A Pilgrimage for your Soul
Walking back to meet yourself
Every year I commit to walking some kind of pilgrimage. Like some people book 10 days in Spain to lay on the beach, drink tequila shots and dance on tables, I will commit to booking some time out to slow down and go outside, in order to land inside. If you catch my drift. I know it might not sound as exciting as the pleasure thrills of tequila dancing, but I do find the inner dance that a pilgrimage creates, much more worthwhile these days. A different kind of Spiritual awakening I guess.
There are several definitions of what it means to undertake a pilgrimage, as well as reasons for embarking upon one. For many it is associated with a religious experience of some kind, and for others like me, it simply involves a conscious period of time, whereby I leave my every day life, roles and identity behind, in order to undertake an extended walk in the natural world. For some the experience might include walking towards a specific place of Spiritual significance, like the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain, which is the end point on the infamous Camino de Santiago pilgrims trail. For others, their own place of Spiritual significance might lay hidden within their own heart.
A Devotional Practice
Although I do not identify as a religious person (whatever that means), I would say that these pilgrimages are for me a devotional practice. They are one of the ways I clear some of the inevitable debris and noise that has built up inside my system and return to myself, and to what really matters. I find these pilgrimages offer me a way to reconnect to my Heart, Body and Soul, whilst in turn strengthening my relationship with the Divine.
One of the longest pilgrimages I have ever undertaken was in 2010, when my mother was dying of cancer. I knew I needed a reset of some kind and so after some online research, I set off on The West Highland Way in the Highlands of Scotland, which is 96 miles long, and which I walked in 7 days (nutter). Along the way, there were the inevitable physical challenges including exhaustion, malnutrition (OMG the ‘food’!!), blistered, bleeding heels and lost toenails! All of which were part of the inner growth process too, building my resilience and capacity for commitment and discipline. “I said I would and so I will…”. I also recognised later, as I held my mother’s hand when she lay dying, that the pilgrimage had gifted me a deeper resilience, which allowed me to ‘bear the unbearable’.