Spring has arrived with warmer southern winds and longer days. April showers bring May flowers and already the first plants in the garden are peeking out of the ground.
Soon it’ll be time to gather nettle shoots, dandelion greens, and violet leaves for a salad. This abundance of green growth is awe-inspiring. Even in the grocery store we find a bounty of salad mixes and different kinds of fresh local lettuces.
The warmer weather inspires us to go outside. In our modern world we spend most of our time indoors. According to a study, Americans spend 93 percent of their time in enclosed buildings and vehicles.
All this time indoors has disconnected us from the natural healing properties of the earth. Our ancestors lived in the wilderness, walked barefoot upon the earth, and slept under the stars each night.
Nature therapy, spending time outside in nature, cultivates a state of holistic balance and equanimity. Nature can make a big difference in maintaining a healthy mind and body. Being in nature connects you to Source energy, your true identity as a spiritual being.
Scientific studies are beginning to find evidence that being in nature has a profound impact on our brains and our behavior, helping us to reduce anxiety and increase our clarity, creativity, and our ability to connect with one another and Divine energy.
I consider spending time in nature to be one of the key elements to health and happiness in addition to My 4 Key Elements To Health and Happiness. It’s the fifth element.
Here are some of the benefits of spending time in nature.
Grounding or Earthing Restores Balance
Do you know you can improve your health by walking barefoot on the earth? This is a concept known as Earthing or Grounding. It is probably one of the most important discoveries and medical breakthroughs of the 21 Century.
Earthing is the practice of connecting your body to the earth by having your skin touch grass, sand, a river, lake or sea.
Earthing has been shown to:
- Reduce inflammation
- Boost energy
- Lower stress by reducing cortisol
- Improve sleep
- Balance hormones
- Improve circulation
The ways it works, according to the studies, is the earth has a mild negative charge. Our modern indoor life causes our body to build up a positive charge. Connecting to the earth evens out this positive charge and returns our body to a neutral state.
In the book Earthing, Dr. Sinatra presents research and personal experiences of people all over the world showing the earth naturally stabilizes our body’s own electrical system, recharging and healing us.
To get the most benefits from earthing, walk barefoot or sit with your feet touching the ground for 30 minutes. You can also swim in the ocean which is high in the minerals needed to conduct the electricity. Any direct contact with your skin will work. If you are gardening you can kneel on the ground with your bare skin. To get results you must have direct sustained skin contact. Laying in the grass at the park will work too. I like to meditate while sitting on the sand, rocks or grass.
Being In Nature Reduces Stress
I know from experience walking in the woods calms me down. After a good hike I feel relaxed and centered.
Any physical activity reduces the stress hormone cortisol but research now shows being in nature has an even greater impact. The sights and sounds of nature have a soothing effect on your nervous system further reducing the fight or flight response.
One recent experiment conducted in Japan showed participants who walked in forests had significantly lower heart rates and higher heart rate variability (indicating more relaxation and less stress), and reported better moods and less anxiety, than those who walked in urban settings.
Nature Therapy Relieves Mental Fatigue and Increases Creativity
In today’s world there is constant stimulation from technology. This can lead to mental fatigue and burn out. We need something to get us back to a normal healthy state.
Researcher David Strayer shows that spending time in nature – without digital devices – allows the brain to rest and restore.
A 2012 study, showed that hikers on a four-day backpacking trip could solve significantly more puzzles requiring creativity when compared to a control group of people waiting to take the same hike, in fact, 47 percent more. David Strayer explains in this TED talk Restore Your Brain with Nature.
He says “Now we are seeing changes in the brain and changes in the body that suggest we are physically and mentally more healthy when we are interacting with nature.”
Nature Therapy Makes You Feel More Alive
It’s not surprising that being outside makes you feel more alive. The natural environment is rich in prana, the life force that sustains all life. Breathing fresh, natural clean air allows you to absorb more prana. Breathing in prana energizes your system. Prana is also in the trees, flowers, rocks, sand, water and the star-filled sky. Spending time outside connects you to this life-restoring current that flows through all of nature.
Nature Therapy Makes You Happier
Walking on the beach or in the woods always makes me happier and gives me a sense of joy. Part of it is the reduction of stress but there may be more to it.
Gregory Bratman, of Stanford University, has found evidence that nature may impact our mood by focusing our attention on positive things.
In one 2015 study, he and his colleagues randomly assigned 60 participants to a 50-minute walk in either a natural setting (oak woodlands) or an urban setting (along a four-lane road). Before and after the walk, the participants were assessed on their emotional state and on cognitive measures, such as how well they could perform tasks requiring short-term memory. Results showed that those who walked in nature experienced less anxiety and focused less on negative aspects of themselves and their life. They experienced more positive emotions, compared to to the urban walkers. They also improved their performance on the memory tasks.
In addition, there have been studies showing being in nature relieves symptoms of depression (i.e. clinical and manic depression/bipolar disorder) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and also stabilizes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
In Conclusion:
Nature therapy always available to you. Make a commitment to get outside in nature every day. Children love nature. Here is Avery having a great time throwing rocks in the water.
It does it’s magic automatically. No effort required. Isn’t that great!
Appreciate your body walking on this beautiful planet. Your body is an incredible gift that connects you to the magnificent world we live in.
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