Nature and the Imagination: Partners in Relaxation and Mindfulness

by with No Comment EcotherapyFeelings and EmotionsHealing with natureHealth and wellbeingMindfulnessNature and Forest TherapyRelaxationSelf CareSocial and emotional wellbeingSpiritual practicesStressWellbeing

I am wondering about the power of nature imagery as a tool for relaxation.  Not everyone has access to beautiful landscapes or nature at their back door.  Access to the outdoors may be limited by mobility or circumstances.  Some of us live in cities where green space is lacking.  Recent studies show that prisoners watching nature documentaries are less aggressive and violent, so we know that one doesn’t need to actually be outside to receive the healing benefits of nature.

I am thinking about a refugee whom I support on Nauru in indefinite detention, who is unable to get outside due to chronic pain and continuing trauma.  He recalls fond memories of being a lifeguard on a beach before the detention centre was closed and all services were withdrawn from the island.  I have been trying to work with him to visualise that special beach in his mind.  This is challenging given the circumstances he finds himself, in chronic pain and confined to his room.

I think there is real value in present moment situations of chronic stress, depression or anxiety, to call upon nature as our friend to induce a state of relaxation.   To bring a sense of calm to the amygdala, activated by the sympathetic nervous system.  To reduce the negative effects of rumination on mood and wellbeing.  To open up a space to breathe while the unpleasant feelings pass.

We know that the brain cannot tell the difference between sitting in real nature or imagining a landscape in our mind.  The same physiological and psychological benefits of stress reduction are experienced in both of these situations.  So just by thinking about your favourite safe place in nature is enough to produce the required relaxation response.

Here are some simple instructions for a Tree Visualisation meditation, I gave recently at a Nature Therapy talk I did with cancer patients.  Another option is to have a basket of nature objects such as shells, stones, pine cones, leaves, feathers, gum nuts and other interesting objects.  Just holding one of these treasures in your hands with eyes closed, eliciting all the senses to engage with it, can bring forth a range of mindful responses.  Both of these activities elicit strong memories for people, of places they have been before, of experiences they have had and of traditions or rituals held precious.  I watch their faces as anxiety or fear is replaced by instant comfort and joy.

As quickly as the stress response is triggered, the brain has the power to bring a state of relaxation and calm to us.  Nature and the imagination are perfect partners to try this out for yourself!

3 Reasons Why You Should Go Forest Bathing

by with No Comment Bush therapyEco-social workEcotherapyForest bathingHealing the planetHealing with natureHealth and wellbeingMindfulnessMother EarthNature and Forest TherapySelf CareShinrin YokuSocial and emotional wellbeingSpiritual practicesStressTherapy on the GoWellbeing

First of all, you might be wondering what exactly is forest bathing?

Forest bathing is a nature connection practice inspired by the Japanese where it is called Shinrin Yoku.

It’s not about getting wet.

The idea is to fully immerse yourself in nature and to bathe all your senses (more than 12 of them!).

Put simply, it is about taking a slow mindful walk in nature, breathing in the forest air, sitting and observing, and developing an emotional connection to the forest.  It is different from hiking, where the pace is faster and you miss a lot of what is going on around you.  It is also different from a naturist walk, where you might be identifying and naming species of fauna or flora.

A Forest Bathing walk covers less than a kilometre usually over two or three hours.  Its aim is to help you slow down and take a break from the stresses of daily life, and to appreciate things that can only be noticed when moving slowly.    Some people describe it like doing meditation or mindfulness in nature.

So now that we know what it is.  Why on earth would we want to do it?

1.  Forest Bathing is Part of Our True Nature

Humans evolved out of forests.   Our species spent millions years of in development within these ecosystems.  Then our world experienced rapid industrialisation and we moved into cities.  While genetically our bodies are optimized for the forest, we are now trying to survive in the busy, stressful conditions of modern civilization.

Our separation has caused what Richard Louv terms, ‘nature deficit disorder’.  He argues that our children are spending so much less time outdoors than previous generations, it is having a detrimental impact on their development.

Rather than seeing ourselves as separate from nature, we must remember, we are nature.

2.  Forest Bathing Promotes our Health and Wellbeing

In the Western world, rates of mental health problems are out of control.  Over 50% of people are stressed at work.  In Australia, 1 in 5 of us will go on to experience a mental illness.  Many physical illnesses and disease can also be linked to stress as an underlying cause.

The Japanese have been studying the effects of forest bathing since the 1980’s.  What they discovered was an antimicrobial organic compound called phytonicides that are given off by evergreen trees such as pines and eucalypts.  When you breathe in phytonicides, your blood pressure drops, your cortisol level (or stress hormone) reduces and heart rate variablilty improves.  Phytoncides are immune boosters which increase the natural killer cells in our body, associated with fighting cancer.

