Strength in Numbers

Wise Womxn Walking Club — Next Up: Wednesday, August 19th @ 5:30pm

Lace up your sneakers — our next walk is almost here! Join us NEXT Wednesday evening for community, fresh air, and a little movement together. Come solo, come with a friend — either way, you'll leave with company.

Turns out, walking with others isn't just more fun — it's more powerful. A study of nearly 8,000 adults found that people who exercised with others were more likely to hit their weekly activity goals and reported better mental health than those who exercised alone or not at all (Civic Telehealth, 2025). And it's not just about consistency — research shows that walking in groups builds social cohesion, lowers perceived stress, and boosts overall well-being (PMC, 2021) in ways solo walks alone don't quite replicate.

We saw this firsthand last month, when Carole joined us for her very first walk. After exchanging emails with Kari for several months, the timing finally lined up, and she showed up ready to walk and meet the lovely souls who showed up that evening. Here's what she shared afterward:

"Being new to the area and looking for a women's walking group I found the Wise Womxn Walking group. I was a bit fearful as they seemed a lot younger than me but I showed up and immediately felt a part of the group... Nothing is as therapeutic as walking, talking and sharing with other women, not in some room but in the trails amongst the gifts of Mother Nature."
— Carole

She even captured the moment in this sweet illustration of the group at our turnaround point — happy faces, desert wildflowers, and all. 🦋🐦 (No, we don't usually get a personal escort from hummingbirds, coyotes, and javelinas — but we appreciated the artistic license!)

Whether you're new to town like Carole or a longtime regular, come as you are. We hope to see you 8/19 @ 5:30pm! 🌿

Sources:
"Exercising with others" study (nearly 8,000 adults) — cited in a Civic Telehealth piece, "Walking is Great. Walking With a Friend is Better" (Dec 2025)
Walking groups building social cohesion / reducing stress — from a PMC-published study, "A Study of Leisure Walking Intensity Levels on Mental Health and Health Perception of Older Adults", citing earlier work by Doughty (2013) and Marselle et al. (2013).