The 10 Commandments of the Camino: Thoughts to Accompany You on Your Way

Not rules to tick off, but ten thoughts that can accompany you on your Camino – before you set off, along the way and long afterwards. Read them slowly, one after the other. Just as you walk.

1. Your journey begins as soon as you think of it

… so right now, in this very moment and with this very thought. You've just set out on the way!

2. Take only the next step

… because right now you can't do more than that. Even the longest journey begins with it, and the step after next can only come afterwards. Nothing but small steps – and only the next one matters right now. So it really is quite simple.

3. Leave your shadow behind you

… because you are not your shadow. On the Camino you walk west. In the morning the sun rises behind you, and your shadow lies ahead of you. By evening you've overtaken it and, as it were, left your past behind you.

Here you can begin each day as a new person. Day by day you become more and more who you really are at heart. That's one of the most beautiful secrets of the Camino: you learn to free yourself from your shadow.

4. Walk your own way

… because there is no other. On the Camino you learn not to compare yourself. Every pilgrim here carries their own backpack – and has their own shadow to leave behind. We don't know what's in other people's backpacks, and we don't walk in their shoes. That is exactly why we respect them, just as they respect us. That's why on the Camino you can be entirely yourself.

5. Learn to trust

… because the Way takes care of you. Most pilgrims plan their Camino, some more, others even more. But the essence of the Way will do two things: surprise you and carry you. Neither can be planned. Open yourself to the Way, learn to trust it – and it will shower you with gifts.

6. Shed your ballast

… because no matter how well you pack your backpack, there comes a point along the way when you recognise unnecessary ballast and part with it. We call it Send-It-Home-Now Day.

But every pilgrim carries two backpacks. The second one holds the emotional ballast. It weighs more, and it's harder to recognise. You're allowed to let go of anything in it that you can no longer carry – or bear. Celebrate your Let-It-Go-Now Day along the way – and walk on from then on with a lighter step.

7. Walk and feel

… because the Way leads you to Santiago, and it leads you to yourself – deeper inside yourself than you have ever known. Much was far away, but now you're on the far-reaching way. You'll feel your way back to your intuition and sense feelings you had forgotten.

So open up and let it in. Allow yourself to laugh, to cry, to grieve. Allow yourself to love and to love yourself. Rediscover yourself, feel yourself as you are. Take off your coat and, day by day, feel a new layer underneath.

8. Walk alone

… because only then can you experience that you are not lonely.

9. Expect wonders

… because the Way rubs against your soul, your faith, your past and your future – and above all against your body. The backpack will rub against your shoulders, the shoes against your feet.

You'll get wounds, and they'll heal again. Don't let them distract you; look deeper. Then you'll wonder: the wounds come and go, but the wonders happen and stay. And both heal you when wounds turn into wonders.

10. Your journey never ends

… because the Camino may carry you all the way to Santiago, but it doesn't end there. Many pilgrims say that's where the real journey begins: the way you carry within you from then on.

The Camino will change you. It brings you closer to yourself and makes you more of who you really are. As many pilgrims say, it resets you to your factory settings.

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