How to use green spaces as your personal therapist
While growing up there was a key feature of the children’s books that I read. Whenever the protagonist was playing a game of checkers with a cup of hot chocolate, it was because it was raining outside. You played indoor games because you couldn’t play outdoor games. It was simple, you stayed inside because you couldn’t go outside. Home was for after school naps only and then being dragged home after dark for dinner or in the Blyton world ‘supper’. Today, with the growing hot days and the onset of pollution, increased traffic on the roads, we are choosing to stay in. In our AC rooms, in malls and in mushrooming play areas. It’s comfortable and convenient.
However, for our nervous system its overstimulating and anxiety inducing. It’s refreshing to step outside in the lush green areas. Here’s how you can use natureto heal your mind and soothe your nerves:
1. Look at the rustling of leaves on a tree. The rustling of leaves creates a soft white noise which puts you in a zone. It also means soft winds which means you are inhaling fresh air. This is a definite mood enhancer and promotes peace and tranquillity.
2. Looking up at the birds. I think for students who have their necks craned over the textbooks and screens, bird watching offers great benefits. First of all, physically you look up and that itself if a welcome break from your ‘text neck’ and offloads the pressure on spine. Also, looking at the birds of different colours and sizes, following their bird calls gives your mind a break from thinking about your daily worries.
3. Touch a tree bark and soil. This is some good old grounding. Have you heard of horticultural therapy? It is what is sounds like. Various gardening activities like digging and patting soil, pressing leaves, touching the tree bark and other such tactile experiences bring joy and happiness and also enhance a nurturing instinct inside you.
4. Listen to yourself. When the forest is most silent, I hear even the sound of my feet as they move just an inch aside, the zip of my jacket and the tinkering of my earring and my soft breaths also sound like loud bells. Such micro sounds bring awareness and centre you.
5. Don’t put your phone aside. Take your phone with you. Yes absolutely. Take that work call while walking outside in a small park. Getting bored of just vague looking around, snap pictures of birds, insects and sunsets. Find something interesting, look it up on the internet. If you use it right your phone will help you to stay lost in that nature bubble for a few extra minutes.
Original Photograph © Hansa Sinha
6. Ant watching. It is a childhood nostalgia for me. Of dropping a few sugar crystals and watching the ants gathering around the food source. One ant picks up a crystal and starts walking back home, other ants follow suit. From the opposite side another file of ants comes by. Intermittently they stop, give a passing hi 5 to each other or maybe share some intelligence about the sudden food source. Ant watching will make you pause for sure. It slows you down as it requires patience and commitment. It is a definite break and a micro mindfulness activity. Maybe be watch a few clouds after this activity to balance out that ‘peering down’ for too long. Ahem!
7. Move. In a big green space who can resist a walk? Some go for a run. Play ball with your pets or chase your kids around. Some might like the idea of yoga and meditation while others might gather for a flash mob. Reclaim the green spaces as your second home.
8. Sit near a water body. The soft paddling of ducks, gentle rippling of water, the bubbling and gurgling all calm down the nerves. A few minutes of looking at the water or closing your eyes and tuning in to all the sounds of water and surrounding wildlife activities can give you clarity of thought and melt away the tensions in your mind.
9. Journal. While you are surrounded by nature. It is the best time to do some journaling. Put pen to paper and let it all flow. It empties your mind so that it’s a fresh slate. If too many things are bothering you, it helps you untangle your enmeshed thoughts.
So, there you have it your personal therapist, mother nature at your beck and call. I hope you book a therapy session with nature very soon. I know you won’t regret it. Write to me and let me know when was the last time your tryst with nature felt like a personal therapy session.
You can mail me at hansasinha@cosmoss.co.in
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