Nature Therapy | Going Outside to Heal Inside

Barefoot Bathing and Earthing

The groundbreaking benefits behind your barefoot summer

Ah, summer—the season of barbecues, long weekends and holidays. A time of year when many of us just like to kick off our shoes and relax a little more.

This is where earthing comes in. Earthing is the practice of spending time in direct contact with the Earth, and research shows that it has a broad range of physical and mental health benefits.

If you’re looking for a simple way to improve your health and wellbeing this summer, give earthing a try!

What is earthing?
Earthing, or grounding, is the simple act of making contact with the earth. It’s as easy as taking your shoes and socks off and walking outside barefoot.

Earthing has been around for centuries, but was only recently studied and given a name by Clint Ober, an electrical engineer who became invested in the topic after he was diagnosed with major health issues.

Since then, earthing has been shown to have a number of benefits not just for physical but for mental health too. It helps to relieve stress and anxiety, improve sleep, reduce inflammation and pain, and even boost energy levels.

There are a few ways to earth yourself, depending on where you are. If you’re at home, you can go outside and walk around in your back garden or nearby park. If you’re at work, you can take a quick break to go outside and perhaps lay down on the grass. And if you’re on holiday or travelling, you can find hill, dune or beach to walk barefoot on.

The science behind earthing
Earthing is the practise of being in direct contact with the earth’s surface. This can be done by walking outside barefoot, sitting or lying on the ground, or swimming in natural bodies of water.

There is a lot of science that supports earthing and its many benefits. When you’re connected to the earth, your body is able to absorb all of the beneficial electrons that are swirling around us. These electrons have been shown to promote physical and mental wellbeing. It changes the contrary positive charge we absorb from our electrical living. Swapping it for the earth’s natural charge which enriches and enliven our biology.

One study found that grounding for just fifteen minutes was able to decrease cortisol levels (the stress hormone) by 31%. It also resulted in a decrease in anxiety and negative thoughts. So if you’re looking for a way to distress this summer, earthing might be the answer for you!

What are the benefits of earthing?
There are countless benefits to earthing, both physically and mentally.

Physically, earthing helps to release tension in the body, improve sleep, reduce inflammation, and boost your immune system. It can also help to reduce pain and speed up the healing process.

Mentally, earthing can help to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It can also help to improve focus and concentration, and increase feelings of calm and well-being.

Earthing during the summer
When it comes to summer, nothing feels better than kicking off your shoes

and feeling the grass, sand, or even tiles beneath your feet. For earthing enthusiasts, this is the best time of year because you can enjoy all the benefits of being grounded outdoors!

There are a few things you can do to make grounding more enjoyable and relaxing. First, find a spot outside that has a nice view. This will help you relax and enjoy the experience. Secondly, make sure to wear light and comfortable clothing so you can move around easily. Lastly, take time to really focus on the sensations you feel when you’re grounding. Notice the textures, temperatures, and smells around you. This will help you connect more with your surroundings and reap the full benefits of earthing.

What to expect when you start earthing
When you start earthing, you might experience a sense of calm and grounding. This is because, when you connect with the earth, you’re absorbing negative ions, which can help to improve your mood and mental wellbeing. Some people also report improved sleep and reduced anxiety when they start earthing, as well as a general sense of good health.

From reducing anxiety to boosting energy levels, earthing or grounding can help you feel your best during the summer months. By kicking off your shoes and connecting with the earth, you can enjoy all the benefits of earthing in just a few minutes. So why not give it a try?

…and not just in the Summer!

The original Natural EMDR

EMDR’s roots are originally based in Nature. First what is EMDR? It stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing and by reputation known as a proven, effective therapy for trauma. Originating in the late 80’s by Francine Shapiro PhD, who observed the simple fact that she always felt better after a walk .. but.. as a scientist she took it to another level, dissecting the observation to find out exactly why!

On examination she realised that key to that, feeling-better-feeling lay in the eyes, in particular their movements. It was observed when the eye movement was reenacted clinically that there was a decrease in the experience of negative emotions. To be exact, there was a reduction in the anxiety or feeling felt around a situation. Not eliminating but desensitising the feeling – especially in relation to trauma – helping distance, fade and in time have less effect on the recipient’s life. When she experimented specific movements in the eyes Dr Shapiro found that their movements alone did not fully reduce the trauma or upset. With trial and ultimately success she added a cognitive component, resulting in the well regarded standard we now know as Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. EMDR is about stopping the power of the trigger with the consequent effect that occurs for many, getting lost in the trauma or upset. It’s about being able to move on.

As a Nature Therapist – indeed as anyone who goes for a walk in nature, be it a park or somewhere more rural, the simple feel good factor is something we know instinctively. But the modern world has stresses and strains and the people therein have histories that need a bit more than a simple walk to clear your head.

Going for a walk of course helps not just our health but also our mental wellbeing, however working with anxiety and specific traumas needs a little deeper work just as it does in a clinical setting. The main component with Natural EMDR is that you are layering all that there is outside into a session. This increases the effectiveness of Walk and Talk therapy as well as further empowering the client to be able to use their own walks in nature to support the reduction in the presenting trauma and or anxiety.

