Is Nature Connection The Same As Time In Nature?

What’s the difference?

Spending time in nature is just that, time in nature.  It can be in any greenspace near you.

Go Wild

   A greenspace is any natural area that is set apart for recreational or aesthetic purposes in an otherwise urban environment.  The World Health Organization defines a greenspace as “all urban land covered by any vegetation of any kind.” Natural spaces with native plants provide important habitats for urban dwellers to visit, but tended parks and gardens are also great.  These spaces most often includes plants, and trees, and likely includes birds and insects, and animals.  They may include water features such as lakes and rivers.  They are often outdoors, but they can also be significant indoor spaces such as greenhouses and atriums full of plants.  Backyards, balconies, terraces, railway corridors, back alleys are some of the typical greenspaces you will be able to easily find in cities. 

   How much time do you need in nature each week?  According to a study involving 20,000 people, you need 120 minutes a week or approximately 17 minutes a day all at once or spread over the week.  It is a non-negotiable if you want to maintain good mental and physical health.  120 minutes a week is the bare minimum.

   I like to look at it from a perspective inspired by herbal medicine.  Instead of the fuss in preparing and infusing the herbs to drink herbal tea, you can simply go to a greenspace and infuse yourself in the greenspace.  Spending time in nature provides general benefits, but isn’t that a nice, and perhaps funny, way of understanding time in nature?

So, … what is Nature Connection?

   You are nature, so nature connection can happen anywhere.  It is not bound to greenspaces.  It involves slowing down and sensing what and who is around you.  It is also slowing down and sensing what is in you, your feelings and your intuition. 

Home Body

   Nature connection, in or just outside of your home can include spending time with pets, making herbal tea, meditation, and visualization of being in natural spaces, looking at beautiful photographs of natural spaces and visualizing being in these spaces.  Gardening can be a form of nature connection, just remember to take time to slow down.  Mixing art and nature can be a form of nature connection: sketching, painting, etc., playing music, dancing or stretching, photography, writing and poetry.  It can also include cooking with plants or making herbal remedies with plants.  Tending plants around the house, both inside and out is a form of nature connection.  What’s important in all the above nature connecting is that you slow down and sense.

   Do you have a place to relax in your home or at work where you can spend time in the company of plants or view trees outside?

Sheltered from Intense Elements

   If you are sick, or stuck at work, or the weather sucks, you can still take the time to slow down and sense.  Nature connection can happen inside hospitals, greenhouses, atriums, and even your place of work.   Nature connection can happen when you are stuck behind a desk at work.  It is useful when you’re ill, or for whatever reason you’re unable to go outside.  Plants, pets, herbal tea, artwork, images on screens can all help in relaxing the body.

Use Your Imagination

   Don’t overlook the power of your imagination.  There are good reasons that athletes use visualization in their training.  It works and it is always available.  You can visualize visiting a lush rainforest, a wide prairie sky, imagining the wind, or a perfect day at the beach.  And what’s great about imagination is that you can be as creative as you like.  You can imagine you are a bird flying there, you can teleport to the location in an instant! Visualizations aid in boosting moods and wellbeing.   To visualize being in nature use your imagination to picture the scene in vivid detail.  Perhaps you are hiking through the mountains, or you are visiting a Costa Rican rainforest. Include all your senses and be aware of what you would like to feel, such as joy.

   If you have trouble visualizing, you can use screensavers, photos and artwork to help visualize being in nature.  

What’s in it for you?

   Being in nature helps you maintain optimal health.  Nature connection allows the body and mind necessary time to relax and recuperate from the buzz of everyday life.  It can increase calm and the ability to focus.  For anyone who tends to get lost in projects, people and life, it can help you practice putting the focus back on you.  It is a powerful form of self-care. It’s smart to do this each day because it supports you in feeling your best.  You can feel calmer, more focused, freer from some recurrent thoughts.  You can arrive back from your nature connection little less burdened by your struggles.  Leave a bit of it behind each day, like adding compost to the garden.   With the help of nature connection, you can feel happier and approach your life from a better state of mind.  Over time, this practice has a profound cumulative effect.

  Nature connection looks different each day.  Examples:

• You take a walk to a greenspace, you set your timer on your phone for 15 minutes.  You relax, breathe and look around you.  You notice the various plants in the grass.  An ant marches through the grass, the sun shines through the clouds, and a dog bounds gleefully in the distance as its owner tosses a frisbee for it to catch. A smile spontaneously appears on your face and the worry you were feeling over your pressing deadlines at work seems more manageable.
• You put on your winter gear and head outside to trudge through the snow.  You slowly make your way to the greenspace, that’s totally covered in snow, so it is now more of a winter-space.  You set your timer on your phone for 10 minutes.  You notice how your face feels versus the rest of your body bundled in layers.  You notice how the fresh layer of snow makes the space so quiet. A nuthatch bird jumps about on a nearby tree. You notice that you are feeling a bit of fear and excitement over a new relationship budding after many years of being single.  You take time to breathe and consider some of the exciting possibilities for the future.
• You are not feeling great, and you don’t want to go outside.  You make a cup of tea and sit back in your favourite comfy chair.  As you sip your tea, you look out at a large maple tree in your backyard.  Squirrels run back and forth on the tree.  Much to your surprise a raccoon climbs the tree and it looks like it’s having a conversation with the squirrels.  The whole scene makes you chuckle for a bit.  The action in the tree helped you relax.  For a minute, you forgot how you were feeling, and added a little levity to your day.  

Though nature connection is adaptable, it’s great to combine being in a natural space and nature connecting.  You can have activities on hand and houseplants that help you to nature connect indoors. No matter where you are each day, I would recommend 20 minutes per day or 120 minutes per week of nature connection.