Walking Into Sacredness: In Conversation with Sally Bassett

Sally Bassett, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of the Peace through Yoga Foundation. With over four+ decades in the travel industry—from flight attendant to CEO—she has guided groups to more than 120 countries, weaving her passion for yoga, adventure, and spirituality into transformative experiences. As a teacher and inspiration in my own life, I was thrilled when she agreed to discuss her experiences with pilgrimage. Our conversation explored not only the physical aspects of her favorite journeys---the miles walked, landscapes traversed, and sites visited—but also their deeper purposes: inner transformation, service to others, and spiritual deepening. This interview weaves her stories with broader themes of sacred landscapes, personal growth, and life philosophy.

When I asked Sally how she would define a pilgrimage or spiritual journey, she replied: “A spiritual journey is the process of going on a quest—internally and externally—to gain a deeper understanding of yourself, your beliefs, and how you relate to the Divine, to others, and to the world. Like yoga, it is both inward and outward. Sometimes it happens in stillness. Sometimes it happens while climbing mountains or walking unfamiliar streets. Either way, it’s about connection.” 

Pilgrimage as a Multi-Dimensional Journey 

Sally repeatedly returned to the Camino de Santiago, describing it as encompassing physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional challenges all at once. “You’re doing 10–12 miles a day,” she explained. “I think the perfect length of hiking is 10 to 12 miles a day. It’s doable, but it pushes you.” This distance demands preparation and endurance without becoming overwhelming, creating an ideal balance that stretches the pilgrim without breaking them. 

She highlighted the Camino’s 500-mile route, which has drawn pilgrims for over a thousand years. “It’s not just for Catholics or Christians,” she noted. “It brings all kinds of walks of life.” This diversity enriches the spiritual atmosphere as people with varied intentions share the same path. Sally has led groups along the final 70 miles five times—a popular shorter segment that still qualifies pilgrims for the Compostela certificate. She described this portion as “a lovely part of the trail. It’s beautiful woods and valleys and animals and farmland. It’s just incredible.” 

The emotional climax often arrives in the square before the Cathedral of St. James. “To walk into St. James Cathedral in that square . . . after some people behind me have been hiking for five, six, seven, eight weeks to get there . . . you just want to cry that you made it!” Sally emphasized the accumulated human intention layered onto the landscape: “Not only is the territory you’re walking on beautiful and sacred. But then it’s the layers of hundreds of years of pilgrims with that spiritual intention that then has magnetized the incredible beauty of nature.” The land itself becomes charged by centuries of devotional movement, transforming woods, valleys, and farmlands into a dense field of meaning. 

To support the body and integrate experiences, Sally incorporated “gentle yoga at night to get the body ready for the next day . . . getting into the hips and just kind of decompressing.” This blend of asana, walking, and reflection aids both physical recovery and deeper assimilation of the day’s subtle and dramatic insights.

Sally also recalled Machu Picchu and Peru’s Sacred Valley as profoundly memorable. Unlike the Camino’s rural paths punctuated by churches, Machu Picchu’s dramatic topography— steep mountains, ancient terraces, and cloud forests—creates a natural setting for transformation rooted in pre-Columbian history. 

Personal Pilgrimages: Monasteries and Retreat Centers 

In this phase of life, with career and family demands evolving, Sally feels drawn to longer, more contemplative journeys. She reflected on yogic traditions: “In yogic texts you read about yogis . . . at a point in their 60s or 70s, it is common to go off and do pilgrimages. Well, it seems like it’s the right time for me in life.” For her, pilgrimage is not an escape but a reorientation toward essential living and perceiving. 

Recent visits to monasteries and retreat centers exemplify this shift. At Mont Saint Michel in France—a tidal island monastery reached by causeway—she spent several days alone. Though a popular site by day, “everybody leaves at the end of the day. Only 12 people are on this little island.” She described it as “a sacred place” where the pilgrimage arises from deep presence rather than distance traveled. 

Similarly, a silent retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky—a Trappist monastery with 40 monks who maintain silence—offered profound inner work. “I went in January by myself . . . For me, that was a personal pilgrimage.” The vast acres for walking, enforced quiet, and contemplative rhythm provided an ideal container for reflection.

Transformation and Returning Home 

Sally stressed that pilgrimage extends beyond the journey itself; reintegration upon returning home forms a crucial part of its transformative power. After one Camino segment of 167 miles, she experienced what she called a “post-cultural shock,” feeling a sense of loss when “putting away my suitcase.” She quoted a resonant insight: “We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic to creativity. When we get home, home is still the same, but something in our minds has changed, and that changes everything.” 

Reflecting on our conversation, I felt as though I joined Sally on a journey through her shared stories—the joys, challenges, climactic arrivals, and the sometimes-bittersweet return. Her words have lingered with me, inspiring a more local pilgrimage later this month that will blend hiking, yoga, and contemplation. I am deeply grateful for this meaningful class assignment and for Sally’s generosity in sharing her rich experiences. 

In closing, here is an excerpt from one of Sally’s journal entries dated August 2, 2024: “Where your thoughts go, you can go.” She adds a quote from William Least Heat-Moon: “Be careful going in search of adventure . . . it’s ridiculously easy to find.” Her lesson: let your mind dream, plan, and go. As Leonard Cohen urged, “The years are flying past and we all waste so much time wondering if we dare to do this or that. The thing is to leap, to try, to take a chance.”

BY SHIELA DIMOF

MARCH 2026