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Topographic intervention: reconciling terrain and neurobiology with your mental and emotional health needs

Walking is often prescribed as a catch-all fix for mental and emotional distress. But when generic advice like “go for a walk” doesn’t work, it’s not your fault - it’s the prescription that failed. This essay explores a more intentional framework: topographic intervention. By aligning terrain with specific emotional states - like using uphill climbs to metabolize anxiety or forested trails to cradle grief - walking becomes more than movement. It becomes medicine. Discover how matching physiology, emotion, and landscape can unlock walking’s real power for healing.

Walking With Marcus: How Stoic Philosophy Informs My Ultralight Backpacking

Can an ancient Roman philosophy make you a better backpacker? It all depends upon your application.

Mindfulness Meditation for Backpacking

Andrew Marshall explores an ancient life skill that is surprisingly applicable to backpacking - meditation.

Dealing with Mental Lows on Trail

Maggie Slepian uses past experiences on trail to push through rough days on Colorado's challenging Collegiate West.

Episode 34 | Mental Health

In this episode of the Backpacking Light Podcast, Andrew and Ryan talk about mental health. As their jumping-off point, they use a recent paper called Levels of Nature and Stress Response.

Nature Therapy in the Backcountry (Traveling Light Towards Mindfulness and Wellness)

Nature Therapy in the Backcountry is an exploration of mindfulness, wellness, and the mental/emotional aspects of ultralight backcountry travel.

Depression and Wilderness: The Benefit of Wilderness as Therapy

"Wilderness settles peace on the soul because it needs no help. It is beyond human contrivance." -- E.O. Wilson

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