The Healing Power of Nature

The goal of life is living in agreement with nature. – Zeno

Picture this: You are standing in the street, surrounded by tall buildings, traffic, noise, and concrete. Not too relaxing of an image, right? Now, picture this: blue skies, bird’s song, tall trees bending on the gentle wind, and soft grass under your feet. Even just by visualizing it, your body can feel the benefits of nature. The tension in your jaw and muscles slowly subsides, the headache that’s been bothering you all morning starts to calm down, and the emotional pressure goes away – if only for a couple of precious moments. This is the power of nature.

The connection between nature exposure and our health is as old as time. However, it is only recently in human evolution that we started living apart from nature, in our cities and megalopolis’. Researchers are now slowly catching up, trying to showcase actual causality between nature exposure and our health. Although we could say that we’ve always known this fundamental truth, it seems like we are just starting to realize it as we’re waking from our concrete slumber.

The Benefits of Natural Surroundings on Human Health

Whether going out for a walk or meeting a friend in a park, you can feel the health benefits of being outdoors. Soothing breezes, lush bushes and trees, and warm sun on your face naturally make you feel good. Even a simple physical activity as a walk around your block can nourish your senses when you’re in a mindful state. The sight of clouds and flowers and the beautiful sound of birds singing can calm your spirit and bring back inner peace and balance.

We humans have always been interested in the healing power of nature. There are numerous philosophical works, books, poems, and songs about nature’s beauty and its effect on our bodies, minds, and souls. One of the most famous nature gurus, Henry David Thoreau, has famously said: ‘There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.’ He fully understood nature’s power to heal, sensing that the forest, or any other natural setting, can quiet our minds and improve our health. Almost two centuries later, there is plenty of evidence on the healing power of nature to back him up.

Spending time in nature can be incredibly beneficial for our health. Just two hours spent in nature per week can reduce stress, improve overall feelings of happiness and well-being, combat depression, raise our energy level and even increase our capacity for caring. Recent discoveries have, in fact, shown that nature’s ability to heal both our physical and mental health and the health of our communities can happen in such small spaces as a neighborhood park, green schoolyard, or a community garden. This is good news for millions of people living in metropolitan areas whose daily lives can only bring them into contact with such modest

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