How hiking can be a tool for healing and movement building

The Feminist Hiking Collective organised its first Feminist Hiking Healing Retreat in September 2023. The idea emerged from a deep collective need for a space for young activists to heal from experiences of burnout, trauma, violence and invisible labour and to build networks with other feminist organisers. Beyond this, the retreat has had a significant impact on us and our role as community organisers by deepening our understanding of feminist hiking as a tool for radical healing, movement building, and collective care. As one of the participants of the retreat shared with us recently:

We hope that sharing our experience will inspire you to explore feminist hiking with your communities.

For five days in the Trentino region of Northern Italy, the retreat brought together a group of young women and non-binary activists from around the world, focused on the intersection of feminist, queer and environmental activism. The retreat aimed to create a collective space for connection, community and healing, with collective grounding activities accompanied by a feminist hiking programme which included feminist popular education activities on power analysis, feminist leadership and movement-building.

Integrating these activities throughout the hikes allowed us to embody these discussions and ideas and allowed us to politicise hiking and movement by integrating these analyses and discussions throughout the hikes, allowing us to dismantle oppressive power, share powerful discussions, in what is traditionally often a very racialised and competitive sport.

What is Feminist Hiking?

Feminist hiking is a collectively embodied practice. We believe feminist hiking should be a holistic co-created practice between those hiking in nature and on the mountains, and during the retreat, many insightful reflections emerged. Discussions on embodiment and overcoming capitalistic fitness and societal body standards arose alongside critical observations about how unequal access has made hiking incredibly racialised in many parts of the world. We discussed how feminist hiking must acknowledge disability justice and racial justice approaches as well as other forms of justice and oppressions.

The integration and opening up of these discussions while hiking in nature is precisely what makes feminist hiking a restorative practice that builds relationships, deepens political education and supports resilience.

There was a strong need shared among us to be closer to – and repair – our relationship with nature, and to build the practice of viewing nature as something we are a part of, and not separate from. Building spaces where this can become an embodied practice is also a core aspect of feminist hiking.

What are we healing from?

In our introductory discussions, we explored the question: What are we healing from?

We aimed to understand the structural, systemic, intimate, and collective dimensions of healing, framing it as a collective, transformative act rooted in societal structures and addressing generational trauma, racial capitalism, and power dynamics. We recognised diverse trauma sources, including systems causing collective trauma, burnout, and distress. Healing, from an activist perspective, is political and collective. We emphasised the need to heal from invisible work, unpaid labour, and productivity pressures, while creating activist spaces focused on care, joy, and reconnecting with nature.

How to Organise a Feminist Hiking Retreat

The entire process of organising the first FHHR took about a year. The main tasks included: applying for grant funding, recruiting and selecting applicants, logistics, including accommodation, transportation and visas, co-creating the programme and communicating with participants. After the retreat, the co-creation and publication of the booklet as well as the grant reporting process took about two or three months.

We encouraged anyone with an activist background in environmental, feminist and/or queer justice living in Europe to apply.

Practical learnings and tools for community organisers

For those interested in exploring feminist hiking as a practice of collective care in activist communities and beyond, here are some reflections from us as co-facilitators:

• Doing feminist popular education activities throughout the hikes and particularly on the peaks felt very powerful as it encouraged reflections in a space connected to nature, outside the capitalist rhythm of big cities.
• Having three co-facilitators allowed us to divide labour, share diverse ideas, and make the most of each person's strengths and interests. For example, Elena was a wonderful hiking guide and had important knowledge of the territory we were in. Ria shared her graphic design skills and lead the programme design. Ely provided support to participants who needed visas and focused on creative engagement with the FHHR community. We all worked together on all aspects of the retreat and facilitated the space together, but sometimes took on specific tasks depending on our different roles and availability, for example.
• Having knowledge of the area and territory beforehand was helpful, this allowed us to have a deeper relationship with the region and the reflections we had there as well as the collective accountability for taking care of the space and mountains.
• When reviewing applications, it was appreciated that asking for previous experiences of hiking was not part of the criteria as this brought significant barriers in terms of access.
• On the first day of the retreat after we reached the peak of the first hike we did an activity which involved acknowledging the local territory, the farmers which produced our food during the stay, as well as information about the local wildlife and safety too. Acknowledging the territory in this way as well as having a group reflection session about a territory that means a lot to us helped us to ground ourselves in connection with the territory of the retreat which helped to strengthen the accountability and the relationships we made throughout the week.
• Creating a 'Feminist Hiking Healing Retreat Space Guide' to read and revise with participants allowed us to build a shared understanding of the space, establish a collective definition of healing and trauma, and contextualise the question, 'What are we healing from?' At the start of the retreat, we held a space that acknowledged the territory around us and shared 'gifts and wishes' for the retreat. This helped collectivise the space and bring accountability to the activities, discussions, and the retreat itself. The 'gifts and wishes' tool allowed everyone to share who they are, what they want to offer (gifts), and what they hope to receive or need (wishes).
• It was appreciated that the retreat allowed for a very collective space where everyone can share and also offer to facilitate stretching or other activities. It would be useful to tell participants that there will be opportunity for facilitation from them and that they should let us know before or in the first few days of the retreat.
• Allowing an anonymous box for feedback that was left out every evening, this way we could adapt to emerging needs and thoughts, as well as making the agenda for each day flexible which also worked well.
• Select this link to check out our Feminist Hiking Healing Retreat space guide 

Writing this blog with Act Build Change has given us the opportunity to reflect further on this experience. We are grateful for the space to share about the work behind the FHHR and the impact it has had on facilitators and participants, one year later.

If you would like to connect with us, please follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter. You can also email us at hello@feministhikingcollective.org.