The Science
We know from understanding ancestral health that the body has a natural inclination to heal itself, like a wound forming a scab. Nature Sense Therapists have an understanding how our brain works and know that traumatic memories can get stuck in the limbic system – our reptilian brain. Not so much a healing centre but a reactive one, hence keeping your memory in a distressed state. When our sensory memory is engaged in a bilateral stimulation (as with Natural EMDR) our memory moves from flight or fight arousal to another part of the brain that’s able to deal with it. The emotional distress is moved to a place where control and ease in managing the emotion passes without triggering the past anxiety.

How it works with Nature Sense
We take the modern understanding and proven effectiveness of bilateral stimulation -outside, we take it home. Through walking, climbing, running – any movement, watching the birds, the clouds even. We have the modern understanding about eye movement and the how this actually works on issues aligned with the millennia of knowledge before the analysis proved it. Natural EMDR is also combined with further modern clinical acknowledgments of pre modern era wisdom such as forest bathing, breathing, image work. Integrating actual body movement along with parasympathetic breathing you have an effective foundation for desensitising and helping people to move on effectively, but as nature intended.

With Nature Sense we go back to the origin of EMDR, indeed long before. Stepping back into Nature to help you through your anxiety, through it’s origin – through movement outside. It’s gentler, it’s more congruent – it’s change is profound.

To understand more or book an appointment contact – Fiona, Nature sense Director here.

To train as a Natural EMDR therapist you must be a qualified therapist and have done the foundational Nature Sense training here.

Stone age men didn’t take Supplements

The wisdom of our ancestors certainly is an important measure to optimising our biology but there’s nothing wrong with taking a closer look at how they lived to see what was going on and if it could work for us. To harness their natural wisdom, to supplement a stronger shield against today’s tough living.

However the assumption that previous generations didn’t take supplements is actually not true. Ancient supplements include root, stem, and leaf teas targeted for specific symptoms, medicinal powders ground by mortar and pestles, and highly concentrated oil extracts. Just because these dietary extras don’t look like the capsules and oversized tubs of protein powders, doesn’t mean that they weren’t popping a bit extra of what made them feel good!

Further our ancestors didn’t have the antibacterial living that we experience. They consumed dirt, which we now know contains a wide range of beneficial minerals and probiotics along with good bacteria and viruses. So we’ve to make that up and top it up! Compounding our depletion are the methods that we use to cook, and consume food in the industrial world. These are also pretty different from those of our ancestors which has also contributed to the deficiency in our overall nutrient availability and absorption.

Take our food, generally these days we eat only animal muscle and discard the collagen-rich connective tissues. Previous generations – as recent as our grandparents – simmered animal carcasses for hours, for bone broth, liberating collagen, gelatine, and fat-soluble vitamins from connective tissues. In a way, the soups our ancestors consumed are equivalent to the joint supplements that proudly line the wellness and sports shelves of our health food shops.

To learn more about ancestral nutrition maybe ask your parents what foods their parents or grandparents prepared. Reflect a while about how indigenous tribes can carry water on their head for miles – where some of us in our twenties are too busy balancing the latest charcoal latte complete with a plastic lid – to consider where these notions or needs – came from.

So yes our Stone Age relatives did supplement and Yes we can learn from them! In this modern world the key is to eat simple, eat variety and dump the junk. And supplement? Why not! Perhaps in addition reflect on your curcumin or charcoal latties and ask ‘would my ancient biology like this’ and if so what’s the nutritious story behind it? Because there is one. It makes Nature Sense!

What is Health Optimisation in the 2020’s?

A Historical Look at Health : What can we learn from Paleo Times?

People are always surprised to hear that we as a species are not at our peak! We have this sense that we’re advancing, that we improve with every year. But is this really the case?

From digs to studies it’s been shown that paleolithic humans were taller, more keenly in touch with their senses and showed no sign of disease such as we have today. Their main threat outside of childbirth was from other animals – and each other! But certainly not their own biology as is the case today. Death then was from outside – now death is from inside – predominately the exponentially rising chronic illnesses of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, brain disorders, inflammations all generating from within. Even the current much reported ‘pandemic’ – the overwhelming majority of deaths are occurring due to a reduced internal immunity and secondarily illness.

So is this a key to our health? Our species, classified as Homo Sapiens (meaning wise humans) are the most recent in a line of hominids who’s history stretches back into what’s referred to as the Paleolithic or the prehistoric period which dates around 2.5 million years to about 10,000 years ago.

Post primate evolution we were preceded and at times shared the planet with a number of now-extinct hominin relatives, including Homo Erectus, Neanderthals and Denisovans. Many of whom – as species lived for hundreds of thousands of years – very much longer than we sapiens have yet to achieve. We are the last surviving human species.

Putting this into context – it may feel like we’ve been around creating huge volumes of historical achievement forever, but everything we know has just covered 10,000 years! As if pre-history means no-history, implying there’s nothing for us to learn. Is this right?

It was around 10,000 years ago that our species changed from being hunter gatherers. At that time we lived with the light and slept to the dying embers of fire.

Our diet was obtained by fishing, hunting birds and wild animals as well as collecting berries, fruit and nuts. We were surrounded by a world of plenty living for the most part, in harmony with our surrounds, with Nature. We were at the peak of our Nature Sense.

