OUtside Reading: Trail Therapy

Lizzie Nelson

I was reading about the concept of trail therapy and how it can affect the psyche of an individual and I began reading personal stories of people who used trail therapy. There were many powerful stories of people who used the freedom you feel on trails to heal themselves from past traumatic experiences and memories that may haunt them. This one man in particular was hiking with work friends once a week for this exact purpose. What I found interesting and quite heart warming was that they always tried to adjust their hikes for those in the group who may not be able to keep up with the fastest movers in the group. This element of the story reminded me of the communitas we discussed so thoroughly in our classes. Focusing on all the people in the group instead of just a few was able bond these people more than any number of long hours of work could. Because they were out of a controlled environment they were able to truly be themselves and that was reflected in the story. I thought it was quite inspiring and was just able prove how easy trail therapy can be. It doesn’t have to be long distances pushing your physical boundaries, though that may help, it just needs to be with people you care about.  

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