Wellbeing

Self help: how to harness the healing power of nature

Contemplating counselling? Connecting to the raw power of nature could be all the healing therapy you need, says Rebecca Hardy

Contemplating counselling? Connecting to the raw power of nature could be all the healing therapy you need, says Rebecca Hardy
When was the last time you spent time in nature? Was it yesterday, last week or last month? If it was a long time ago, think about how do you feel? Do you feel disconnected? Depressed? Maybe lacking in vitality?

It may sound strange but these are just the kind of questions that could come up if you went to see one of the UK’s growing number of ecotherapists, or eco-psychologists as theyare also known as. They call it many things – eco-anxiety, eco-paralysis – but ecotherapists work on the idea that there is a relationship between our attitude to nature and our health and wellbeing. In a nutshell, they say that as our planet suffers, so do we

As a closet tree-hugger who doesn’t get to spend the time outdoors that I’d like, I am intrigued. So, with a feeling of trepidation, I contacted psychotherapist John Dent (johnleighdent.com) to ask to take part in his one-to-one Nature Connection therapy.

We do the first session in his consulting room near Highgate, north London, and hit all the usual emotional notes of‘conventional’ psychotherapy, which, in my case, turns out to be mostly about unexpressed anger. But the next day we take the session outside. Gone are the walls, the couch, the requisite box of tissues. Instead there is blue sky, green leaves, the feeling of wind on my skin

“For some people it is too much to work outdoors,” says John later, who is also a Reichian body psychotherapist. “Some people really need the safe containment and the boundaries of the room and the walls; they might not be able to open up outside. But being outdoors is a more wild and dynamic environment. Anything can come in.”

It certainly turns out that way for me. It is a wild, windy day when we meet on Hampstead Heath, the rain lashing sporadically down. We walk through a wood until we find a spot I amd rawn to. The earth is damp and dark under my feet. An insect crawls out, with bright green gauzy wings. There’s a tree surrounded by nettles. I want to get to it but I can’t, because the brambles are in the way. “I feel you need to touch it,” says John. I fight my way through the brambles to clasp the tree.It seems momentous,strangely symbolic.“I started doing the outdoor sessions after a client asked,” says John. “At first I was reluctant. I thought:where are the boundaries?

“Gone are the walls,the couch,the requisite box of tissues .Instead there is blue sky, green leaves, the feeling of wind on my skin”

“I started doing the outdoor sessions after a client asked,” says John. “At first I was reluctant. I thought:where are the boundaries?But I had supervision around it, and gave it a try. I soon found out that it brought in a lot of scope and opened up the sessions. Safety and trust were big themes –so we lit a fire and had a session in the dark.”

Therapy outdoors may not be for everyone but it certainly works for me. I have seen shrinks before – fleetingly – but there is something about being outdoors that throws me headfirst into my emotional world. The journalist in me doesn’t want to succumb (“there’s a lot of withholding,” says John), but the overall experience is revitalising and bewildering,like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole,where nothing makes sense and yet everything does: an angry dog barking furiously at me for no reason, a tree surrounded by nettles that I want to get to but can’t, an unknown winged insect with huge antennae that both fascinates and repulses me. “I see working outdoors as a dream-scape,” says John. “Like stepping in to your unconscious. There are symbols, metaphors. It grounds you and gets you out of your head.”

Psychotherapist Michael Wilson(michaelwilson.uk.com), who runs ‘eco-psychology practice’ groups where people go off on their own in nature for two or more hours,agrees: “It is as if they are entering into a symbolic world. They may be drawn to something; a bird or a tree, and they take their questions to these places. In a way they are projecting onto their environment and finding meaning. People often come back with a profound sense of transformation and answers to their questions.Often they see nature as a guide – whether or not it is guiding them is another factor.”

“People come back with a sense of transformation”

This may sound airy-fairy, but numerous research points to this interconnectedness between mind and nature, and the benefits of getting outdoors, such as boosting our cognitive skills, creativity and sense of wellbeing. It has also been shown to increase our sense of connection to others, making us less self-focused and more other-focused, leading some to speculate that our modern industrial society is making us more selfish and materialistic.

“As a society we are completely disconnected from nature, particularly in the west,” says John.“We see the world as resources for our own needs, but actually we are all made up of nature.Our DNA is very similar to mammals and rocks. I believe we are connected to nature on a deeper,more spiritual level.” John became increasingly convinced of the power of nature to heal and nourish, when he spent a few years living in a caravan in the woods with no TV or electricity. “ I would spend evenings looking at the stars and think everyone should be doing this. I’m getting such a sense of wonder and calm.”

“It’s all about connectivity,” agrees Mike Wilson. “Historically, we have become separated from nature – they thought God was in the sky, for example. But this kind of thinking has led to all kinds of problems, not just environmental ones.”Depression, anxiety, stress –to the eco-therapist these very modern ills are a symptom of what has sometimes been called our “nature deficit-disorder”; our growing disconnection from the wild. “That is what eco-psychology is about – coming back into relationship with nature,” says Mike. “And because it deepens people’s relationship with the outdoors, it often raises ecological concerns. They might become aware of more litter and start picking up glass, noticing pollution and recycling more –simple but important things.”

For my part, it seems my Nature Connection session has a big effect. As well as hitting the emotional spots that good therapy often uncovers, the session leaves me feeling more in awe of nature –and more determined to honour that connection too. The day after the session, I forgo my usual carb and sugar-spiked binges,drink more water and crave more nourishing food. A few days later I take my five-year-old daughter on a wildlife ramble, where she spends a few delightful hours talking to flowers and making dens for the fairies. One month on, I walk more, drive less, and spend more time in greenery. As Carl Jung says, “I can know more from a tree than I can from a book.” Magical thinking, perhaps, but then who doesn’t need a little magic in their lives?

Be your own eco-therapist

Become aware of how much time you spend in nature. Do you see nature as a friend or enemy – something to be respected or controlled? Ecotherapy comes from a place of allowing nature just to be. “It’s not about using it as a recreational playground,” says John,“but being still and appreciating it.”

Take yourself for a rural walk. “Notice how the bird flies, the wind and the sun,” says Wilson. “Notice the detail and see how nature moves and has its own way of going about life every day.Don’t look for a sign, but be mindful to what’s happening.”

As you deepen your awareness, notice your response. “What is happening to me? My body?,” says Wilson. “How am I in harmony with my environment or out of harmony? How can I be more in harmony with nature?”

Try to view what is happening symbolically –“the idea is that the bird is a bird, but it is also a message carrier,” says Wilson. “Ask yourself, if this was a dream, what would it mean to me? What does it represent? This shift in thinking can have a huge effect.”

The healing power of nature

Studies have found that:

Elderly adults tend to live longer if their homes are near a park or other green space,regardless of their social or economic status
US university students do better on cognitive tests when their bedroom windows view natural settings.
Studies show children with ADHD have fewer symptoms after outdoor activities in landscape environments.
General health is predicted by the amount of green space within a one mile or three mile radius, according to one large-scale Netherlands study.
Crime rates were significantly less in public housing in Chicago with views of grass and trees, compared to identical units with little or no proximity to nature.
Stress hormones such as epinephrine and cortisol in cancer patients dropped 20 to 30 per cent after watching a 30 to 40 minute nature video with 15 minutes of water sounds.
Patients with type 2 diabetes found that their blood sugar had dropped on average from 179 to 108 after nine forest walks over a six-year period.
Living in greener areas make you three times more likely to be physically active than those living in less green places, and 40 percent less likely to be overweight or obese.
Access to nature positively influences a person’s mood, life and work satisfaction, according to other research.