Other research has shown that being in nature:

3.  Forest Bathing Addresses Climate Change

I know, it’s a big call.  But I firmly believe that if we are more closely connected to Mother Nature, we are more likely to want to care for and protect it.  Ours is a reciprocal relationship.  When the earth is sick, so are we (see point 2).  We need healing and so does our earth.

Humans have become so separate from nature that there has been little regard to how we treat the earth.  It has been seen as a collection of resources to be exploited for our benefit.  On a guided forest bathing walk, there is particular attention paid to the practice of reciprocity.  In supporting the development of human-nature relationships, we foster the role of humans as givers, as well as receivers.

People who engage regularly in forest bathing practices, tend to spontaneously find themselves engaging in place tending on a personal level or want to get involved in environmental activism at a macro level.

So rebuilding our intimate connection to the forest again, will ultimately lead to the healing of the planet and of course, our own health too.

If one or more of these reasons has inspired you to try forest bathing, then feel free to join the Japanese where is it called “Shinrin-yoku” (森林浴), the Germans practising “Waldtherapie”, the Koreans engaging in “Sanlimyok (산림욕)” and of course, the Australians, Americans and Europeans, where we use the terms “nature and forest therapy”.

If you are in the Nambucca Valley or Coffs Coast region, you can join me on your very own private Nature therapy walk.  Or you can find other Certified guides in Australia here and elsewhere in the world here.

Happy Forest Bathing!

5 Intentional Ways to Bring Nature Therapy Indoors

by with No Comment EcotherapyFeelings and EmotionsHealing with natureHealth and wellbeingMental healthMindfulnessMother EarthNature and Forest TherapySelf CareSocial and emotional wellbeingStressTherapy on the GoWellbeing

After three days of constant rain, I feel myself starting to go a little ‘cray cray’.  I miss my daily walk up the country road where I live.  Not surprisingly, I come down with a cold and by day three it turns into a headache.   Does this happen to you?  After days of not venturing outside, your health starts to deteriorate?

It makes a lot of sense, given that being in nature or green spaces is scientifically proven to promote good physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.

Don’t despair.   I have some tips for bringing the benefits of nature indoors, so you can enjoy the sensory experience even when stuck inside.

1. Pot up the pesky weed and bring it inside.

Plants are not only a visually pleasing and calming addition to your home, but can be a great source of air purification. Two of the best plants to remove indoor toxins and chemicals are Mother in Laws tongue (a weed in the garden) and the Peace Lily.  With increased oxygen levels in your home, you will also breathe easier.
Houseplants also reduce the incidence of dry skin, colds, sore throats and dry coughs.  Put a plant on your desk to give your eyes a rest from your computer screen, boost concentration and be more productive.   One study showed that hanging out with indoor plants can increase memory retention up to 20 percent.  Weird but true.

2. Knock on Wood.

A lot of research has shown that using wood indoors in the form of furniture, fittings and features helps us to relax.  Simply running your fingers across a wooden benchtop can calm your nervous system, lower your heart rate and reduce brain activity, promoting an instant soothing effect.  The smell of naturally dried wood has a similar effect and can be replicated by spraying some essential oils such as cedarwood, siberian fir or eucalyptus around your home.  Always choose naturally dried wood products, not heat treated wood for your home as the aromas produce very different results.  A good excuse to treat yourself to a new chopping board!

3. Create a nature table.

Dig out that shell collection in your bathroom, then go gather some stones, pine cones, feathers, or other forest finds that bring you pleasure. Not just for kids, a nature table or basket is a good ‘go to’ to distract us when feeling stressed, anxious or depressed.  In this situation, pick up something that attracts your attention, find a place to sit, and just explore this treasure with your sense of touch, smell, hearing and sight.  Notice how this feels in your body.  Notice what memories arise for you.   Does this natural object have a story to tell?  Allow yourself time to be mindful and present.  Let feelings arise and fall away.  Just notice without judgement.

4. Uber some fresh cut flowers.

There isn’t a human being around that doesn’t get pleasure from admiring and smelling cut flowers.  But did you know that flower arrangements also offer physical benefits too?  Simply looking at fresh flowers in a vase has been shown to decrease the sympathetic nervous system response to stress and increase physiological relaxation responses.  A similar result is experienced when smelling floral essential oils, inducing relaxation and comfort.  So go pick a wild bunch and knock yourself out.

5. Bring nature imagery inside.

This is a great one, particularly if you live in an apartment in the city, or have very little green space around where you live.  Science has shown that showing prisoners photos and videos of forests, glaciers and waterfalls reduces tension, improves sleep and results in less violent angry outbursts.
Install some nature artwork, change your screensaver to a majestic landscape or watch a nature documentary.  Or simply close your mind and put yourself in your favourite natural landscape.  The brain doesn’t know the difference between real life and mindful imagery.  You get similar mental health benefits either way!

