“Body and Soil are one” an ancient Korean proverb, “shin to bul ee”.
Three years of solid working, counselling to support those in lockdowns, teaching mostly on a screen, limited travel and opportunities to create novelty, a deeper calling got hold of me. Restlessness grew louder, impatience filled the air, grumpy, tired and groundhog mental fatigue seemed the flavour of my weeks. The over domestication of myself was beginning to own me, in a way that became addictive.
The gypsy I befriended in myself in my teens climbing NZ mountains for days only equiped with a pack on my back, camping in hay sheds, reclaimed as the wild woman in my twenties, needed to be listened deeply to. I loaded the car, threw a mattress in the back, along with my trusty hiking boots, mozzie repellent, a few good books gifted by friends, some homemade dried fruit and coffee I had squirreled away for just this occasion and hit the road. Now Australian roads have been battered of late by floods, so hitting the road was literal, over and over again!
I needed wide open spaces, the sound of nature, sunsets and sunrises, nature based exercise, swimming in waterfalls, sun and the smell of the earth. The urgency in my longing brought back memories of emerging out of four patrolled walls of quarantine a number of years ago, I couldn’t sleep inside for many nights, I needed nature to soothe my soul and the sorrow from how were we treating each other.
“Nature will not be admired by proxy” ― Winston Churchill
Free camping it was, thanks to Wikicamps (yes an app), I was committed to digital detoxing, as much as possible when you run your own business.
As the kilometres lengthened stress, low level anxiety, frustration, grumpiness, fatigue all began to drop away. The little things started to draw my attention more and more, I became curious. The movement of soft grasses in the wind, the exquisite colours of contrasting landscapes, a cricket hanging out with me as I looked for the night’s camp, the sound of the wind in the trees, an echidna blowing bubbles out of its snout whilst playing hide and seek with me, the differences in birds calls, the moment bees have woken, or was that me awakening to the bees sound? The big little things called me more and my hard edges softened as I breathed out a little more everyday.
In an attention economy you would be right to feel as though your nervous system has been hijacked by constant endeavours to pursue personal and professional goals, making money, an idea of who you should be, physical fitness, maintaining healthy relationships, the list goes on. Mental fatigue, stress, anxiety, depression, lack of motivation and creativity, numerous health conditions are only some of the symptoms of a disconnect from our true nature but is this disconnect a deeper calling?
We have never in any other time in history been so disconnected from nature, the soil, the birds, green and blue spaces. Never in history have we been holed up in houses in the way we have in the last years and the consequences are showing.
Studies show that we need at least 5 hours per month “in nature to starve off depression, and elevate mood. Nature has a dose-response relationship; the more time spent in nature the better you feel.”* Ten hours changes our body brain lowering blood pressure, cortisol and alleviating depression, mental fatigue, anxiety, lowering symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity, making us more healthier, more empathetic, divergently creative, energetic, enabling us to engage in the world around us. To calculate that, it is 30 minutes five days a week, or as Liisa Trycäinen says “two to three days per month outside the city would bring the same effect.” Nature turns us on, turns down the stress hormones and brings us home into ourself in way nothing else can.
With so many adults currently being diagnosed with ADHD, is forest medicine the answer? Some of the benefits of nature is boosting executive brain function; recharging the right prefrontal cortex, that part in the brain for organising, judging and task-focusing. We cannot bounce off walls if walls are taken away.
Green or blue scapes are our ultimate medicine. Big corporations in Japan, Korea, Scotland, Finland all recognise the increased health benefits to the overall well-being of their workers by being in nature. Nature deficient disorder symptoms include increased obesity, lower attention span, vitamin D deficiency, lower capacity to cope with stress, reduced performance, and a lower sense of wellbeing, among a few.
Therefore for this holiday season plan to get your nature fix, the best medicine.
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”― Albert Einstein
Tips for your Nature Fix:
- Take a trip to the sea, a national park, green or blue nature spaces
- Walk in nature, whether it is a park, by the sea as much away from artificial sounds as possible, for over 30 minutes a day
“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”– John Muir
- Simply lie on the grass, on the earth, on the sand at the beach and let yourself come into resonance with nature
“Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time” ― Katrina Mayer
- Cultivate curiosity towards nature, this may start by looking at a tree for an extended period of time. Curiosity invites awe which changes the brain and nervous system.
- Leave your phone, or any mobile device at home and begin to digitally detox by simply being with nature for extended periods of time.
- Practice ‘Dadirri’, aboriginal for deep listening.
“In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, — he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Without taking anything from national parks, find something that represents you in nature (a tree, moss, a rock, a brightly coloured leaf). Contemplate this aspect of nature. What is it about this part of nature that parallels where you are at the moment in your life? Write about it. What happens when you allow the essence of this in deeper, to tell its story of being?
- Following on from this find something in nature, without removing it, that is needed to nourish you, this could simply be imagining it, or searching for something similar. Breathe it in, the energy of it, how does it touch you, move in you, soothe you? What changes when you take the essence of this out into the world with you?
- Meditate in nature.
- Exercise in nature; walk, yoga, tai chi, swim, kayak, sail, the list is endless and watch your energy levels change, your creativity and stress levels reduce.
“There is a way that nature speaks, the land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, not quiet enough to pay attention to the story.” ― Linda Hogan
Let nature talk to you as you take time to let her slow you down, bring you back into resonance with life, your natural rhythms, lowering heart rate, stress levels and bringing you back into connection.
“As Nisbet rather dejectedly concluded, “People may avoid nearby nature because a chronic disconnection from nature causes them to underestimate its hedonic benefits.” ―
Bibliography
Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr collaborated with Producer and Director, Pip Gordon of The Gathering Tree with support from DLUX Media and Djilpin Arts in Katherine, with original music composed by Michael Kokinos, in producing a short teaser film about Dadirri – A Gift To The Nation. In Miriam’s language, ‘Dadirri’, is the practise of Deep Inner Listening and quiet still awareness, which connects us and nurtures spiritual well-being. The finalised film is still in production, with release expected early 2017. For more information contact thegatheringtree@outlook.com
Williams, Florence, (2017) ‘The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier and more Creative’. Norton & Company,
Resources
Can trees Heal TED Ideas https://ideas.ted.com/can-trees-heal-people/
Green Gym https://healingforest.org/2020/10/21/forest-bathing-secrets/
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/news/2021/10/04/04/35/connecting-to-the-medicine-of-the-forest
Forest Medicine: Imagine a new medical science that could let you know how to be more active, more relaxed and healthier with reduced stress and reduced risk of lifestyle-related disease and cancer by visiting forests. This new medical science is called forest medicine. Forest medicine encompasses the effects of forest environments on human health and is a new interdisciplinary science, belonging to the categories of alternative medicine, environmental medicine and preventive medicine. This book presents up-to-date findings in forest medicine to show the beneficial effects of forest environments on human health.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287188914_What_is_forest_medicine
