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and what they see, smell, touch, taste and think about as they walk: Barry Lopez, Robert Macfarlane, Mary Oliver, Jessica J. Lee, Kathleen Jaime. These esteemed writers can't all be wrong. There must be innumerable benefits to walking just for the sheer pleasure of walking. Below are four benefits of walking to consider in your own life: 1) Walking as a ritual Casper ter Kuile suggests that taking up walking as a daily ritual has a powerful effect on us because it forges multiple layers of interconnection between ourselves, others, the world and beyond: 1. connecting with yourself 2. connecting with the people around you 3. connecting with the natural world 4. connecting with the transcendent "Each layer of connection strengthens the other, so that when we feel deeply connected across those four levels, it's as if our days are held within a rich latticework of meaning" The environmental writer Barry Lopez is a master at weaving these connections Jogging works too, of course, or any embodied journey across the landscape really. Walking, for many, has been a great source of well-being, allowing one to take some time to shift focus away from digital screens and ahead towards an unfolding path in front, or to more distant objects on the horizon. In his book, The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices, Casper ter Kuile writes about the benefits of walking in the context of an ancient ritual: pilgrimage. Pilgrimages don't need to be journeys of hundreds of miles to other end of the earth, says ter Kuile. Our mental and physical well-being can still greatly benefit from 'mini-pilgrimages': a short walk to a nearby park in our neighborhood, or even just a brief visit to a friendly tree in our backyard. This is because, ter Kuile says, the real value of a pilgrimage lies not in how far you go, but in how the journey recalibrates your sense of connection with the world around you. The Japanese poet-pilgrim Matsuo BashÅ wrote about walking as a method to reawaken our senses to the vibrant reality of being alive in the world, and in a world alive with other living beings too. Walking helps shake loose the dust of taking everything for granted, and harness our own body's mobility to help us catch a "glimpse of the underglimmer" as he put it. A lot of nature writers write about walking, This is because, ter Kuile says, the real value of a pilgrimage lies not in how far you go, but in how the journey recalibrates your sense of connection with the world around you.