Mapping the visible and invisible topgraphies of place and landscape through sacred mobilities

Different forms of mobility produce specific situated experiences, and consequently orient the subject differently in relation to those places at particular times. Places and landscapes are agential, evoking and provoking emotional-affective and, in some cases spiritual, engagement. In common with spirituality, emotional ties reach across time and place, ultimately they are both carried within and catalysed by meaningful places and embodied experience of landscape. Sacred mobilities are meaningful and meaning-making journeys and practices which have religious or spiritual intent. Sacred mobilities reflect and give meaning to place and landscape attributes, including place attachment. Embodied mobilities intersect with place, wider landscapes and perceived or virtual spiritual realms in varied ways, producing ‘deep maps’ of individual and collective sensory, emotional-affective and spiritual experience in material, embodied psychological and virtual spaces. Participant accounts of guided pilgrimage and prayer walks are used to explore experience of place and landscape

An introduction to the psychology of religion and place

This chapter introduces the psychology of religion and place as a significant and emerging interdisciplinary field for understanding the constellation of subjective relational and spiritual experiences in spatial settings. We carefully consider ways readers can benefit from the study of religion and place as a psychological phenomenon involving perceptual objects found in between spaces of transition and transaction. Religion and place were further explored as conceptual windows for understanding human behaviours, personality and life span development across time and space. Finally, the chapter highlights how the psychology of religion and place, as an emerging interdisciplinary field, has been treated by all the contributors in the book as experiences that provide a sense of security, identity and connection to the past

How and why environmental and religious attachment matters for quality of life

This chapter waves into focus the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of place and religious attachment in relation to health promotion and quality of life. Hence, the nature of the complex links between religion, place and health are discussed while summarising recent empirical findings on the topic. We discussed how adult attachment processes affect quality of life by drawing on the social referencing and competence theories. We further examined why these attachment relationships are important for health promotion given the advantage for psychological adjustment, emotion regulation, engagement with prosocial behaviour, positive sense of identity and public health promotion. Lastly, further studies and implications of adult attachment experiences are carefully discussed