This most harmonious of times for our species also marks a point in history when we biologically started to disconnect – to devolve. It was when we started to get sick: Our teeth rotting, our skeleton shrinking and chronic disease showing up in our skeletal remains, never seen in previous finds. Despite the great PR that farming receives in our evolution, this marks a decline in not just our biology, but also life for many other animals. We started to domesticate (not just them but also women where their role became dependant and owned as much as the animals!) This sedentary shift ironically brought with it a much harsher life, with less variety in food and more vulnerable to weather as well as a much challenging life of planting, harvesting and building. Bringing us to now where we value any invention that stops us moving and increases our sitting! We are en rout – unless we become aware of our hubris – to be the shortest living of the hominoid species. So much for the ‘wise’ human!

Of course there is no denying the incredible advances in surgery and some medical discoveries but only time will tell if the big pharmacological advances are as beneficial as we believe. After all the medical establishment is the third biggest killer in America with the rest of the west not far behind. We hail antibiotics as remarkable – without question, in many applications they are – but they may ultimately be useless as we are increasingly suffering auto immune diseases. Much of this rising tide of illness is due to our lack of understanding of the importance of viruses and bacteria and the stark fact that we are actually made up of over 50 percent virus and bacteria. To kill them, kills us, kills our innate immunity.

Our overuse and reliance on many of our man made chemicals, the whole way up the food chain from farming to ‘health’ and with it an increasing philosophy of a one shot cure for everything is leading to a Homo Helpless. This idea that the GP’s bible of medicine is somehow more advanced than finding a cause, than living optimally – ignoring our innate natural health – is making this generation the first to die younger and sicker than their parents at any time in history! And now stepping into 2021 we’re set to be even sicker from our increased inside living and screen addictions.

We do not need to be reminded with the world health crisis how elements such as virus and bacteria are so much stronger than we are. Perhaps trying to eliminate the building blocks of all life will seem in time, as backward as we perceive humans who knew nothing of taming fire.

So to close, what’s the solution as obviously our earth is no longer the earth of 10,000 years ago? Awarness and acknowledging there is a challenge is the first step. That we have become misaligned with what our biology needs to thrive a real need to be recognised. Allowing ourselves to consider ‘How do we live well when our lifestyle is predominately sedentary, that our life having jumped from being 90%outdoors to now more than 90% indoors!’ The first is to admit we have a challenge.

But Human’s have survived – and we do rise and thrive in challenge. Let’s acknowledge and then Act.

Realising that we are part of nature, that being apart does not serve us. That learning to live in harmony not just with nature, but our tech. Health optimisation recognises that we need to be in sync; encouraging earthing, healthy living, eating with the seasons, dumping the junk. It’s also about recognising that our good food has depleted nutrients so sometimes supplimentation is needed. That filtering water to eliminate fluroide and chlorine to nurture our guts is important. That many medicines are not the best solution and a recognition that so called alternative medicines are a good first call in many cases. That the simple things are actually the easy way to start. Walking in a park, Forest Bathing, talking with friends, learning to cook so that you can buy organic and make it last. Paleo or Primal eating. Growing veg, not using pesticides in your garden, turning your phone off at night, reading books, chucking hours of social, upping your vitamin intake, stop wearing SPF all the time, bringing in mindfulness, turning off mainstream news, learning how to breath deeply… there is so much that this is just the start of even more information that you can find here.

Choose just one, heal yourself – It’s just Nature Sense.

Nature Sense is about connecting with a reality that makes you feel alive.

Why does Freshly cut Grass Smell so Good?

Mmmmm it’s like that smell transports us. With winter getting closer, the parks are getting their last manicure until Spring. So let’s get under the hood of that lawnmower!

How is it, that a feel-good can come with just an inhale of something so seemingly simple, triggering places real and imagined, big bales of hay, sunny riverbanks or parks where we played – it’s a sense of carefree.

Plants have been around much longer than us. We think they’re not so smart, but they’ve got much more going on than we previously gave them credit for. The smells of plants are a language. Predominately for each other but also for the insects that evolved along side them. For instance this wonder whiff that we are so drawn, is a straight up a grass warning to other grass that they’re about to get their heads chopped off! The grass in reaction is triggered to pull it’s nutrients deeper in order to save it’s food supply and in time regrow.

Insect messages from the plants have different scents for other challenges. For instance, to get rid of an enemy that is eating them. Here a sent signals out luring in other insects to eat the insects that are munching on them! But what about us? Well that fresh smell which is often simply called green odor, (or GVL for those who want to rabbit hole) has a psychological effect, not just for us but for our genetic relatives, the apes. This green odor – a complex mixture of chemicals – triggers parts of our brain that can heal our stress and even reduce pain. When mixed up in a different way it can also send a lure that we really love that says ‘come get me’ I’m ripe! But for them it’s actually saying ‘come spread my seeds’! They have us at their mercy! Think the smell of oranges, lemons or apples when you cut into their juicy offerings. Another hook so that we return to them is that breathing in the smells actually helps uplift and reduce depression.

However, our plant friends don’t like to give everything at once to the scientists. The scent of freshly cut grass also triggers something called the Proust Effect, where with a little inhale of it’s green magic, positive memories come to mind and lots of feel good. We have yet to understand this fully, but until then we can just enjoy the bouquet.

why the smell of freshly cut grass makes you feel great

Nature Sense is about ‘going outside to feel good inside’ – naturally. About finding something every day to feel positive about, something for many that stands in stark contrast to a tablet that numbs you from feeling at all. Now, with an understanding perhaps when you hear that distant burr of the lawn mower you know that as the noise subsides that the ‘whispering grass’ are sending us their secret gift of feel-good at a time we may most need it!

