» Natural highs
Turning to nature could be one of the simplest ways to restore a sense of wellbeing, suggest Thomas Schorr-kon and Huw Wyn
In all indigenous spiritual traditions, there is a deep awareness and understanding of our reliance and embodied connection to the natural world.
To say that the natural environment lies outside of us as a separate entity, doesn’t make sense. We are, after all, made from nature. In the highest teachings of Buddhism, for example, our freedom from anxiety and suffering lies in realising our natural condition. When we take on board this insight, we can see that we are indeed connected to all things, and the sense of separation and isolation that we sometimes feel in this day and age is what creates stress, suffering and depression.
“The great sages and mystics from all spiritual traditions have always gone to the resource of nature to find inspiration, and to free the mind from its habitual thoughts”
To say we are disconnected would be to state the obvious. To say we are lost might sound rude – and yet when you think about it, every other species, and all primitive peoples, have knowledge as to where and how to find food, medicine, shelter and all their other needs within the natural environment.
We in the West have become so disconnected from the Earth, that if we were to return to a natural environment, we wouldn’t be able to last five minutes without our technologically advanced gadgets and gizmos. We would be utterly lost. I feel it’s not so far fetched to suggest that a large portion of our current state of dis-ease can be attributed to this profound disconnection.
Spending more time with the Earth, outdoors, and even just being in the garden, is a simple solution for increasing wellbeing – and even, perhaps, for overcoming serious illness.
Expanding our relationship to nature is something that evokes excitement and energy, both of which contribute extensively to wellbeing. We use such a limited range of our awareness, and deepening our relationship with nature really helps to ‘wake us up’, enabling us to experience things we find hard to explain. For example, one exercise we practice in our Trackways
workshops is called ‘Meet a Tree’. A blindfolded person is taken into a forest, and led up to a tree. The blindfolded person then explores the tree, using all their senses apart from sight. Still blindfolded, they are then taken back to where they started from, and the blindfold is removed, whereupon they are asked to go back into the forest and find their tree. Astonishingly, they very nearly always find it. Participants are delighted and awed to realise that they have created a connection to their tree on some kind of deeper level than they usually experience. This exercise, and others like it, demonstrate and build an understanding of our innate, intuitive and natural senses, and how to trust them.
When we are struggling within ourselves, it is enormously comforting to begin to see ourselves within a bigger context to which we feel connected. In our work with addicts, we find that bringing them into a relationship with nature helps them to experience something that is greater than the self. This relationship with nature is a completely nonjudgemental one, and yet it can clearly reflect us back to the very things we are going through.
When we are ‘switched off’ to nature, we don’t realise how alive the Earth is and how it responds to our emotions and state of mind. Try reaching out with your heart and mind to touch all the things that support your life, and in so doing you will find that nature will receive you in a very different way – you will create a resonance that does not scare away the wildlife. Don’t just take my work for it – try it! Giving thanks to nature can give us a way to move through some of the most challenging aspects of our lives, as well as taking us out of our busy minds – and help us to come to our senses.
The great sages and mystics from all spiritual traditions have always gone to the resource of nature to find inspiration, and to free the mind from its habitual thoughts. In the same way, when we spend time under a great blanket of stars, or around the dancing flames of an open fire, or when we listen to the song of the wind, walk in deep boundless silence or rest our mind in the vast open sky, we remember who we truly are.
Written by Thomas Schorr-kon and Huw Wyn. Thomas is the founder of Trackways, He has been practising and teaching nature awareness, survival skills and wilderness spirit work in the UK for over 12 years. He has helped to establish several other schools teaching these skills and is currently working with Huw Wyn to create the Wild Heart Gathering in Sussex from 1-5 May.
Huw has established Tiger’s Nest, bringing indigenous teachers and healers to the UK. He also leads walking retreats in wild places across the country.
www.trackways.co.uk
www.wildheartgathering.com
www.earthpilgrim.org
www.tigersnest.com
