One person’s cause of stress is not going to be the same for someone else, but feeling overwhelmed and demotivated are common signals indicating that time-out might be of considerable benefit to your wellbeing.
Now, by time-out I don’t mean a shopping trip, lunch with friends, or throwing yourself into training for an endurance race. I mean time-out to still the mind and the body, to allow the two to properly connect so that you can begin to understand how both are linked when it comes to experiencing stress.
Recognising not just ‘why’ in relation to stress, but alternative ways to deal with it, is key to be able to make small changes that can benefit your physical and mental health and wellbeing.
I recently shared a series of photos on Facebook of autumnal images taken while out on a walk, with a caption that began “While walking around a local lake, taking time to notice…”
I don’t have legions of ‘friends’ on Facebook but the number of ‘Likes’ that post received indicated that it really spoke to people who identified a need within them for ‘comfort’ through connection with nature.
The Biophilia hypothesis, proposed by Edward Wilson in 1984 suggests that there is an inbuilt pull that humans feel towards nature, because in evolutionary terms we have only recently moved away from nature chasing benefits urbanisation promised to provide.
Without wanting to make this a long post, outlining the history, cause and effect of mankind’s move away from the natural world, suffice to say that Biophilia has been widely written about by other authors since Wilson and there are many studies that appear to support the hypothesis.
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Nature connection is small doses has been shown to deliver wellbeing benefits that continue to be experienced for some time afterwards. Why not try it out for yourself on one of our wellbeing retreat sessions that are held once a month. Sessions last 3 hours with the objective of providing participants with group and individual activities to promote relaxation and nature connection. A simple vegetarian lunch is provided at the end of the session, to encourage people to enjoy some community time sharing food, fun and friendship.
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I certainly don’t believe that spending time connecting with nature is going to provide a cure-all for mental and/or physical health issues, but I do think that having facility for ‘bathing’ in nature can provide the catalyst for people to get back in touch with themselves through the immersion.
Nature connection activities can help provide focus that helps deliver feelings of relaxation, being able to ‘let go’ of tension and as someone once said on a feedback form “put my problems aside for a while, giving me time to relax and recover”.
Join us and discover wellbeing with nature benefits that may well improve your life experience.