Natural biohacking tip: Try walking bare foot in the freshly cut grass, the extra moisture will enhance your earthing, which reduces inflammation within the body. If you can stand or sit amongst the grass and breathe deeply with your mouth closed, your nasal receptors can take in all the benefits. Face the light and relax, enjoy that last wiff before the winter sleeps set in.

Walk and Talk Therapy

Going outside is a proven feel good. Uncomplicated and forgiving.

What is Walking Therapy? It’s therapy outside. I often sit with my clients on a big tree trunk, shaded by a canopy of leaves. Other times we just walk around the park and depending on the time of the year can grab a few blackberries on the way. Therapy outside is all about you, but it’s making you feel better through talking, but also walking in a positive surrounding. It helps with perspective so often and provides you with an introduction to doing the same, going for a walk – without your therapist.

So what’s behind it all? Research from all over the world is showing that people who spend quality time in green space have fewer health complaints and live longer and that the green space itself is a stress buffer, helping people cope better with life’s adversity. Other studies have found that invisible chemicals (called phytoncides) in some trees can reduce stress hormones, lower anxiety and improve blood pressure and immunity. It can also help us sleep deeper and actively help us to ‘sleep ourselves well’.

We all know instinctively that being outdoors provides us with the benefits of getting natural sunlight, which comes in the form of much needed vitamin D. What we may not know is that being outdoors in the sunshine provides our system with a natural stabilisation of hormones especially melatonin levels – a super healer and regulated of our system. Unfortunately melatonin is what is destroyed when you spend a lot of time with the screen.

Taking of Tech, studies have shown that screen time is associated with increased fatigue, depression, anxiety, ADHD in children, and poor concentration. Enter the Japanese researchers, who have found that people who lived closer to or near forests had significantly lower rates of lung, breast, uterine, prostate, kidney, and colon cancers. The health improvements of walking in forests has even led them to open Forest Hospitals with astonishing recovery for the patients even needing less medication! So wouldn’t it make sense to want a little of that?

What happens if you’re based in a city like London – not exactly the amazon. Good news nature benefits us even if it comes in little urban pockets. In fact in the city there’s even a greater need to connect outside and outside yourself. Walking, Talking – you feel not just good – but double good.

If you don’t have a park, it can be a river or the coast. Walking and talking is beneficial, but do make sure you’re therapist has trained for walking and talking therapy and that they’re insured to do so.

Feedback: I felt so much better after having met with Fiona outside as opposed to the usual therapy rooms. ( I was even able to take my dog !) It was empowering.

Another client combined both online and being in the park by talking to me on his phone, while I too was outside, he said, “It was such a great session, refreshing and afterwards I was really able to process surrounded by the trees and flowers in the park”.

Finally: I loved my session outside, it was so relaxed and easier to talk there. We sat in the shade on a really warm day, drinking water and chatting. I felt really hopeful afterwards.

Book in for a complimentary chat or walk and talk appointment here

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Note: If you’re a therapist or coach and would like to learn how to integrate walking and talking into your practice we hold training sessions – ( outside, not online ) during the months of May-September. More here.

Ancestral Health: Why is it important

The future is here: self-driving cars, virtual assistants, and groundbreaking medical technologies—along with stubbornly high and growing rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders, allergies, asthma …

We’re living in a time of incredible innovation and advancement, yet we’re sicker and more overweight than ever before. Chronic disease has reached epidemic levels, and modern medicine can’t seem to halt its progression.
Our disease has essentially moved from outside of us – infectious diseases, to now coming from inside – chronic disease and it’s killing more of us than every before.

By following the blueprint for healthy living that our hunter–gatherer ancestors laid out for us so long ago, we can help stave off the long list of uniquely modern chronic conditions, stay naturally lean and fit, and age gracefully.

Chronic disease may be our “new normal,” but it definitely isn’t our “normal normal.”

Paleontological and archaeological findings have gathered much evidence about our ancient’s health, but perhaps the best argument for us being mindful of this health is the fact that remaining hunter–gatherer societies—who live as closely as possible to the way our Paleolithic ancestors did hundreds of thousands of years ago—don’t generally suffer from the most common chronic conditions. For instance Type 2 diabetes is so rare among these and other contemporary hunter–gatherer populations that few reports looking into its prevalence even exist.

Mismatch: Why our Health Is so Different from our Ancestors’ Health

So what happened? How did the majority of us go from being naturally inclined toward health to being seemingly guaranteed at least one debilitating diagnosis in a lifetime?

In a word: mismatch—between our blueprint for living – our genes, physiology and biology on the one hand and the modern environment we’re living in on the other.

All organisms are adapted to survive and thrive in a particular environment. When that environment changes faster than the organism can adapt, mismatch occurs.

Our environment is almost unrecognizable from that of our ancestors, and we aren’t eating, moving, or resting like the hunter–gatherers that we still are, biologically. We know from hard evidence that this mismatch—pitting environment against biology—is the primary driver of chronic disease.

Some of the starkest examples of this include studies and observations of existing 21st century hunter–gatherers reporting that when they leave their villages and trade their traditional ways for a Western lifestyle, they develop diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular complications.

Our hunter–gatherer ancestors provided us with a blueprint for healthy living.

