4 Benefits For Your Body And Your Mind Of Doing The Camino De Santiago

Stress, anxiety and the rhythm of everyday life can reduce our cognitive abilities and this, in the long run, makes us more prone to suffering from mental illness. Undertaking the Camino de Santiago can be a way to regain balance, an option that is now also possible for people with greater mobility difficulties.

An experience in the middle of nature

A solution to improve these problems is simpler than it seems: contact with nature. This contact is beneficial for health : “We breathe clean air, we carry out physical and aerobic activity in a completely natural way ; Substances are released in our body that increase our sense of well-being and this benefits both the body and the mind ”, affirms the neuropediatrician Manuel Antonio Fernández Fernández.

Being close to nature also helps motivation to carry out physical activity and a good combination of both is, without a doubt, the Camino de Santiago. The landscapes of this mythical journey make up an idyllic relationship between human beings and nature. Along its paths you find peace and respect for the environment, aspects that promote and intervene in the balance of the mind. “If we bring the benefits of contact with the environment to an experience like the Camino de Santiago, its intensity multiplies. Beyond the religious component, the journey is lived in community, sharing the time, the path and everything lived in it. It requires effort, foresight, organization and perseverance. All are vital experiences that complement each other perfectly ”, assures doctor Fernández.

A way to practice mindfulness

We already know that the benefits for physical health are indisputable, due to the previous preparation and the sacrifice that each stage of the Camino implies, but from the moment you decide to do the path, a series of factors that contribute to mental well-being accumulate : if the connection with the present is restored, dysfunctional thoughts are avoided; the moment is lived in each step of the Way; the goal is to arrive today and the anticipations of tomorrow become unnecessary.

The Camino de Santiago has collected pilgrims from all over the world for centuries who came to develop their inner peace and to find the balance of the spirit. The pilgrim’s motivation ranges from the original religious character that replicates the steps of the Apostle Santiago, to the lover of the green landscape, who feels the need to live an experience of this magnitude.

A Path tailored to each person and their needs

Now, with the tourist and universal development of this mystical trip, new ones are born from these motivations: “Perhaps the option chosen by a large part of the pilgrims is rural tourism in a different environment and in search of a disconnection from day to day. that surrounds us ”, says Joseba Menoyo, founder of Santiago Ways, a travel agency specializing in the Camino de Santiago. This agency is responsible for facilitating the pilgrim’s completion of the Camino, guiding and accompanying him during the process so that it can be accessible to everyone, even those with mobility difficulties.

“We make it easier for them to choose their stages by offering them the routes of the Camino with the least amount of unevenness and with low levels of difficulty. In addition, we also have an emergency vehicle in case of emergency. Or if, simply, if the pilgrim feels in the middle of the journey that he needs to rest because his physical and mental state do not allow him to continue, we will take him to his next stop ”, continues Menoyo.

There are those who make this trip for needs of escape and well-being. For all this, we find repeat offenders who consider it therapeutic to walk the Camino de Santiago, to restore their mental balance : it has the necessary ingredients to facilitate the integration of emotion and reason, and to generate an attitude of contemplation towards one’s own being with full attention.

A rewarding experience that multiplies when shared

There are those who say that it is a necessary experience at least once in their life, there are those who rediscover themselves between the stages. Some go with their families and friends and others go alone and meet different people during the trip. It seems that, despite its very long tradition, there are many ways to live this trip and in all of them something more is achieved than the experience, well-being is achieved.

“The spirituality that the Camino de Santiago transmits , especially if it is done with the family and with children, increases the satisfaction of the pilgrim, since it feels like a collective challenge that, despite the physical, weather and even health difficulties , it has been successfully achieved ”, concludes Joseba Menoyo.