We Are Nature
We are Nature. Our modern lives are filled with distractions, human-made structures both physical and societal, that make us forget our fundamental kinship with the non-human world. We often speak of Nature as though it is a distinct phenomenon from our daily lives and experiences. As though the beauty of the flowers, vast mountain vistas, singing streams glittering with sunlight is something separate from ourselves.
It is becoming common knowledge that spending time in natural spaces, ‘forest-bathing’, is a profoundly healing practice. The healing power has been demonstrated in the measurement of biomarkers of immune function, inflammation, and stress levels. Though the effects are measurable, the root cause (pun intended) remains mysterious.
Non-Judgement
In truth, we are Nature, and the harmony we see as beauty in natural spaces exists within us. Perhaps we heal in natural spaces because immersion in natural harmony calls to the harmony within us. Observing the landscape tends to dissolve the ego-driven habit of judgement that closes our hearts, we do not judge a forest for its placement of rocks, mushrooms, and the height of its trees. We do not criticize the shapes and sizes of mountains or lakes. So too can it be with ourselves and each other. Each human being is a product of this ongoing act of creation of which we are all a part.
When we observe Nature, we witness the divine play, we open our hearts to creation unfolding without judgement, beauty and gratitude emerge. The experience connects us to what it’s like to simply be with what is. We carry the healing back to the human-made world with us, hopefully allowing the palliative effects to linger a little bit longer each time.
Kinship
Spending time in nature was one of my first healing practices, one I have maintained in some capacity for most of my life. When I was younger I felt isolated and alone, but the land was my respite from this pain of separation. I recognized that when I sat in natural spaces I felt held, seen and connected in a way that I couldn’t when I was with people because I was too afraid. My fear was a response to years of trauma and abuse, I just couldn’t trust people. Though I longed for connection, my heart was closed when I was around other humans. So, I felt alone and was alone most of the time.
The land provided the nurturing and connection I sought. Watching the steady waves of Lake Michigan, on a shore alive with wild flowers in the summer and quiet with layers of ice and snow in the winter, I learned to sit with my emotions, to allow all the grief. At times my emotional pain felt like too much for my small being, it could be white hot and searing, it seemed bigger than me. But in this natural space I could feel these emotions without being overwhelmed, because I didn’t feel so alone.
I felt peace, a peace that was new to me, a peace that I hadn’t known was at the foundation of my being. Once I knew it was possible to feel this peace, I wanted to find a way to bring it into my life. In my heart, I had some sense that this is who I truly am, that it’s possible to be at peace with all my feelings. This experience of peace showed me a path to healing at a time that I was holding on to life with a bare thread.
Wisdom
Forests and Lakes have been among the truest allies and best teachers in my life. As I navigate the challenges of life, I have found that every time I bring a problem with me into the Forest, I leave with the realization that it’s not really a problem at all. As I witness creation unfolding all around me, I inevitably come to see that whatever I was perceiving as a problem is also simply part of this glorious mysterious creation of which I am simply a part.
The landscape dissolves the limits of ego and helps me remember our unity. I remember that I’m part of this great chain of living and dying, unbroken for billions of years, on a scale that is beyond my grasp. Whatever was bothering me shrinks down to a more reasonable size, while I expand into the truth of life all around and within me. Solutions emerge, if not right there, then later, as I’m in a more relaxed and receptive state.
When we enter such expanded states, something that seems quite magical can happen: wisdom can emerge. Connecting with the vastness of our unity is really possible in any time and place, but it seems a little more accessible in natural spaces, unclouded by the limitations of the human ideas of separation that cloud our minds and our environment. Once we get in the habit of accessing that expansiveness, through a variety of practices that include time in natural spaces, we can abide in that state more and more. We have access to our inner wisdom, our intuition, and all of life becomes less daunting, less scary, less serious, and more filled with love and connection, with bliss, with possibilities.
To me, this is true healing, real medicine. As we heal from our illusion of separation from each other and the natural world, we come to live in better harmony with the Earth and its other inhabitants. This planet is wise beyond our comprehension, and we humans are here for a reason, even though our exact purpose seems to elude us. If we can shift to viewing ourselves as an integral part of this great whole, rather than some separate phenomenon bound for destruction, we can return to our role as stewards of the land. We are direct participants in our environment, we will naturally find ways to heal the land as the land heals us.
If you don’t already have a habit of walking or sitting in natural spaces, I hope this piece helps you see the healing potential of the shift in perspective that comes from being in relationship to the land.
Thanks for reading! If you’d like to see more of my images, follow me on Instagram: @lux.opus.ig. More of my words can be found at LuxOpus.org.
