Kari Goeden (center) with her sister Katrina Dombrowsky (left) and niece Nicole Recke (right). The trio runs Wise Womxn Wellness. Photo: Kristina Lynn Photography & Design
Kari Goeden organizes a bimonthly walking club to foster community.
On a crisp day last autumn, 68 women huddled shoulder-to-shoulder, smiling brightly as they posed for a picture in front of the Stillwater Historic Lift Bridge. The moment marked the first official gathering of the Wise Womxn Walking Club.
Club founder Kari Goeden, a walk-and-talk therapist, birth doula and co-host of the This is Not Therapy podcast, relocated with her family from Minneapolis to Marine on St. Croix last August, seeking a slower way of life. “We wanted to raise our girls in some wide open spaces,” Goeden says.
In her therapy sessions, Goeden noticed loneliness was a common theme. “Humans are meant to do life together, but most of us live very individualistic, isolated lives,” she says. Goeden wanted to create a space that could foster meaningful connection, not only for her clients but for other area women. Because she had already seen how strongly her clients responded to walk-and-talk therapy, Goeden thought a similar model could be successful on a larger scale. “People are loving moving their body without the pressure of looking you directly in the eye,” she says.
Enter the Wise Womxn Walking Club.
The group meets on two Sundays each month at Lift Bridge Cowork’s Forum space above Mon Petit Chéri. Gatherings begin with an optional get-to-know-you activity followed by a group photo in front of the lift bridge. The group then embarks on a 60-minute walk along Brown’s Creek State Trail.
The Wise Womxn Walking Club starts in downtown Stillwater before embarking on a 60-minute walk on Brown’s Creek State Trail. Photo: Jess Bentley Co
Stillwater native and St. Croix Valley Magazine editorial advisory board member Margie Schmid has participated in multiple Wise Womxn walks. “As a wellness coach, I’m so inspired and happy to see people moving their bodies,” she says. The positive energy and the opportunity to meet new women keep Schmid coming back. She recalls connecting with multiple women on a deep level during that first walk and has continued to meet new faces on each walk since.
The group is open to women of all ages. “We’ve had people anywhere from 20 to 70,” Goeden says. “Maybe somebody needs a mentor or a pseudo-grandma for their kids; there’s a wisdom exchange between the age groups.”
Goeden says she leaves every walk with a full heart. “I’ve heard so many vulnerable conversations on these walks [between] women that met for the first time right there at walking club,” she says. Countless women have approached Goeden to express their gratitude for this space.
That first walk—and the image they took to mark the occasion—is still vivid in Goeden’s mind. “[Seeing] all of these women with their bright smiles, bunched up, who had never met each other, [I thought], ‘Look how many of us there are who want the same things,’” Goeden says. “We’re stronger together. Better together.”
Wise Womxn Walking Club
Instagram: @wisewomxnwalkingclubstillwater
