Why Walk & Talk?

This week, I was interviewed by The Beach Reporter about Walk & Talk therapy.  It was a brief interview so there wasn't enough time to go into much depth.  However, I feel passionately about Walk & Talk Therapy and how it benefits so many of my clients.  I wanted to share more and so I am.  

The big question with Walk & Talk therapy is why?  Why walk?  And that's a question that really excites me.  There are a lot of obvious answers, some of which you can read on the page dedicated to 'Walk & Talk' Therapy on my website.  Moving forward physically helps us feel pushed to move forward psychologically.  Fresh air.  The ocean is a therapeutic environment unlike any other.  Movement has positive psychological benefits and forces us to connect with our felt experience as we process emotionally.  But there's another reason, a less obvious one.

Bilateral stimulation.  I am trained in something called EMDR which you can also read about on this website.  I don't use it with all of my clients, but at its core is something called bilateral stimulation which just means that we stimulate both sides of the brain using eye movements, tappers that alternate tapping in each hand, or auditory cues that alternate ears.  EMDR is very effective and it is thought that the bilateral stimulation is part of the reason why.  When I do EMDR, I follow a rigid protocol that goes along with it.  When I do Walk & Talk therapy, it is not EMDR.  And yet, it does benefit by this principle of bilateral stimulation that is at the core of EMDR.

Walking provides bilateral stimulation.  Bilateral stimulation helps the brain process psychologically.  And that is one of the biggest reasons that I believe Walk & Talk Therapy benefits many of my clients.