Welcome to the Self-Guided URBAN Trail!
In Fall 2021, Dr. Sarah Camhi (Kinesiology) and her team of students unveiled the guided URBAN Trail to our campus community. The URBAN Trail is a guided mindful walk around the University of San Francisco (USF) campus aimed to boost your mind, body and spirit (Cura Personalis). Trail content is based on a book written by USF professor and alumnus Hal Urban, The Power of Good News: Feeding Your Mind with What’s Good for Your Heart. 2021: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. The trail features 7 themes: Cura Personalis, “U”, Reframe, Balance, Appreciate, Nourish and Pass it On. A community engaged process was utilized to develop content and input was given from our USF faculty, staff, students and local community members at 2 different stages and incorporated in the final product. This process took 3+ years to develop content, pilot test, gather feedback, revise, and install the URBAN trail which was generously supported by USF Faculty Development Funds and the Jesuit Foundation Grant. Research found that participating in the guided URBAN Trail increased physical activity and mindfulness, and reduced both stress and anxiety of University students (Burdick et al., 2022). To increase the reach of this resource to our university and local community, we adapted the trail in 2023 to be self-guided for anyone to enjoy at anytime! Future plans include more research to evaluate the effectiveness of the trail for improving mental and physical health in our faculty, staff and our local community. For more information on what mindfulness is, please see resources at the bottom of our page.
To get started: Head to the Wolf & Kettle Sculpture in front of Gleeson Library and/or click on this map! This mindful walk takes an average of 30-45 minutes depending on how fast you walk and how much time you would like to spend at each stop.
We have a few recommendations to get the most out of this experience:
- For your first time on the URBAN Trail, we recommend walking the trail as intended: Walk to each sign in order, read each sign and listen to the audio content before moving to the next stop. If you have done the trail before, please feel free to go in any order and/or skip or repeat stops!
- You can choose to do the trail solo or with others as preferred! If walking with others, we recommend focusing your conversations on the content to ensure maximum effect to your health and wellness!
- You will need to bring your mobile phone to access the audio content and map. We strongly encourage you to avoid using your phone for any other purpose than to access the audio. This will ensure you receive the intended benefits of increasing your mindfulness to improve your mental and physical health!
How to access audio content via QR codes:
For more information about the URBAN Trail contact:
Sarah M. Camhi, PhD, Department of Kinesiology Phone: 415-422-7592; Email: scamhi2@usfca.edu; Office 122A Harney
