As a nature-informed psychotherapist, I often invite clients into a simple but powerful practice: the awe walk.
The term was popularized by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, where studies found that intentionally seeking moments of awe during short weekly walks significantly increased positive emotions and reduced distress. Awe doesn’t require epic landscapes or bucket-list travel. It’s available on your neighborhood sidewalk, under a stand of pines, or in the way light moves across high desert sage.
Why Awe Helps Anxiety and Overwhelm
When we feel anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed, our nervous system narrows. Attention constricts. Thoughts loop. The world can start to feel small and threatening.
Awe does the opposite.
Research shows that experiences of awe:
Expand attention and perspective
Reduce rumination
Lower markers of stress
Increase feelings of connection and meaning
Neurologically, awe appears to quiet the brain’s self-referential processing (often associated with overthinking) and shift us into a broader, more externally oriented awareness. In therapy, I often describe this as moving from “inside the worry spiral” to “inside the wider world.”
For clients who struggle with focus, awe walks are especially helpful. Rather than forcing concentration, we gently redirect attention outward — to texture, scale, movement, sound. This external orientation naturally regulates the nervous system and supports sustained attention without strain.
What Is an Awe Walk?
An awe walk is not just a walk outdoors.
It is a walk with intention:
To notice what is vast, intricate, beautiful, mysterious, or beyond your usual frame of reference.
That might mean:
The towering scale of ponderosa pines
The intricate pattern of lichen on basalt rock
The sound of wind moving through branches
The vastness of a winter sky
The resilience of a single plant growing through pavement
Awe can be found in grandeur — but also in subtlety.
How to Practice Awe Walks Regularly
Here are simple ways to incorporate awe walks into everyday life:
1. Make It Small and Sustainable
Commit to 10–20 minutes once or twice a week. Consistency matters more than duration.
2. Slow Down by 10%
Literally reduce your pace. Awe requires noticing. Noticing requires time.
3. Use a Prompt
Try one of these each walk:
“What here is older than me?”
“What here will outlast me?”
“What detail have I never seen before?”
“Where do I see resilience?”
4. Engage the Senses
Name (silently) five things you see, four you hear, three you feel physically. This grounds attention and supports nervous system regulation.
5. Leave the Phone Behind (or on Airplane Mode)
Awe is easily interrupted by distraction. Protect the space.
6. End With Reflection
After your walk, jot down one sentence:“Today, I felt awe when…”
Over time, this builds an internal archive of regulating experiences you can draw upon during stressful moments.
For Anxiety, Stress, and Focus
In my clinical experience, awe walks can:
Reduce physiological activation associated with anxiety
Interrupt cognitive rumination
Increase emotional regulation
Improve attentional flexibility
Support a felt sense of meaning and perspective
They are not a replacement for therapy — but they are a powerful adjunct.
And perhaps most importantly, awe reminds us that we are part of something larger. In seasons of overwhelm, that shift in scale can be profoundly healing.
You don’t need a national park. You need willingness to look up, look closely, and let the world be bigger than your thoughts — even for ten minutes.
That is often enough.