Nature is Healing

Did you know that in the US, Canada, Scandinavia and Scotland, doctors have started to prescribe Nature at times instead of medical drugs? Within integrative health care in the US, prescribing time in Nature is now used as a way of treating a range of conditions including high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. This is fantastic news that this movement is growing!

Since ancient times, the healing powers of Nature has been acknowledged and used to help people. In order to develop, create, evolve and be healthy, we need to be connected to Nature. Spending time in Nature is often not enough. We need to do this in a way that invites healing interactions. There is a long tradition of this in cultures throughout the world. It’s not just about healing people. It includes healing for the land, river, desert, animals and plants. There are many different healing activities that can be incorporated into a walk in Nature. An activity is likely to be healing for you when it makes room for embodied listening, for stillness and grounded presence, and for sensorial exploration through all 7 of our senses.

Sedona is Sacred

Sedona, as a sacred place, is intended to reconnect people with nature. It helps us find perspective, balance and to renew ourselves. Have you every considered Nature as a Sanctuary, a place of refuge, a place of connecting to your own spirituality among the heart of creation?

I am in awe when I look at mountains, whether they are the snow-capped Swiss Alps or the sun-kissed red rocks of Arizona. Going into the wilderness to find sanctuary expands your connection to your sacred self. Finding Nature as Sanctuary provides an opportunity to listen to our own hearts, to remember how much we want to be alive, and to contemplate the love that binds us all together. In times of uncertainty and fear, it can be very easy to forget our connectedness to each other and to the Earth. We recoil from the news, our projections of the polarizing “others” and the world in an attempt to numb ourselves. These are the times when the spirit and the heart of Nature is needed most.

Spirit Flow Nature as Sanctuary experiences are not done with the primary goal of physical exercise. It is not something to rush through. It requires mindfully moving through the landscape in ways that cultivate presence, opening of all of your senses, and actively communicating with the land and the energy of the land. This gives Nature access to our physical, emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual being. As we do this we begin to perceive ourselves, our minds and our hearts, in a more profound way. Messages from within and without begin to penetrate into our awareness and being even more deeply.

Nature as Sanctuary experiences is best seen as a practice, not a one-time event. Developing a meaningful relationship with nature occurs over time, and is deepened by returning again and again throughout the natural cycles of the seasons. It is a deeply relational practice, in which the relationship itself becomes a field of healing and a source of joyful wellbeing. Like energy healing, meditation, yoga, prayer, working out, Nature as Sanctuary is a practice and is best to learn it from a qualified guide.​