Time spent in the great outdoors is associated with significantly less anxiety and depression. Nature is also grounding, inviting a steadiness and presence to the mind and body to cultivate inner peace and contentment.
Our inherent connection to nature
According to Buddhist teachings, there is an impermanence to all things. Our thoughts come and go, our bodies shift and change, and nature is always in flux. Nature can be our greatest teacher. Buddhist teachings describe the elements in the body as a reflection of the elements in nature; our connection to nature begins by noticing the Earth within us.
According to Buddhism, the four primary elements in the body may include:
earth: body, flesh, bones
air: breath, movement
water: saliva, blood, sweat, tears
fire: temperature, digestion
As nature changes with the seasons, it’s a reminder this is also happening in us — we’re changing constantly. Nature teaches us how to let go of what we can’t control. “Everything changes.” When we realize that the nature of reality is impermanence, the mind can stabilize even as things around us fluctuate. As such, we may develop a broader understanding of the infinite causes and conditions that create each and every moment, learning how to receive versus react. If we try to hold on to things too tightly, it’s going to cause stress. Nature shows us how we are in relation to our world, which means recognizing that we’re all in this together.
The power of stillness
Remember, it’s OK to have thoughts — even when you’re meditating. The key to finding stillness is to become aware that you’re thinking and consider whether there’s any truth to your thoughts. Are you controlled by your thoughts… or can you witness them as an observer? Silence helps us become more aware of the body and how the mind is reacting to everything around it. When the mind is agitated, it might create heaviness in the body. Tuning into the wisdom of your body can teach you how to separate yourself from your thoughts. To put that into practice, sometimes, just becoming aware of the body can be an entry point to meditation. Knowing that you’re sitting, feeling the pressure of your buttocks on the chair, and the anchor of your feet on the ground may help put your mind at ease.
Healing powers of nature
It’s become nearly impossible to espouse the physical and mental healing powers of nature without sounding a tad woo-woo. We’ve lost touch with nature. Now that nature isn’t the norm, we don’t prioritize let alone validate the human need for connection with trees, mountains, water, and sand – we prioritize the convenience of modernity.
Most of us dismiss touching a tree as a way to reconnect with and heal ourselves, this despite our deep history as naturephiles and mounting evidence that nature is an effective tool to combat cancer, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, ADHD, and stress.
It’s in our DNA. There are studies from all over the world that show the outdoors equals health. With only 15 minutes spent in nature, there’s a reduction in cortisol – the body’s main stress hormone. The longer you stay out, of course, the better the benefits. Being in nature allows us to focus our senses. We’re not looking at screens or hearing all the man-made noises in the world. Some of the ways nature can positively impact our health include improving short-term memory by 20 percent, increasing levels of Vitamin D, improving sleep quality, decreasing anxiety and depression, lowering blood sugar in diabetics, reducing inflammation, and even increasing creativity. It literally goes on and on and on.
How does nature provide these types of human therapies?
I see nature as healing because of the conductive support the earth provides the human body. The earth pulses out an electromagnetic frequency – known as the Schumann Resonance – and the human body is fully conductive. Every single cell in our entire body becomes immediately grounded whenever we physically touch the earth directly. Twenty years of medical studies on grounding show that when we are connected to the earth’s energy, our bodies naturally go into a healing state. Everything from our brain waves to our muscle tension to our heartbeat responds in a healing way to grounding.” Taking the time to enjoy all that nature has to offer is essential to our mental and physical health. We can learn that forests are an amazing resource. They give us everything we rely on in order to exist. They produce oxygen, cleanse the air we breathe, and purify our water. They stop flooding rivers and streams and the erosion of mountains and hills. They provide us with food, clothing, and shelter, and with the materials we need for furniture and tools. In addition to this, forests have always helped us to heal our wounds and to cure our diseases.
In response, Japanese researchers developed the concept of forest bathing in an effort to prevent the effects of lifestyle-related diseases. In Japanese means “forest” and yoku means “bath”, thus shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses. This is not exercise, or hiking, or jogging. It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Shinrin-yoku is like a bridge. By opening our senses, it bridges the gap between us and the natural world.
People can enjoy shinrin-yoku through five senses:
Sight: Gazing upon green colour and lush forest landscapes
Smell: Inhaling the scents and fragrance of wooded areas
Hearing: Listening to forest sounds and birds’ songs
Touch: Touching trees, putting your whole body in the forest atmosphere
Taste: Eating foods from the forest, tasting the fresh air in forest
It is a total effect of the five senses. However, the sense of smell is the key element of forest bathing because of the effect of phytoncides [a substance released by plants and trees, generally meaning the aroma of the forest]. As we walk slowly through the forest, seeing, listening, smelling, tasting, and touching, we bring our rhythms into step with nature. All you need is access to a forest and an open mind. Forest bathing isn’t a one-size-fits all solution. For some, healing will come from the sound of water flowing over pebbles in a stream or squirrels chattering to each other in the branches. For others, it’s the scent of pine needles or the sight of the forest bursting into green at the beginning of spring. You also can reconnect with nature simply by the act of being there. And yes – you should leave technology behind.
The healing effects of water and sand
Unlike the majestic, tree- and rock-covered terrain of mountains and forests, oceans and deserts offer something even scarcer to city dwellers – vast, open spaces. Deserts provide watercolour skies and sand-painted horizons seemingly without end, imbued with peculiar-looking plants, trees, and wildlife. Oceans, which produce at least half of earth’s oxygen, appear limitless: the salt-water air, the sound of waves and tides rolling with the rhythms of the earth, the shores that extend beyond definition. Feet on the sand and hands in the water reconnect us to our power source – earth.
Staying ungrounded all day and all night, year after year after year, without ever touching the earth is like using your cell phone battery down to nothing and then never plugging it back in and recharging it. Being in nature allows us to focus our senses. We get frustrated and wonder why our body experiences pain, discomfort, inflammation, muscle tension, immune and metabolic dysfunction, and other issues, yet we never boost our body’s resiliency through conductive support. Reversing this is simple and instantaneous – simply touch the earth outside and you will be grounded, conductively supported by the earth’s healing energy. Many natural destinations also draw people on a spiritual level.
Spiritual vortexes
You will find the importance of reconnecting with nature. You will find that we are part of the natural world. Our rhythms are the rhythms of nature. Making skin-to-skin contact with natural elements is the one true way to reconnect and recharge. Rubber is non-conductive, so rubber-soled shoes mean even if you are standing on the earth you are not grounded. And most clothing is made from polyester blends, spandex, viscose, etc., and they all block grounding too, so your jacket, socks, pants, and exercise gear, mean even if you are outside laying on the earth, you are not grounded. You can actually be outside day and night camping, feeling totally immersed and surrounded by nature and still you will be completely disconnected. Simply taking off your shoes to walk on the ground or reaching out to touch a tree with your bare hand can help you connect with nature and reap the benefits of its energy. It’s now-or-never for time in nature. Given the state of the world, perhaps there’s never been a better time to set aside any lingering judgement and finally touch that tree or listen to the waves with bare feet in the sand – not just to heal ourselves, but to heal our earth.
“When we stop and pause, the planet heals. People are hearing birds singing again, noticing that springtime trees and flowers are waking up more vibrantly than ever before, the air is clearing as traffic decreases, global emissions are dropping dramatically, the water in rivers and bays are clearer, and consumerism and competition becomes obsolete as health and wellness become our deepest treasure. When we take healing the earth seriously we also take our own health seriously, and there is no better time to connect to our planet to support our collective healing than right now.