Beyond Belief is BBC Radio 4's long running series which explores the place and nature of faith in today's world.

I was delighted to be invited to take part in an edition called 'Why we walk' on why walking is a spiritual act. The discussion was chaired by Anglican priest Giles Fraser who raised the question of whether the power of pilgrimage is found at its destination, or along the pathway.

The programme started with the story of Alice Sainsbury who was recovering from a serious neurological illness when she slowly started to walk again. Step by step she found herself again through walking, and making small pilgrimages near her home in Cornwall. It wasn't just a physical journey for her, but a spiritual one as well.

I was joined on the panel by Sri Radharamana Das, a scholar in Sanskrit and Vedic literatures and a volunteer at his local Hare Krishna temple, and Professor Raminder Kaur who is the leader of a project about pilgrimage and economics at the University of Sussex and a Sikh. It was fascinating to engage with the similarities and differences in the ways that walking and pilgrimage are practiced in different faiths. You can listen on BBC Sounds by clicking the button below.