"Nature as Therapy"

We Are Nature

📷: by author

“Nature as therapy.”

Have you ever heard this expression? Maybe you have even uttered these words.

I certainly appreciate the sentiment. I find Nature to be incredibly healing. There is nothing as grounding as a day spent strolling in the woods. Or a day reading at the beach to the rhythmic backdrop of waves, nourished by the warmth of the sun. For anyone feeling a pull to reconnect with themselves, time spent in Nature would be at the top of my list of suggestions.

But “Nature as therapy.” There is something peculiar about this expression. Phrased this way, at least to my mind, it seems like Nature is something we humans have discovered to be beneficial for our health, something akin to the latest diet fad or anti-aging cream. It sounds like something that is “good” for us.

I’d like to make a subtle and all important distinction. I find it more true to say that WE ARE NATURE. There is nothing more fundamental about us. Seen from this perspective, the question isn’t how can we add more Nature, the question is how come we have so little of it in the first place? What about our modern lifestyle has us so disconnected that we say “Nature as therapy.”

There is a place for therapy, no doubt. A skilled therapist (or coach, or friend) can help us become aware of the knots in our lives and provide critical support as we slowly begin to untangle them. But too much focus on the knots themselves can sometimes cause them to deepen. Just like a scab, when constantly picked at, can never heal. Scabs needs to be tended, and then left alone.

This is where Nature comes in. Nature doesn’t ask for anything. It won’t try to fix you or point out your faults. It just is. It holds space beautifully, and quietly reveals the interconnectedness of all things. It starts from the point of view that there is more right with you than wrong with you. You breathe in the air and feel the warmth of the sun, and you realize you belong on this planet. Not through argument or convincing, but by sensing it directly. Nature lets the scab heal. This is why I am starting to think more and more that meditation is simply an encounter with Nature, via one’s own body and mind. It is also why I sometimes wonder if the number of mental health theories we have, although certainly useful at times, in some way also contributes to the number of people who feel that something is wrong with them. We have a lot of external standards in our society that are based on someone’s ideas, not reality.

So the next time you hear “Nature as therapy,” instead of seeing it as one more thing on your already too busy to-do-list, maybe try to see it as your true home, your true calling, and your true belonging.

Instead of thinking of “Nature as therapy,” think of it as a homecoming. Instead of seeing it as another thing to “fix” you, see it as revealing you don’t need fixing in the first place. You are fine as you are. Just like every tree that grows is just fine as it is, no matter how strangely shaped it may be.

And again, if “Nature as therapy” helps appeal to the masses, then I am okay with that. If doctors started to write prescriptions for “time in nature” instead of for medication, I would be all for it. Perhaps our mental health system would finally be on to something =).

But Nature isn’t therapy. It is our truest home. It is us humans who have become disconnected.

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Here is a poem by Mary Oliver called Wild Geese which describes my attempted message beautifully.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
Love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
Are moving across the landscapes,
Over the prairies and the deep trees,
The mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
Are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination,
Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
Over and over announcing your place
In the family of things.

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Thank you for reading.

As always, I love to hear your thoughts.

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