So if you’re stuck indoors, know that nature with all its healing properties is there for you.  Go out there and invite it in.  Do it mindfully with intention and purpose.

You might like to also read:   5 Nature Therapy Habits You Can Start Today

For more quick and easy Nature Therapy practices you can incorporate into your day, sign up to my Newsletter and I will send you my free e-book featuring the 21 Day Nature Therapy Challenge.  That’s 21 days of Nature Therapy ideas to help you develop a healthy new habit.

References:

Miyazaki, Y. (2018).  Shinrin-yoku: the Japanese way of forest bating for health and relaxation. Octopus Publishing Group, London.
Rokas, L. (2017).  ‘NASA Reveals A List Of The Best Air-Cleaning Plants For Your Home’ at https://www.boredpanda.com/best-air-filtering-houseplants-nasa/
University of Utah, ‘Nature Imagery Calms Prisoners’, https://phys.org/news/2017-08-nature-imagery-calms-prisoners.html

Riding out the Waves of Emotion with and in Nature

by with No Comment EcotherapyFeelings and EmotionsHealing with natureHealth and wellbeingMindfulnessNature and Forest TherapySelf CareShameSocial and emotional wellbeingSpiritual practicesStressTherapy on the GoWellbeing

What would it be like if we responded to perceived ‘negative’ feelings in the same way we responded to ‘perceived’ positive feelings?  You know the feelings I’m talking about; the ones that make our body feel uncomfortable.  Anger, sadness, grief, guilt, pain, hurt, shame, jealousy and the like.   Growing up we learn to push these feelings away, ignore them, get over them, put a lid on them or deny them.  In fact, society expects us to.  And if we can’t, then we are told to go to a counsellor to learn how to, because there must be something wrong with us.

What if instead we were to normalise these feelings, rather than to see them as abnormal or bad?  After all, it’s only the behaviour that accompanies these feelings that may cause a problem, not the feeling itself.   Somewhere along the line society has labelled emotions ‘negative’ and ‘positive’.  The so named ‘negative’ ones we want to avoid.  The ‘positive’ ones we crave more of.  We should to be happy all the time, right?

What if we were instead to ride through the wave of perceived ‘negative’ emotion, like a piece of driftwood that rides the ocean currents, knowing eventually the rough and tumble will be over and it will wash up on the shore, ready to dry out and fulfil its potential in the sun?

Nature has much to teach us about living with our emotions, just as nature is a stimulus for experiencing emotion.  Nature shares with us her awesome presence and we experience feelings of awe and wonder staring at a sky filled with millions of stars.  We dwell in delight and joy at the sound of birdsong or a fleeting visit from a timid animal in the forest.  We are wrapped up in happiness and excitement as we discover unexplored, beautiful places that take our breath away.   Our bodies respond to these sensory experiences in pleasurable ways.  We are totally present in the here and now, relishing in the feeling of the moment.

The skill of being mindful in nature can be applied to all our emotions, not just the ones that give us sensations of comfort.  Nature provides some clues about this.  A fire sweeping through the bush is horrifying and scary.  Trees do not enjoy having their leaves stripped bare or bark scarred.  But they stand there, remaining steadfast.  They ride it out.  They slow down their breathing and conserve their energy.  Trees have learnt how to protect themselves from past experience by growing thick bark.  Eventually, the smoke clears, the rains come, and seeds burst forth in regrowth.

What if we were to sit with our emotion in the moment and bring the same kind of awareness to our experience, as we do with ‘positive’ emotions?  To sit and dwell in the pit of crappiness, to bring awareness to the tightness in our stomach, to be accepting of our vulnerability, to notice the change in sensations as the feeling eventually passes.

What if we were to treat our emotions like a friend to get to know rather than an enemy to run away from.  With curiosity, get to know its habits, its likes, its dislikes.  If you can recognise the signs of its arrival, you can be prepared, and find a place to sit and ride it out (preferably in nature which has immediate calming and relaxation effects).

Indigenous peoples do not push their grief away or hide it or try to move through it quickly.  They spend many days or weeks, sometimes months expressing their sorrow after the passing of loved ones.  They feel it shifting through their bodies as they dance and sing to the natural rhythms of the earth.

Experiencing and sitting with the full gamut of emotions is what it means to be human.

