{"id":335,"date":"2016-11-15T09:18:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T09:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adrianharris.org\/blog\/?p=335"},"modified":"2021-05-25T19:23:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T19:23:54","slug":"mindfulness-in-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrianharris.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/15\/mindfulness-in-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness in Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mindfulness and ecotherapy are two of the most ancient and powerful approaches to healing mental distress. What happens when you bring them together? Last week-end I spoke about practicing mindfulness in nature at a conference on \u2018Psychotherapy and the Natural World\u2019 at the Eden Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original invitation to deliver a presentation had been open ended; I could have chosen any theme related to therapy and the natural world. Mindfulness in nature came to me almost immediately, but I wondered if I could say anything about it that was worthwhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I sat with the notion it opened like a flower, revealing a pattern of connections with other core aspects of my thinking: Ecotherapy of course, (<\/a>Mindful weeding<\/a>), spirituality, (Aboriginal deep listening<\/a>), Focusing (Focusing in Nature<\/a>), Barry Patterson\u2019s\u201c listening to the threshold brook\u201d<\/a>, and on and on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sunlight<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My PhD research identified meditation as one of the <\/a>pathways of connection<\/a> <\/a>with nature that inspired and supported environmental activism. One participant explained that his \u201cconnection with the earth\u201d had become \u201ca major part\u201d of who he is. Mindfulness in nature had become a core practice for him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cjust spending time out in nature, just listening. Just looking. Not really thinking too much. It\u2019s good to kind of not think, just become, just let it flow through you I guess\u201d (Harris, 2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve realized that the nature connection workshops I\u2019ve been running for years are really mindfulness in nature sessions. Participants do experience a deeper connection with nature, but framing the practice as mindfulness really captures the essence of the work. It also shifts our perception of it: instead of focusing on some outcome \u2013 getting a deeper nature connection \u2013 it emphasises the process itself. That\u2019s fundamental because mindfulness isn\u2019t about making something happen; it\u2019s simply about being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n