Mind and Body
​​​"I felt safe in the space of the forest; I felt Rob’s presence and the safety in that. I felt no judgement, which is also a big part of my story…I have found the experience a privilege to be a part of. To be open to experience how the forest supports, guides and just knows what I needed and when." - Emma​​​
We need nature connection for our minds and bodies to be grounded in the present.
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You only have to step from a busy high street and into a park to know that our state of mind is intimately connected to the landscape around us. It is something that has been recognised throughout the ages, has often been forgotten by medicine and science, but is increasingly coming to be integrated into our intellectual understanding of the world.
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As Carl Jung wrote towards the end of his life, "People who know nothing about nature are of course neurotic, for they are not adapted to reality".
This connection between mind and natural landscapes is also something that I have come to recognise as fundamental to our wellbeing. I believe this so strongly that I have written a book about it and now dedicate my time to helping connect mine and others' minds to the landscape around me.
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In the past, environmental schemes tried to tame and control our wild landscapes. These approaches were often a disaster. With the recent recognition that the earth’s ability to rewild itself exceeds our own capabilities, we have started to see the emergence of environmental schemes that have allowed landscapes to create their own sustainable ecologies.
This is the same for our minds. While talking therapies are a lifesaver for many, they can neglect that which is beyond ourselves. When we put ourselves in the right situation, we find that rewilding is not only possible with landscapes, it is how our minds can also heal. Recognition of this connection is also the cultural change that might save us and the world from the sixth extinction.
Our bodies are an extension of our minds. So, letting our minds and bodies wander in nature can be the panacea to the stresses of the world that so often overwhelm us.
We can help this process with meditation practices, bodywork such as yoga, and increasingly with the help of psychedelics. But we can also let our minds go with landscapes. By making a connection between our minds and the landscapes that we wander through, both are able to heal.
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Whatever your level of fitness, this is an opportunity for you. Whether you want to go for a 15 mile hike to an ancient sacred stone or tree or are more suited to lying in the forest and looking up through the leaves, I will guide you through a landscape that will allow your mind to wander.
Long-Covid forced me to slow down and sometimes to stop, so I know the value of sitting quietly if that is what you need. We don't have to walk far (or at all) to find an ancient stone or tree to reconnect with.