Eat Real, Nourishing, High-Quality Foods

The fastest way to recover your natural health is to return to a way of eating and living that more closely matches what your genes and biology are designed for. We know, without a doubt, that hunter–gatherers did not consume refined sugar, flour, and seed oils, (or what is referred to as “the three horsemen of the apocalypse”) because they promote overeating and inflammation, which is at the root of all modern disease. The introduction of industrial food processing has had the most detrimental effect on our health of any other factor in the last few hundred years—and possibly in the entire history of humankind.

Move

Movement played a major role in daily life for hunter–gatherers. After all, they spent the majority of their time, well, hunting and gathering. They had to exert themselves, and often quite strenuously, to survive: our ancestors sprinted, jogged, climbed, carried, and jumped intermittently throughout the day, on top of walking an average of six miles and running one-half to one mile per day.

In other words, they didn’t sit all day like so many of us do. We spend endless hours working at computers, watching TV, and commuting by car. In fact, the typical city dweller is now sedentary for about 60 percent of his or her waking life and sits for an average of six or seven hours every day. Sitting has been called the new smoking, and for good reason: it’s linked to heart disease, insulin resistance, cancer, and the list goes on. What’s more, research has found these same negative health outcomes in those who exercise but still spend the majority of their day seated.

Sleep More

Conjure up an image of a hunter–gatherer, is he or she lounging lazily on a sofa? Although they were almost always on the move, these people relaxed, too. Our ancestors alternated strenuous and demanding days of physical activity with days of rest, an instinctual response that protected them from injury and fatigue.

Our modern lifestyle is a stark mismatch in this regard. We live in a culture that values productivity and activity above all else and is almost scornful of rest and relaxation. “Resting” for many people means browsing the internet or engaging with some other kind of sleep-sapping, artificial light-emitting electronic device that is anything but restful for the brain and the body. We’ve not only forgotten the value of rest—we’ve forgotten how to do it.

Sleep soundly, and for seven to eight hours a night. You can’t be healthy without adequate sleep.

Stress Less

Our ancestors experienced stress when fleeing a predator or out on a hunt. But, they punctuated these stressful times with moments of calm. We simply aren’t built for chronic stress, as evidenced by the immense amount of research illustrating that it wreaks total havoc on our bodies.

There’s no way to completely remove stress from your life, but you can avoid unnecessary stress by learning to say no to projects or commitments you can’t handle, staying away from people who get your blood boiling, and turning off the news (or at least limiting your exposure to it), as examples. To mitigate the harmful effects of the stressors you can’t avoid, try relaxation practices and techniques such as walking in nature, yoga, and calm breathing.

Prioritise pleasure. Dance, sing, listen to music. Be social, play with your pets, laugh with friends, love your family and spend time outdoors. Eat local and sleep.

Adapted by NatureSense from
Chris Kresser, M.S

Nature Therapy: A Medical Perspective

Nature therapy is an, evidence-based field in medicine. It is defined as “the prescriptive, evidence-based use of natural settings and nature-based interventions”. Simply put, it’s about using nature to help us heal—and using scientific data to find those green prescriptions.

©John La Puma. Alternative and Complementary Therapies. Apr2019

When people think of nature therapy, they might think of it a simple call to “go outside more.” But the truth is there’s so much more to nature therapy than that. There are so many sub-disciplines within nature therapy that show the diverse range within the field: adventure therapy, animal-assisted or pet therapy, blue care, care farms, ecotherapy, forest bathing, green exercise, nature meditation, therapeutic horticulture, wilderness immersion, and more.

Because nature therapy is such a wide umbrella, the existing research in nature therapy and green medicine comes from all over the map, spanning disparate fields such as horticulture, interior design, architecture, forestry, wildlife management, auditory and color science, and herbal and botanical medicine. This interdisciplinary approach brings a huge amount of dimension and variety to the field.

In contrast to the US, Nature therapy is much more advanced in the UK, Australia, Japan, Korea, and much of northern and central Europe. Nature therapy is much more expansive, varied, and far-reaching than some might have originally perceived it to be.

Why do we need it?
There are innumerable (and scientifically documented!) ways that nature therapy is beneficial for our health.
Here’s one salient example: studies have shown that walking in natural settings, like a forest or park, has been linked to improved short-term memory, concentration, cortisol levels, natural killer cell number and activity, heart rate and blood pressure. Exercising in nature—in sight of and preferably near water or greenery—is more effective and therapeutic (not to mention less expensive!) than exercising indoors.

A recent Stanford study of nature therapy showed significantly reduced rumination after a 90-minute walk in nature compared to a 90-minute walk through an urban environment. In this same study, those who walked through nature for 30 minutes a day reported a decrease in negative thinking. Magnetic resonance imaging showed that the nature walkers had lower activity in an area of the brain linked to risk for mental illness compared to urban walkers.

Rumination, which is little discussed, but often searched for, is commonly seen in people with anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder. So by simply switching your morning run from a treadmill to your local park, you can multiply and diversify the kinds of benefits you’re getting, both physical and mental.
There are so many people with a wide variety of medical conditions who would benefit from nature therapy. People with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, insomnia, hypertension, and myopia have specifically been shown to benefit from time spent outside. The research continues to emerge in this area, showing benefits for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: nature therapy has impacted improved postoperative recovery, birth outcomes, and pain control for patients; studies of community gardening have shown reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin in people with diabetes with no intervention other than growing vegetables; and gardeners have been shown to be less likely to develop dementia than non-gardeners.

