The Camino - A Catalyst For Change

I’ve met so many people on these sacred paths looking for answers and to heal something over my 7 years of walking on Camino routes. A burnout German school teacher was walking the full 800km to rewire his nervous system for calm. A Korean man who managed high rise building projects and had witnessed workers falling to their deaths was walking to assuage the guilt he felt for being alive. A lady walking with me went into each church to let go the grief for her late father which still gripped her. A French teacher who had worked with autistic children walked to find calm and clarity. A lady I met in an Albergue was carrying the ashes of her deceased child. A man was walking to find a clear answer as to whether he should stay in his marriage.

The people and the stories are endless and humbling. It’s a road full of longing and of people looking for transformation and renewal. And the amazing news is, they most often achieve exactly that. I also take my biggest questions on pilgrimage. I return home so much clearer, in love with life and elevated to another level in wanting to chase all my dreams.

As a holistic mind-body practitioner and Camino coach, it’s interesting and encouraging to find science to underscore the transformative effect of going on these sacred long walks. (They don’t even have to be that long. A week can do incredible things for you.)

Researcher Rhea White (2000) introduced the concept of Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs) to describe extraordinary yet often under-recognised events - such as moments of awe, heightened clarity, or profound connection - that can catalyse significant psychological and spiritual transformation. Far from being anomalies, White argued that EHEs provide opportunities for personal growth, healing, and shifts in worldview when they are acknowledged and integrated.

The Camino de Santiago, with its contemplative rhythm of walking, immersion in nature, connection with like-minded people and openness to the unknown, offers fertile ground for such experiences, making pilgrimage a unique context for both individual and collective transformation.

Brumec (2022) reports that the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage can produce significant changes in mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, comparable to other exceptional human experiences (EHEs). Key outcomes include increased life appreciation, heightened search for meaning and purpose, enhanced self-acceptance, greater concern for others, deeper spirituality, and a decreased emphasis on material achievement.

This positions the Camino not simply as a fabulous long walk, but as a catalyst for deep psychological and spiritual change. Intention-setting, and therapy amplifies and completely optimises this effect.

Walking the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage in Italy, in 2022