Ecotherapy
“There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer.”
— Calvin Coolidge
What is Ecotherapy?
Put simply, Ecotherapy is ‘outdoor therapy’: where psychotherapy takes place away from the traditional therapy room and moves into the natural world. It can take various forms but the format I offer can be seen as ‘walk and talk’ therapy in the countryside around the hills, forests and trails of The Peak District and Cheshire.
Psychotherapy in the natural environment can help us explore new ways of connecting with our inner selves and enhance our growing awareness. By taking therapy outdoors, we can be reminded that everything in nature is exposed to constant chaos: uncertainty is familiar and change is inevitable.
Observing these natural processes and recognising how they mimic our current unwelcome state, can enable us to surrender control and trust that our current state will pass. Just as trees and flowers go through a cycle of death-regeneration, so do we.
Even in winter when things appear to be dead, the roots are still at work beneath the surface, readying for spring – just as we are constantly changing and evolving.
Our connectedness with nature should remind us that we are a part of something infinitely greater than ourselves; and that we always have the potential for growth.
Ecotherapy Benefits
Many people find that spending time outdoors helps depression, stress and anxiety as well as promoting physical health and general wellbeing. With overcrowded hospitals and stretched NHS facilities, the countryside can be seen as a great outpatient department with its own wealth of therapeutic facilities.
By walking outdoors, we have the physical benefit of re-connecting with our bodies and grounding whilst exploring what is going on inside for us. Being in nature can also help reignite our awe and wonder at the beauty of nature and the power of the elements. Using our imagination, we can view the natural environment as a metaphor or story to explore what is going on for us and make sense of our life experiences past and present. Along with you and me, nature can become a co-worker in the therapeutic journey.
Because this may be considered a new approach to therapy, you may be intrigued, have some questions or concerns. If this is the case, please get in touch and we can chat about it.
“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken”
– Leo Tolstoy