How Nature Therapy can be undertaken?
Nature therapy’s mission is to prevent and improve various symptoms, clinical conditions, and general well-being for patients, and the field is dedicated to making these kinds of tools available to every family—regardless of their proximity to blue or green space. One of the most amazing things we’re learning from this research is that there are ways to get the health benefits from nature without actually immersing yourself in it, or exercising in it (although both are really fun!).

Whether it’s out of fear or lack of access, some people can’t get to the great outdoors—but bringing the great outdoors to them can have huge impacts. Even just putting up a poster of nature or looking out a window onto nature provides quantifiable health benefits. A pioneering study by psychologist Roger Ulrich studied patients with a view of a window and those without. Among 23 of the matched post-op patients, the ones with a view of nature from their bed had fewer complications, needed less medication, and left the hospital sooner compared to those staring at a brick wall.
Another way to get a dose of nature therapy from inside is to cultivate and care for your houseplants. And many of us have built-in animal therapy at home in the form of our beloved pets. So if you water your indoor plants and regularly cuddle with your cat or dog: guess what? You’re already engaging in nature therapy without even knowing it.

Why now?
So many forces are converging to give rise to the field of nature therapy, one of which is the personal, social, environmental, and financial consequences of the disconnection from nature that so many people are feeling these days. Both climate change and its accelerated pace, as well as to our relationship with technology, contribute to this growing disconnection.
Climate change affects more than just the climate; our obsession with personal technology contributes to our disconnection from nature; U.S. adults look at screens for 11 hours daily on average. These days, people stay inside nearly 22 hours a day; so many of us have little familiarity with nature and, even worse, are actually fearful of it and unsure how to adapt to it.

If we realise that the dual forces of global warming and overwork are separating us from our natural position as part of nature instead of apart from it, I believe we would be less likely to stand by and watch its plunder as it and we are threatened.

As extreme weather events become dizzyingly common, as the arctic shelf dwindles irrevocably, as politicians debate and argue over the Green New Deal, the question of how we can live differently for the health of our planet, our communities and ourselves is in the forefront of everyone’s mind. Nature therapy is just one answer to that question, empowering us to take ownership of healing ourselves—and perhaps, in the process, help heal each other.

Full Article Here

Discovering the most advanced computer on Earth

ancestral living nature sense spain and london

We’re mammals that lived 90% of our life outdoors. Now we’re over 90% indoors, “So what!” we shout from our Alexa managed, central heating life, while drinking a diet soda from our internet synced fridge.

I lived the dream. Wide open beaches, hanging with my family and friends watching the sunset. I went for three months – came back after 7 years! On returning, most people didn’t focus on why I went away or what it was like. It was always why did you come back?

Was it a gut instinct. Or perhaps just that seven year cycle of change. Who knows for sure but coming back was, I thought, the end of my practice – Nature Sense, but it was only just the beginning.

Life there was pretty good. On driving back home to my small fishing village, the continent and mountains of Africa to my right would rise and the grounded expanse of the beach lay in front to welcome. It was away from the more formal setting of my clinic in Gibraltar that I developed NatureSense. I’d see my clients – in the hills or on the beach.

Nature is just laden with metaphor where interpretation is oftentimes just not necessary. Change for many just happened – and for many it was easier. Plus there was just a connection to something greater. When you sit on a sand dune with the Mediterranean to one side and the Atlantic gazing out across the strait – knowing that in times past there happened the world’s most amazing waterfall, bursting the banks of the ocean to create the sea. It’s then you know without words there’s a whole ton of stuff that’s so much bigger than you are. It shifts you. You actually realise what the word ‘awesome’ is and it’s a million miles from describing the latest Marvel comic release. It’s something you feel.

How did that fit into London? At first it didn’t – returning back seeing clients – I was working with a new puzzle. So much more anxiety than I’d been used to, so much more medicated depression and worse, loneliness with all the stresses. People I’d seen before leaving the city were stressed because of something identifiable. But here, now – it was like I had to become an Anxiety Whisperer – to decipher and explain that anxiety was a friend not a foe -that it was trying to deliver a message. But one that was getting blocked.

I was finding I had to get people to reacquaint themselves with themselves they’d been on anti depressants for so long that they didn’t really know how to react. I had to convince people that anxiety did have a reason. That it was OK to feel it not fear it.

It was hard – so I had to dig deeper into the story, I had to look into the darkness of the city to find out what on earth was making the experience of this wonderful city so hellish, for so many.

On one of my early morning walks with the dog -( my therapist!) – I realised that I was dealing with people who were quite simply not just disconnected from each other – but from their fundamentals. Sure they were having trouble with their rent, were going through break ups, wanted to talk at meetings but found it scary .. but the thread went deeper. They carried something with them – I first thought it was just being too busy, but that was not really fully the answer. Perhaps it was social media, again not really the answer and eventually I realised it was because they were disconnected from life. There was a wire disconnected in their plugged in world. With a fundamental missing they were working with only half the power. Resilience was missing, emotional intelligence neglected over academic pursuit, eating shit food, Netflicking their nights and weekends away but still being tired … and never ever going for a walk. A simply but fundamental to living well. Or to coin the phrase that is now so often used, but so little understood – wellbeing.

If it was as simple as going for a walk – wouldn’t we all do it. Well no! As it’s not so sexy, it’s way too old fashioned, and besides how advanced is walking? We have smart phones now, we’re totally dominating whatever is to be dominated. We have an app for everything so walking? Seriously!

I had to agree – so I knew I had to go deeper. And that’s how I discovered the most advanced biological computer – us – and how to hack it.

