Walk It Off: How Walk Therapy Works

Thinking on Your Feet
In walk therapy, therapist and client move side by side—literally. The session takes place not in a room but on an outdoor path, with the framework co-created with the rhythm of walking. The value of taking a walk to process a challenge or untangle a thought is an old one, but a good one.

Neuroscientists have observed that when we walk, especially in a steady, metrical pattern resembling iambic pentameter, certain overactive regions of the brain begin to quiet. The prefrontal cortex, the area governing self-consciousness and doubt, relaxes. In its place, a deeper, freer kind of cognition can emerge: intuitive and more creative. In other words, the walking mind can be more open and fertile, creating a distinct therapeutic experience from traditional seated counselling.

Walking also engages bilateral stimulation—left-right movement—that mimics the mechanisms used in trauma therapies like EMDR. This rhythmic input can help shift the brain toward integration, supporting clients in processing deeply rooted emotions and memories.

Internal Evolution
Charles Darwin famously kept a gravel path behind his home in Kent, known as the “Sandwalk,” which he walked almost daily as he developed the theory that would change our understanding of life.

Likewise, in the epic 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia (full disclosure, my favourite film), there’s a quietly momentous scene: T.E. Lawrence, confronted with military stalemate, takes a solitary desert walk. He returns illuminated with the solution—Aqaba by sea. Walking meditatively is not simply for leisure; it can be a powerful method for insight and breakthroughs.

The Path from the Couch
As a humanistic psychotherapist, I’ve explored how transformative walk therapy can be for clients. Recently, I’ve spent long periods in Valencia’s Turia—a former riverbed transformed into a winding urban garden. I often walk the trail with clients, or alone, and thoughts that felt stuck in the office might begin to unwind along the trail. These walks can feel like a pilgrimage toward clarity and inner peace.

Reconnecting to the Body
Modern life tends to disembody us. Excessive screen use widens the divide between mind and body, regressing our connection to the felt self. Like in sensorimotor therapy, movement in walk therapy helps shift inner tension and awaken physical memories—often atrophied after years of emotional suppression.

In walk therapy, we engage the whole self—physically, emotionally, and cognitively.