Restoration in Nature along the Way of St. James

 Restoration in Nature along the Way of St. James      

 “Light me up, I am wasted in the dark…”

Mumford and Sons, Rushmere 

In response to the disconnection and isolation many of us feel in the modern world, more people are turning and returning to the Camino de Santiago. What was once primarily a religious pilgrimage has now become a journey of restoration for countless peoples. In a world increasingly defined by technology and digital noise, the Camino offers a chance to unplug, find clarity, and reconnect with ourselves, others and the natural environment.  Pilgrimage today is in many ways a journey to slow down, to experience the simplicity of life, and to confront the things that have been buried under the weight of modern life and online critique. 

"...I feel like I am a mystery to myself..."

I am setting out onto the Camino Portuguese once again because I want to change the tempo of life from measured time, counting steps, or being focused on the distances covered.  I am going out on a pilgrimage to strive to return to the rhythm of the natural world and once again find a pace in life that allows me the space to think again.  I am walking to Santiago, down trails, through forests and along the coastlines of Portugal because I miss the wildness in my own heart and believe that the answers I am looking for can be found in nature and the spirituality of the natural world.

In so many ways hiking and being on pilgrimage in nature makes sense as an answer to me.  The simplicity of walking and the routine of Camino tie each of us back to the cause and effect of the physical world, they occupy our days with movement, and they clear our thoughts of the unnecessary distractions of the world.  On Camino you wake up, you walk, you eat, and you sleep.  If you are wet you strive to get dry.  If you are thirsty you drink.  If you are tired you sleep.  Perhaps biologist E. O. Wilson put it best when he noted that, “nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and even spiritual satisfaction.”  The simplicity of pilgrimage helps to ground us in the physical world and in the present moment, offering connection and a sense of control over the things we can change.

As Robert McFarlane writes, the modern urge to go on pilgrimage is part of a broader desire to reconnect with the landscape and nature, which has become increasingly disembodied in our digital age. On the Camino, we return to a simpler, more tangible existence—one that is rooted in the physical world rather than the virtual one.  Put another way, the answers we seek can be located on the journey.

The Camino as a Path to Healing

These truths are being recognized even in the medical profession which now sees time in nature as a positive alternative to pharmaceuticals.   Doctors now prescribe time in nature to combat anxiety, stress, and depression. Nature, in its timeless presence, provides a constant source of meaning and purpose, helping us reconnect with the essential truths of life. The Camino offers not just a break from the digital but provides an opportunity to spend weeks and months in nature.  In nature, we find not just physical restoration, but also a deeper connection to the divine, to the earth, and to ourselves. In Nature, we find the Way.

The Camino’s Promise of Renewal

In this manner, as we set out on the Camino, we are not simply treading a physical path—we are also on a journey of emotional and spiritual renewal. The Camino offers a space to reflect, to ask questions, and to find answers that have been buried beneath the noise of modern life. In nature, in the people we meet, and in the journey itself, we rediscover the strength to move forward, embrace change, and find peace amid the world's chaos.  In nature, we are grounded which itself gives way to the ability to find order, understanding, purpose and meaning. 

Reconsidered in religious terms, in nature we are closer to the divine than we are in front of our screens.

 “Walking is a man’s best medicine”

Hippocrates