Talking about our feelings can be really daunting. There’s something about being outside in nature that can help alleviate that fear. I used to feel very nervous about the prospect of sitting face to face with someone in a room and it’s for that reason that I started using ‘walk & talk’ many years ago, as a way to meet people and connect.
My outdoors sessions are accessible to everyone. The location where I work has a wide variety of landscape and terrain to accommodate different preferences. There are easy, tarmac pathways for wheelchair access, as well as grass and forested ‘off road’ routes depending on what suits you. The main thing is that you have choice and I am there to walk alongside, allowing you to find your route. This may be the same each week – or it may change every session. It’s up to you. I will hold the boundary of time, making sure we return to our beginning location at the arranged time.
I will walk at your pace and rhythm. You may choose to walk the whole time, or you may prefer to sit on a bench, wall or on the grass. This is more comfortable in warmer weather. But providing you come dressed for the elements we can move or be still together – in all weathers. Weather can become part of the experience, as can the ever-changing components of nature all around us, such as the sound of a cawing crow, or her sudden flight up into the sky. These moments can serve as ways into your own personal exploration, or perhaps they may simply offer a moment of pause.
Tuning Into Your Body
We may use our ‘sitting time’ to tune into your body, gently inviting you to explore what feelings and sensations are arising, what needs to be seen and heard from deeper inside yourself. This is where we can each find our own answers, our own inner wisdom and unique process of healing that allows us to be more conscious and awake in our own bodies, more authentic and true to who we really are.
Nature can be such a direct way for us to feel safe and trusting of our feelings and consequently, more able to share and communicate those feelings honestly. The naturalist and writer, John Muir once wrote:
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in“.
(‘With Nature in Mind’, by Andy McGeeney)
Natural Footsteps Counselling 