Harnessing Deep Walking for Healing and Mindfulness - Reino Gevers

Discover the transformative journey of walking as we welcome the esteemed Reino Gevers, a seasoned journalist turned passionate author and motivational speaker, to Pleasure Principles. Reino Gevers unveils the profound insights he gained from trekking the legendary Camino de Santiago over a dozen times. He reveals how the purposeful act of "deep walking" can be a powerful tool for inner healing, mindfulness, and reconnecting with one's true self amidst the chaos of modern living. Learn about the historical significance of the Camino and how its ancient paths continue to offer solace and purpose to contemporary seekers. 

We delve into the science and philosophy that highlight the healing benefits of walking. Reino Gevers discusses compelling research from Stanford and Barcelona universities, showing how immersing oneself in nature's "blue and green spaces" can enhance mental well-being and body metabolism. For those who walk out of necessity, such as commuting, discover Reino Gever's tips on turning these routine walks into meaningful journeys toward personal growth and fulfillment. Lace up your shoes and embark on this enlightening exploration of walking's potential to enrich body, mind, and soul.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey everyone, pleasure Principles, the podcast where we explore the art of finding balance, purpose and fulfillment in our fast-paced modern lives. I'm your host, avik, and today we are diving into something truly profound the transformative power of walking. Yes, walking for your body, mind and the soul. So joining us is the incredible Renaud Givers, a seasoned journalist, turned author, consultant and motivational speaker, who has walked the ancient Camino de Santiago more than a dozen times. So his insights have inspired countless people to rediscover themselves, connect with nature and embrace life's deeper meaning. So we are about to uncover how the simple act of walking can become a powerful tool for mindfulness, healing and the growth. So let's up those walking shoes and let's take a journey together, one step at a time. So welcome to the show again.

Speaker 2: 1:18

Thank you, avik, I'm happy to be on your show.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Lovely, lovely, great. So, renu, like to start with. I mean, if you can share, what does deep walking mean to you? I mean how it is different from the regular stroll.

Speaker 2: 1:33

Okay, deep walking is different to merely taking a walk. Deep walking I describe as something intentional, that you are having some question in your mind or some issue to resolve, or simply to do a walk for relaxation. If you take a normal walk without an intention, you might find your mind straying to the past or to the future and being in the monkey mind, which is very different to doing a meditative deep walk understood, understood.

Speaker 1: 2:21

And also, the Camino de Santiago is the central to your journey. So what makes this pilgrimage so, so transformative?

Speaker 2: 2:32

This walk is really unique because it's a path that is a network. You must see it as a network of different paths all across Europe leading to the central point in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and these routes have been walked by pilgrims for centuries, going right before to the Middle Ages and then, prior to that, even to Celtic times. These paths were used for ritual purposes and in the early 1980s, a Catholic priest had done some studies on these ancient paths and started reviving this path which is it which had almost been forgotten and started marking the trails with a yellow arrow. And that's when the first people started walking in the early 1980s, and he had this vision of the camino being revived as a pilgrimage path for people in the modern era, and, of course, in medieval times, people did this walk as a Catholic penance.

Speaker 2: 3:56

But today the issues people are walking with are very different. People are different and they have different issues as to the time in the Middle Ages. Modern life can be very stressful, which is often a routine filled with daily distractions, a routine filled with daily distractions, and I firmly believe that the stressful life we are exposed to today is a major cause of many of the mental illnesses, like depression we are seeing today, and taking a walk, especially a longer walk, like on a pilgrimage, will revive your inner state of being rediscovered, their true purpose, their inner self and the meaning of life, after being on a walk for two, three weeks and finding their inner rhythm, their true purpose again.

Speaker 1: 5:21

Okay, okay, understood, and also like what to say on this? Like, uh, walking is very simple, but yet you claim that it can heal the body, mind and the soul. So what's the science, or maybe the philosophy, behind this?

Speaker 2: 5:45

Well, there've been various studies One is from Stanford University, the other one's from the Barcelona University that spending time in the blue and green spaces of nature, walking, has a major positive effect on your body metabolism, for one, and on your mental state of being, because when you have a healthy body metabolism, of course that has an impact on your, on your mind, and if your mind is healthy, your, your soul, is healthy. It's, it's also a part of a detoxing, detoxing process in the body. When you take a longer walk, you'll find your body detoxing. I found on my walks that the first few days your body literally smells from all the toxins that are released and then, after a couple of days, your, your entire senses, your sense of smell, sight and and and auditory senses, start becoming more acute. You, you, you start perceiving the world around you in an entirely different way.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Exactly, and also on this, like many of us work out of necessity, like commuting. So how can we turn those walks into something that is more meaningful? What do you?

Speaker 2: 7:20

say Good question. Well, there's different research on this. Some researchers say that you need those 10,000 steps a day. Others say 8,000 steps is perfectly okay. I would say anything between 8,000 and 10,000 steps a day. Walking will boost your body metabolism in a significant way. Have a lot of noise around you and a lot of stress factors impacting your body and your mind, then I would recommend that, even in your city, find a park or an area of green space, of nature, where you can at least spend five to ten minutes a day simply connecting with nature. If you're commuting and you take a walk from your house to your bus station, that is always better than taking a car, definitely.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Understood. Got it better than than taking a car.

