In traditional therapy, we often think of two people sitting across from each other in a quiet room, exchanging words, silences, and insights. But in walking and talking therapy, something quite profound happens: the body moves, and the mind follows.
Walking alongside someone rather than sitting opposite them changes everything. There’s a different kind of rhythm to the conversation, one that’s led by the pace of the feet and the sway of the arms. There’s less pressure to maintain eye contact, which can ease anxiety and allow space for vulnerability to unfold more naturally.
Movement itself is symbolic. When a client is feeling emotionally stuck—in grief, anxiety, indecision, or overwhelm—physically moving forward can begin to shift something internally. It’s subtle at first. Maybe they speak with a little more ease. Maybe their breath deepens. Maybe the environment offers just the right metaphor—a winding path, a sudden hill, an unexpected birdcall—that opens a new perspective.
Nature, too, plays a quiet therapeutic role. Trees don’t rush. The sky doesn’t judge. Being outdoors invites a kind of spaciousness that can’t always be replicated inside four walls. Clients often say they feel freer to speak, to pause, to feel. And I’ve noticed how often it’s in these liminal moments—walking a trail, crossing a bridge, stopping to look at a stream—that something long-held suddenly softens.
There’s growing evidence that this connection between movement and mental health is more than anecdotal. A 2014 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that walking, even indoors, significantly boosts creative thinking and idea generation. If walking can loosen the mind enough to invite new ideas, it makes sense that it can also help us process and verbalise complex emotions. (Oppezzo & Schwartz, 2014)
As a therapist, I’ve learned to trust the walk as much as the talk. It changes my own rhythm too—makes me more attuned, more grounded. I listen with my whole body. I notice the wind, the tempo of footsteps, the way a hand gestures toward the horizon when a client speaks about hope.
Walking doesn’t fix things. But it creates the conditions for things to move. And sometimes, that’s enough to begin.
Reference:
Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142–1152.
