding the therapeutic aspects of the long-distance walk, and suggest a new approach, leaning on an existential framework. Finally, we discuss the implications that the knowledge on long-distance walking has for notions of therapeutic interventions more generally.