Wal­king towards trans­for­ma­ti­on – Ex­plo­ring the sub­jec­ti­ve and un­pre­dic­ta­ble na­tu­re of pil­grimage

Which aspects of pil­grimage are as­so­cia­ted with po­ten­ti­al the­ra­peu­tic ef­fects? And how this can in­form pe­dago­gy and prac­ti­ce? Long di­stance wal­king and pil­grimage is an an-ci­ent ac­ti­vi­ty prac­ti­ced across cul­tures for many re­asons (Mau, Aaby, Klau­sen & Roess-ler, 2021). The exis­ting li­te­ra­tu­re on pil­grimage ad­dres­ses the trans­for­ma­tio­nal na­tu­re of the jour­ney on the pil­grim (War­field, 2012). This trans­for­ma­tio­nal qua­li­ty can be de-fi­ned in terms of the bio-psycho-so­cial-spi­ri­tu­al na­tu­re of pil­grimage. This he­art­felt arti-cle en­dea­vors to dis­co­ver what we know about the si­gni­fi­can­ce of whe­ther one walks, treks, hi­kes or tramps for a short, long or un­spe­ci­fied pe­ri­od of time in an ur­ban, rural or re­mo­te land­scape, alo­ne or with others.