Dani Kolsrud, TVLC Mental Health Minute
One day every week a Vermont kindergarten teacher marches her students up a hill where they spend the whole day outdoors. During this class outing they have quiet time, play time, and lesson time. All this being interspersed with bathroom breaks, snack time and lunch time. Why does she do this? Her answer is simple, “It’s really all about joy.” These “forest days,” as they are called have shown an increase in developmental skills, academic and social skills are enhanced, improved concentration, and fewer behavioral issues. Being outdoors can do all that?! Apparently so, because she now has grant funding and the backing of her principal, which has inspired her to help other educators explore the benefits and implement “forest days” into their curriculum.
This is no longer an isolated case, a 2017 survey identified more than 250 nature-based preschools. A “forest school” in Wisconsin, the Schlitz Audubon Program averages more than 140 students per year. Teachers are required to use more scripted methods today, so they welcome this avenue of expansion and are seeing students thrive in the outdoor atmosphere.
If this exposure to nature does positive things for young people, what about adults?
Looking abroad at the United Kingdom, the Royal Society for Protection of Birds has teamed up with 10 of their health centers, with their main effort to steer people outdoors, especially as more people arrive needing treatment for diabetes, anxiety, and depression. They are not suggesting this will replace the prescribed medicine, but it is a valuable tool and one that has been totally overlooked. In the United States a similar movement is taking place. Public land organizations and referring health providers have partnered to offer nature “prescriptions.” More than 600 doctors have signed up to a special platform to make it feasible for doctors to locate green spaces near a patient’s living area.
A prescription for nature therapy has shown positive progress in patients dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are varying factors with each case, but one underlying effect seems to be, simply, just getting “out.” Most of our technology where we have a lot of our interactions with others takes place indoors. Getting outdoors promotes a refocusing. There is a myriad of new movements, or on the other hand a stillness. There are sounds that come from the nature around us, rather than man-made sounds. All of this promotes refocusing. The medical network has a goal of working with mayors to locate, for their patients, a green space they can include in their patient’s agenda for treatment.
Can nature therapy benefit all of us with or without a prescription? All the statistics are saying “yes,” but nature-based mindfulness requires a certain approach to be effective. This approach to nature-based mindfulness includes: entering with no agenda — no picture taking, music devices, phone conversations, or note taking. Just be still, quiet, sit with your eyes closed at first, take some deep breaths. Then open your eyes, take in the creation around you, and rejoin God’s phrase from Genesis: “And it was good.” If walking or hiking is a desired part of your nature therapy, perhaps a readjustment is required there also. A walk or hike, to come under the qualifications of nature therapy, needs to be centered on observing animals, plants, and terrain along the way, not about a speed or mileage conquest.
The whole concept of nature therapy centers around refocusing and seeing things differently. Do we need that now? Most of us would say indeed we do! A time of uncertainty at every turn — however, the trees, birds, sun, stars, and nature are there for us. So, what are you hoarding during this crisis — toilet paper, hand sanitizer, or quiet time, mindfulness, favorite devotions, prayer time, books? How about some nature therapy? Even small doses of creation bring about positive health benefits to both your body and your mind.
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