How Nature Heals
Author: Charlotte Akers
What are Nature-Based Therapies?
There are multiple different practices which are based upon the link between the living natural world and our health and happiness. We are a part of a larger, breathing, ecosystem, and so whilst many may at first be sceptical of nature-based therapies, it is actually quite logical that our wellbeing can be improved by reconnecting with nature.
The following are just a few examples, but don’t let yourself become overwhelmed by these different variations. The most important take-away is that we can improve our physical and mental health through nature connection: this message and practice should be accessible for everyone.
Whether it is as grand as a hike in the Swiss alps, or as small as planting a seed: from bird watching, to forest-bathing, to simply sitting on the grass and feeling the dirt beneath your hands, nature heals.
How will we make sure we heal it in return?
Horticultural Therapy
Horticultural therapy helps improve memory, cognitive abilities, language skills, and socialization, and helps develop the techniques which can help people to learn new skills or regain those that are lost.
In physical rehabilitation, horticultural therapy can help strengthen muscles and improve coordination, balance, and endurance. In vocational horticultural therapy settings, people learn to work independently, problem solve, and follow directions. (AHTA)
Whilst the American Horticultural Therapy Association specifies a few features which make a garden therapeutic (such as gently graded accessible entrances and paths, raised planting beds and containers, and a sensory-oriented plant selection focused on color, texture, and fragrance), many of us can experience the therapeutic qualities of a garden in a variety of contexts.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden area or lawn, think about how you can embrace nature through planting a variety of plants and making space for wildlife. In the UK, over the past decade the number of gardens which have been paved over to create parking space or patios has tripled.
Not only will tending a small garden decrease risk of flash flooding and help wildlife biodiversity, but the health benefits of this horticultural haven are significant.
If you don’t have a garden, shared gardens, allotments, and local horticultural groups can be a great way to experience the benefits of watching something grow from a tiny seed. There are many urban gardening groups popping up, enabling people to meet others from their community, to grow their own food, and to get their hands dirty.
Animal Assisted Therapy
Does petting a dog or stroking your cat calm you down? A lot of us don’t need to be told that animals can affect our mood. There’s a reason the internet is full of videos and photos of animals.
But beyond the pet obsession in many countries, studies have found a proven connection between animal-assisted therapy and improved wellbeing.
Studies on animal-assisted therapy found positive outcomes and improved emotional well-being in those with autism, medical conditions, or behavioral issues. Another review found that animal-assisted therapy can be helpful for those battling illnesses like depression, schizophrenia, or addiction. (Kamioka H, Okada S, Tsutani K, et al. 2014 / Psychology Today)
Whilst many also joke that they like animals better than people, there is research looking at how animals can provide a sense of calm, comfort, or safety and divert attention away from a stressful situation and toward one that provides pleasure.
Rather than a case of disliking people, perhaps it is the perspective that animals can give us of being part of a living ecosystem beyond the human-centric focus many individualist societies prioritise.
The fact that animals lead to far more than simply a warm, fuzzy feeling also links back to our look at ecophilia: we have an inherent connection with all living beings.
On a small scale, how about offering to walk your neighbour’s dog, volunteering at a local animal shelter, or discovering the joys of bird watching.
Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing)
Most of us are familiar with the concept of sunbathing, but have you ever thought of forest bathing?
Dr. Qing Li, author of Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, writes:
In Japan, we practice something called forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku. Shinrin in Japanese means “forest,” and yoku means “bath.” So shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses.
Even a small amount of time in nature can have an impact on our health. A two-hour forest bath will help you to unplug from technology and slow down.
It will bring you into the present moment and de-stress and relax you. Numerous studies I’ve conducted have shown that shinrin-yoku has real health benefits. (TIME 2018)
When was the last time you went for a walk through a woodland area, for no reason other than to soak it all in?
Nature Meditations
Many of us are increasingly aware of the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Meditation and mindfulness can help reduce stress and improve our peace of mind. (Mindworks)
Whilst many find that meditating outdoors helps to clear the mind and to reconnect with a sense of greater unity, nature meditations are a particular practice that can improve wellbeing by allowing us to connect to nature and to develop a sense of unity with the living world.
From poet and author of Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery, Mark Coleman:
“Take some time to sit quietly under a tree or bask in warm sunlight. Let your senses drift open and outward. Breathe through every pore of your skin and soak up the ambience, the cadence, and the spirit of this place. Feel into the fact that you are a part of this living, breathing ecosystem.”
Whilst the practice of nature meditations may be new to you, the power of being fully present with nature is ancient knowledge. Just consider the following verse by Han-Shan,written over 1400 years ago on Cold Mountain in China.
Today I sat before the cliff,
Sat a long time till mists had cleared.
A single thread, the clear stream runs cold;
A thousand yards the green peaks lift their heads.
White clouds—the morning light is still;
Moonrise—the lamp of night drifts upward;
Body free from dust and stain,
What cares could trouble my mind?
(From Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the Tang Poet Han-shan, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press)
Ecotherapy
And finally, we come to ecotherapy.
Ecotherapy is the name given to a wide range of treatment programmes which aim to improve your mental and physical wellbeing through doing outdoor activities in nature.
Ecotherapy is based on the theories of ecopsychology. Ecotherapy helps people connect with nature to aid in dealing with physical and mental illnesses (Buzzell and Chalquist, 2009). This idea of reconnection seeks to remind humans that we are part of ecosystems rather than separate from them (Jones, 2010; Totton, 2011).
From an ecotherapy perspective, the health (physical and mental) of a human being is viewed in the context of the health of the Earth and its natural ecosystems (Swimme and Berry, 1994; Clinebell, 1996).
Broadly speaking it is an area of psychology that embraces ecology and aims to be holistic in theory and practice (Buzzell and Chalquist, 2009).
Beyond this academic research, an important element of ecotherapy is that it is about healing in tandem with nature: not just taking the benefits from nature and not returning any benefits back to it.
Craig Chalquist is the chair of the East-West Psychology Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies and is a pioneer of the ecotherapy movement:
“What makes ecotherapy different from an attempt to mine nature for its beneficial effects, is that we have to give something back.”
Chalquist tells students that if they want to experience the full value of ecotherapy, they can’t just go touch a tree; they need to come to care about that tree and help preserve it for future generations. (The Atlantic 2015)
So How Does This Affect Me?
Mental and physical health ailments vary from person to person, and what benefits and heals one person, may not be so effective for the next. But what is evident is that nature should be viewed as an integral part of all human wellbeing and health.
This is precisely why we must fight for the right to access nature.
Why we must maintain and preserve our local nature.
Why we must advocate for rewilding in urban areas.
And why we must heal and protect nature, as it heals and protects us in return.
To close, consider this quotation from an 1862 issue of The Atlantic:
“Think of a man’s swinging dumbbells for his health, when those springs are bubbling up in far-off pastures unsought by him!”
— Henry David Thoreau
Seek your pastures.