NEXT
Shining a light on our mood

Why Going Outside is Good for You

Time outdoors can do wonders for our mental health, but we often neglect to fit it into our day. Green therapy helps us to feel connected and embrace uncertainty, says positive psychologist and therapist Fiona Austin

Eco therapy, Green therapy, Biophilia… there are so many words to describe the oldest therapy in existence.

With the increase of technology in our lives and the exponential surge in pace, it is no mystery that there’s a corresponding acceleration in anxiety and depression. Bizarrely many are looking away from the obvious natural solution to balance this: Prescribing on one hand even more technology, in the form of apps and CBT bots and on the other hand, even more medication. In reality a complementary answer lies on our doorstep. Simply being outside. This is not new, there’s more supportive data on the efficacy of going outside for health, than we know what to do with.

It used to be that a child that was different was one one that stayed in doors, while the others played outside. Now it’s the other way around. In the past, on weekends many of our parents made room for a walk. Now, it seems people have lost the art of a healthy use of free time. The pursuit of joy is dying with the attention demands of a plugged in life. People opting to just veg and box binge. The fact is, is when we experience a challenge, a change of scenery or pace we become exhilarated and that effort results in positive energy. Sofa surfing drains us, but just walking by the water can be energising! We’re growing apart from what balances us naturally.

As a specialist in anxiety, many people that I see suffer from an undefined hum of dis-ease, stopping them going out or being socially present, or worse just not following their desires. Then follows a type of depression or hopelessness. In my therapeutic programme called Nature Sense – my clients explore a gentle way to reduce their stress, their issues. It’s essentially about developing our innate common sense, the sense that has never let us down and got us through many a millennia to where we are now.

Has nature become an inconvenient place where there’s nowhere to charge our phone? I’m no luddite, but personal technology seems a bit like alcohol, a little can be nice but too much and then we’re in an abyss. There’s a notion that squashing our natural side, our flow is better because we believe, to be in control of nature makes us somehow stronger. Prescriptions that include experiencing nature through a VR headset along with a vitamin D supplement is touted as better than actually smelling and feeling it. But it’s Vitamin N for Nature that we need.

Just because we think we can control the environment doesn’t mean that solution is more effective. On the contrary, it’s the unpredictability of nature that increases our confidence. It’s the patterns that shadows cast that trigger our creativity. It’s the wonder of the smells and sights that take us from our problems, into the moment where we meditate without even knowing how. We’re mindful and suddenly we’re happier.

One of the things I do with my clients in our Walk and Talk sessions is just walking randomly. We don’t stay on a path, we explore – and this is in central London, not some big forest. Simply the metaphor of going off the path can be harnessed to leading into exploring your dreams of what you’d like for your life, if you strayed off the path. Possibilities seem more tangible when you work outside.

It’s been reported to me by clients that normally when they see a therapist, there’s at times a silence but when this silence happens in a walk and talk session, it’s accompanied by the sound of birds, the rustle of trees – they’ve said “it feels easier”. “It’s a gentler therapy, more powerful.”

Of course there’s screentime – we clutch on to our phones in social situations blocking us from connecting. With nature therapy it’s phone down face up. It’s teaching you to connect with confidence and know that the answer to your life is not within the phone, but within the ability to give yourself space to think. It’s mindfulness without the app!

It’s not just my clients, I also teach therapists and coaches irrespective of their school of thought or background. Teaching other therapists is important in a bigger sense too. If we don’t value being outside, who’s going to save it for us. We are the stewards of this fragile earth. It’s important we show how valuable being outside is otherwise the green spaces we have around us, will just turn into car parks. So I teach therapists how to safely and responsibly harness the power of the outside for their clients and for us all.

It doesn’t matter if you’re in a city, the countryside or by the sea, client or therapist – learning to bring the outside within – to heal – is the most wonderful gift. It’s about going outside to heal inside.

After all, the the first lady of therapy is Mother Nature herself, it’s time we let her guide us!

This article originally appeared in Welldoing.org

Fiona Austin is the lead therapist in BMCC: Body Mind Therapy Practice. Where mental health is something that’s integral to your lifestyle.

Channelling our inner Squirrel ?

Seasonal affective disorder nature Sense

.. or are you more a bear?

Understanding SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder.

With the nights getting longer, some of us are truly affected. Understanding that this is just our inner mammal getting ready for hibernation can go a long way to turning around what is for some an extremely debilitating feeling.

It’s a fact that when summer is behind us and autumn rolls in, GP’s start to get themselves ready for the increase in seasonal blues at their surgery. Correspondingly, in the office, managers and HR departments receive an increase in sick notes with the nebulous ‘low mood’ listed as the reason for absence. In medical literature this is known as SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Symptoms of what is medically classified as a mild to moderate depression do include feeling sad but also can include a general lowered mood, anxiety, lethargy, social withdrawal, decreased libido, increased appetite and at its darkest, literally and figuratively, hopelessness.

There’s a widespread misunderstanding that simply clinically observing a sequence of patterns is sufficient enough to conclude there is “something wrong with us”. Then with our feelings named into a disorder, we oftentimes take ourselves off to the GP, who due to time, resources, process never mind a lack of psychological and dietary training – often resort to medication. Increasingly for talk therapists we see people prescribed antidepressants who don’t realise that once you get on that train, there’s no easy way to step off. Antidepressants themselves are definitely not seasonal!

