The Healing Benefits of Walk & Talk Therapy

Have you ever noticed life feels easier if you take a break and go for a walk? It can feel like a “reset” if you go out during a lunch break, smell the fresh air, and “walk it off” until your next meeting.

If a walk can do that in a short break in the middle of the day, what could it do if you combine it with the power of therapy?

Walk & Talk Therapy combines physical exercise with psychotherapy to:

• Release mood-improving chemicals through physical activity

• Discover creative, deeper ways of thinking via bilateral stimulation (walking) & being in nature

• Process grief, trauma, and healing somatically in the body, not just sitting in an office

Kate Hays, PhD, is a psychologist and the author of the book, “Working It Out: Using Exercise in Psychotherapy”. She’s incorporated sports psychology into her clinical practice for more than two decades, and now does consulting work exploring the mind-body connection.

Hays has three key reasons for combining exercise and therapy:

1. It encourages people to be more physically active, for mental and physical reasons.

2. It helps people get "unstuck" when confronting difficult issues.

3. It spurs creative, deeper ways of thinking often released by mood-improving physical activity.

Hayes says, "Some patients may become anxious when confronting something difficult in a traditional seated, face-to-face interaction...Walking in parallel with visual distractions may allow for easier engagement."

Tapping into nature is also a great benefit of engaging in walk & talk therapy. Outside, the sun can shine and you can literally feel the warmth on your skin. Maybe you feel cold and down-hearted, but there's something about that physical sensation that just might remind you, "there can be brighter days ahead".

Ask your therapist if "Walk & Talk" therapy is right for you.

With the right confidentiality measures, you can do Walk & Talk therapy in different ways:

1) Try an in-person session, with your therapist walking beside you. Just make sure you discuss the limits of confidentiality if you’re seen walking with your therapist. Most people won’t know it’s your therapist unless you tell them, so it just looks like you’re taking a walk with a colleague or friend.

2) Try an online session, with your therapist speaking with you via a Telehealth platform. If it's a video session, just keep an eye out for where you're going. If it's a phone call,you get hand’s free access with headphones and can keep an eye out for a jogger or a passerby. Keep your headphones plugged in at all times, so only you can hear what your therapist says.

Oh, and one last thing.

Did you know that there is an actual day dedicated to getting outside and taking a walk? That’s right! National Take a Walk in the Park Day is this Tuesday, March 30th. For a list of parks in Tennessee, visit the Tennessee State Parks Website or this article from Nashville Guru, Nashville’s Best Parks.

Cypress Counseling Group has counselors who offer Walk & Talk therapy, both in person and via telehealth. Give us a call to ask about setting up an appointment, today!