The ‘magic’ of walking with grief : NPR

Grief can make some people hole up indoors.

But in Northampton, Massachusetts a walking bereavement group gathers outside once a week on warm days and chilly ones. Most join the group after a spouse has died, but some are there to remember a sibling, a parent or a child.

Maureen Cahillane, 91, walked with a cane around a local park with about two dozen other people.

Cahillane's husband, James, died more than two years ago. Turning to another walker she said there are times when she feels alone and empty.

"This group is quite a bit of help," she said. "Just to know that other people are dealing with the same sadness."

It's more of a stroll, than a walk -- slow enough so people can turn to each other as they converse.

"It's not an exercise group," Shelly Bathe Lenn cautions the walkers