When we understand that our seasonal reaction is normal, our anxiety can dissipate. This in turn can open the door to us using this time for – not just our mental and physical improvement – but also our productivity. Knowing these patterns are actually quite normal and may not need medicating, but just self awareness and informed understanding, can really help.

It’s important before we all press through that shinny foil for perceived winter happiness that we consider a number of aspects. First and in its basic form, we need to both deal with and accept that summers end and that can feel pretty grim in itself. It’s OK to feel this, but better to understand the feeling and give it a more appropriate name. Recharge could be one. Taking a more business perspective it could be considered a good time to capitalise, yes, put our heads down but instead to be more productive while it’s there! Building on this is the inescapable fact that we are actually still mammals, (maybe if a squirrel doesn’t fit your style, what about a bear!) This decrease in our upbeat flip-flop feeling is evolutionarily appropriate. In the not so distant past, winter was a time that food was scarce, the days shorter and colder, so a little extra cosy in the cave feeling, was appropriate. Electric lights and falsely longer days have had a deleterious effect on us. Our body’s evolution took millions of years, relatively new inventions do not mean we have fully physiologically adapted. Hence our body influencing our feelings.

Obviously there are people with SAD that are actually much more than just sad and who are deeply affected. First thing to check – and is normally not part of a doctor’s remit – is our Vitamin D. This is especially relevant to people of colour where Vitamin D insufficiency is more prevalent due to the differing melanin absorption. That said, the more pasty of us do also need this this sunlight boost so as to metabolise effectively and for our cells to function. Light it is said by many is as important as food! This brings us to diet. In the summer, we’re not just outside more but we’re also eating in a different manner. Diet must be considered but again is not part of a doctor’s main training. Let’s just say, takeaway pizza with a side of doughnuts washed down with a coke are not really going to help with your mood. Our nutritional considerations are closely followed by the big one – exercise. Our body including our organs were not designed to be placed quite so much on the softest purchase from Sofaland or propped up in the latest ergonomic chair. It’s all still sitting! We need to get up more. Thankfully, unlike in the US, British and European doctors ‘prescribe’ exercise as a first-line treatment for depression. So get out there! (Even squirrels leave their tree in winter.) Apart from the benefits of movement in itself, exercise positively impacts dopamine and serotonin. The very same chemicals that antidepressants aim to manage. There are innumerable studies that detail regular aerobic exercise is as effective as antidepressants in reducing symptoms of mild to moderate depression. Unfortunately traditional psychiatry lags far behind psychotherapists and health coaches in terms of treatment considerations, preferring medication prior to talking! Not a way forward. Talk therapy is by far the most beneficial route for seasonal blues and may need a minimal of visits to reframe ‘low mood’. Further, if coupled with any of the above insights correctly applied, can make a world of long lasting difference.

Alas, popping a pill and watching Netflix, seems so much more inviting to many! We must realise that the impact of taking antidepressants along with staying indoors even more, is simply not a way forward for our health and longevity. There’s so much you can do before medicating away the winter. We are programmed to have SAD – so let’s start calling it out for what it is as opposed to a named cluster of symptoms. What about squirrelling? Maybe not – but let’s at least talk about it and learn. There’s nothing wrong with having season blues. It is very well treated with talk therapy and can be the key to living an incredible winter, as opposed to one that disempowers.

 Fiona Austin is a positive psychologist and optimal health coach practicing in London, online and in the workplace.

Nature Therapy Recommended Reading

naturesense reading list for nature therapy and forest therapy

This is an ever expanding list.
Please do send me your favourite suggestions

Richard Louv
Last Child in the Woods
Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life,
The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age

Dr. Qing Li
Shinrin-Yoku: The art and Science of Forest-Bathing. How trees can help you find health and happiness.

James Nestor
Breath: A fascinating read into the history of Breathing. It’s described as “The New Science of a Lost Art”.

C.G. Arvay
The Biophilia Effect: A scientific and spiritual exploration of the healing bond between humans and nature.

Ober / Zucker
Earthing. Introducing you to tapping into the power of the earth, just by taking off your shoes!

Jorn Viumdal
Skogluft (Forest Air) The Norwegian Secret to Bringing the Right Plants Indoors to Improve Your Health and Happiness

Linda Buzzell
Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind

Theodore Roszak
Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth/Healing the Mind

Claire Cooper Marcus, Naomi Sachs
Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces

Wallace Nichols
Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do

John Ratey
Go Wild: Eat Fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-being

C.G.Jung
The Earth Has a Soul: C.G.Jung’s Writings on Nature, Technology and Modern Life

Eva Selhub, Alan Logan
Your Brain on Nature

Daniel Winterbottom, Amy Wagenfield
Therapeutic Gardens: Design for Healing Spaces

Peter Wohlleben
The Hidden Life of Trees

C Mc Dougall
Born to Run: The Hidden Tribe and Ultra Runners:
Great for the anthropology and how we were literally born to run. Barefooting it! You do not have to like running to find this not just a fascinating read but it’s fun at the same time!

UK charity ‘Mind’ on Ecotherapy

The groundbreaking benefits behind your barefoot summer

Adapted by NatureSense from Chris Kresser, M.S

Understanding SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder.

This is an ever expanding list. Please do send me your favourite suggestions

Adapted by NatureSense from
Chris Kresser, M.S

This is an ever expanding list.
Please do send me your favourite suggestions