For those that have experienced trauma, the experience of sitting with emotions can be much more difficult.  Our response, driven by the brain’s need to protect us, might shut our body down completely so we don’t have to feel at all, or help us get ready to fight or run away from a perceived threat.  This is where nature’s healing powers can really do its work.  When uncomfortable or painful feelings come to the fore, nature provides the distraction needed to calm our over-reactive limbic system.  Taking some time to sit in green space with the sun on your face, the breeze drifting over your skin or the grass beneath your feet, is the first step to retraining your brain through a mindfulness practice.  Building up the muscles in your brain to bring awareness to your felt sense, slowly makes space for the more uncomfortable feelings to be explored in small steps over time.  Sometimes a support person or counsellor is needed to guide this process.

Every feeling we have is normal.  They are part of this journey called life.  They come and go.  Even those that are a result of traumatic experience can be healed, through a practice of mindfulness in nature.

Be gentle on yourself.  Sit with your emotions.  All of them.  Breathe through them.  Notice their passing.

Nature is brave enough to do it.  Humans are nature, so we can too.

Stressed at Work? Take it Outside.

by with No Comment Eco-social workEcotherapyForest bathingHealing with natureHealth and wellbeingMental healthNature and Forest TherapySelf CareStressWellbeingWorkplace Wellbeing

Did you know that more than half of the Australian workforce is stressed and almost just as many of us will go on to experience mental illness?   Stress related claims cost Australian business over $200 million annually!

The impact of stress usually results in deteriorating work performance, taking more time off and running down your immune system.   Illness has a direct effect on both the quality and quantity of your work.   You will work more slowly than usual, make more mistakes or need to repeat tasks.  This lower labour productivity translates to increased costs for employers.

It’s a pretty depressing picture, isn’t it?   What’s going on?  Why are we such a stressed out bunch?   Well, there’s probably a lot of reasons!   And something needs to change.  We spend a lot of our lives at work, we deserve to be happy and for work to be a fun and relaxed place to be, where we feel respected by our (not stressed out) colleagues and valued by our (not stressed out) boss.

One view is that people are spending much less time in nature and that we are suffering from ‘nature deficit disorder’ which affects us mentally, physically and spiritually.  I’ve been doing a lot of research recently around the effects of nature on health and wellbeing and how this carries over into our work life.   People who spend time in nature are not only happier and healthier but also smarter and more successful inside the office.  Happy people are 31% more productive, less absent with 23% fewer fatigue symptoms and up to 10% more engaged in their work.  The benefits flow on to business with a happy workforce bringing in 20% higher profits.   It’s a win, win for everybody.

One study showed that staff on long-term sick leave from stress related illness show improvements in functioning and mood after being in a forest.   Even just looking at trees out a window has a positive effect on mood;  workers experience less frustration, more patience, less health complaints and higher job satisfaction.


Employers that invest in staff health and wellbeing can expect increased work performance and productivity, cost savings from higher retention and lower absenteeism, and a happier organisational culture.

So what can you do to bring these benefits of nature into your office space?  Here’s a few ideas.

  • Take your lunch break outside. Go for a walk to a nearby park and lie under the trees or ask your boss for an outdoor sit space to eat.  Get your daily boost of Vitamin D and invite in the sights, sounds and textures in your environment to relax and restore your mind, body and soul.
  • Bring a pot plant to put on your desk. They provide numerous benefits such as cleaning the air, helping to relieve stress, contributing to your creativity and giving your eyes a break from the computer.
  • Add nature to your commute. If you walk or cycle, change your route to include a park.  If you catch public transport, be intentional about noticing nature on your route.  Get on later, or off earlier so you can include outdoor time as part of your journey.
  • Take your next meeting outside or try a walking meeting in a natural space.  Being in nature brings with it better decision making, more creativity and alertness.
  • Turn your desk around so you are facing the window and can give your eyes a rest from the computer now and then.
  • Open the blinds to allow the natural sunlight to flood the room. Or better still open your window to let in the natural (non-airconditioned) air and the sounds of the birds or leaves rustling in the wind.
  • Block out the office noise and listen to nature sounds like running water, bird song and gentle rain on your headphones.
  • Hang up a painting, artwork or photography showcasing nature’s wonders or install a nature computer screen-saver.  Even looking at nature has health benefits too!
  • Have a nature play table in your office with shells, stones, bark, feathers or other things you find, alongside your oil burner decanting a natural pine scent.  Colleagues that visit might linger a while longer!
  • Sweet talk the boss into investing in biophilia as a core design principle in the office or outdoor spaces. For inspiration check out what Google and Ferrari have done.

This Saturday at #StartUpsCoffsCoast I will be launching a new service to promote a nature-based approach to health and wellbeing in the workplace.   This includes Half-Day Corporate Wellbeing Sessions for team-building, planning days and Corporate events; Guided Lunchtime Daily Doses for Staff, and access to Consultation Services to develop and implement Green Wellbeing policies, drawing on the combination of professional expertise at Nature and Wellbeing Australia.   My new look website with more details is on its way very soon.

I hope to see you in nature.  And don’t forget to take the boss with you!