Speaker 2: 8:52

definitely understood, you got it and uh, also like listeners might think that that you should take time to nurture your body and your mind, because nurturing your body and mind will inevitably impact your life on all levels, and walking is one of the most simple ways of boosting your body energy. You don't need to go to a fitness studio or to go to a yoga lesson or a pilates or some other fitness course. Simply by taking a daily walk, you can significantly improve your health, and my recommendation is anything between 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day. And look, most people in our world today live a sedentary lifestyle, and we know that this is really very bad for not only your skeletal system, but also for your mental health. If it's for for a few minutes a day, to switch off, leave the office, take a walk around the block or, um, just simply switch off and, uh, um, take a walk where you don't have to deal with your, your daily work pressure, your work schedule.

Speaker 1: 10:36

Hmm, got it. Yeah. And also like, and just to, just to understand, like, can walking really help with the mental health and the stress, or is this just another kind of wellness trend? Look?

Speaker 2: 10:57

the research tells us that even spending 15 minutes a day walking in nature and opening your senses to natural sounds like bird song, the sound of a of a creek, or listening to the wind, or immersing yourself in the aroma of flowers will reduce your stress hormones, cortisol, adrenaline, significantly, sometimes even by half, even by half. And, of course, your stress hormones put you in a freeze, flight and fight mode. And if you stay in a freeze, fight or flight mode over a longer period of time, this will inevitably impact your health.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Okay, okay will inevitably impact your health. Okay, okay, and also on this, what's been your most surprising, or maybe the profound realization during your countless walks?

Speaker 2: 12:13

Well, I first did my walk in 2000, my first pilgrimage walk in 2006,. And I was in a pretty bad state because I had been facing a lot of work pressure in the media industry, which was going through rapid changes because of the digitalization, a lot of restructuring and retrenchments going on, restructuring and retrenchments going on, and I had some health issues. And so a friend of mine said well, look, if you don't do something, you're going to have a burnout. And I had felt an acute sense of exhaustion and I read this book Pilgrimage, by Paulo Coelho, brazilian author. He wrote this famous book about his own walk on the Camino de Santiago, and I read that book in one night.

Speaker 2: 13:08

And two weeks later I took a flight to Spain and I did my walk, which was for about 10 days. It wasn't much, but I couldn't do more than that at that time because, uh, my, my, my body, physically was was so weak that, um, at the end of my walk, uh, my backpack was breaking apart, my, my feet were full of blisters and my body was hurting. And uh, but it, it did trigger something within me. Um, I, I had this urge to do, uh, the five-week walk the following year and I, I planned the uh walk the following year, 2007, far more thoroughly, where I did uh training, that, and so I had a much easier time doing my second walk over five and a half weeks, and that was walk changed in retrospect, my whole life because after that walk I made some major decisions in my life.

Speaker 2: 14:19

I decided to leave the media industry, I decided to leave my then wife I was in a very dysfunctional marriage and uh, and after that it was basically doing a, a longer pilgrimage walk every year after that, which um catapulted me into what I'm doing today in mentoring people and doing health consultancy, trainings and much more. I'm feeling far more fulfilled today. I would say I'm in a very different place compared to 2006.

Speaker 1: 15:03

That's true. And also, how can listeners find their own aha moment in this?

Speaker 2: 15:11

Well, I would say, don't wait. A lot of people tell me well, I would one day love to do a pilgrimage walk, and you have pilgrimage routes in many countries. The Camin de la Santiago is, of course, one of the world's most famous ones. The Camino de Santiago is, of course, one of the world's most famous ones, but there's this famous temple route in Japan which is becoming more and more popular. It's an old Buddhist trail. There are caminos in my home country, south Africa, in the Cape province. So this is catching on, where people who have walked the Camino are building trails in their countries and calling it the Camino Walk, which I find really very recommendable. So, especially for people who can't travel all the way to Spain to do the traditional Camino, check it out, find out if you have a Camino association in your country and maybe there is one and take it from there.

Speaker 1: 16:32

Perfect, Lovely, Great one. So I mean I would say, wow, like what a walk we just took through the world of deep walking with one and only Renogivers. So, dear listeners, his wisdom reminds us that sometimes the most transformative journeys begin with just one step. So, whether you are on the Camino or just pacing around your local park, there's so much potential for mindfulness, healing and the self-discovery in each step that you take and the self-discovery in each step that you take.

Speaker 1: 17:13

So if Reynos insights resonated with you, check out his book like Deep Walking for Body, mind and Soul and tune in to his podcast Living to Be for more inspiration. So thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Pleasure Principles, and do not forget to subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with someone who needs a little more peace, purpose and pleasure in their life. So until next time, keep walking your path and one intentional step at a time. So thank you so much, thank you.