Nature and Grief

 If you lost someone you loved, and if you also love nature, you probably went to your favorite place outdoors to find solace and guidance. I went to Yosemite after my wife Evelyn died. It was hard to be there the first few times back because Ev also loved Yosemite, and I had to deal with our memories, but during those trips, I was able to make peace with death, and find my way through grief.

 

Each of us is a union of body, mind, and spirit. When we are grieving, we need to nurture each part. Nature is grief therapy.

 

This week I heard about the Forest Bathing movement going on in Great Britain. It began in Japan some 30 years ago (Shinrin-yoku), and is popping up now in the United States. It’s also known as Forest Therapy. The plan is simply to go into a forest and be present to what is going on. It’s not about hiking somewhere. Rather, it’s about casually walking around, sitting, and being immersed in the sights, sounds, scents, and textures of the outdoors. It’s setting your normal preoccupations aside for a few hours and listening to the woods. I would think that being on the shore of an ocean, or in the desert, would work as well; any natural place where you are alone with nature.

 

While the health benefits of being outside are evident (reduced stress and blood pressure levels), Forest Bathing also addresses three other modern problems: our alienation from nature, the degradation of the environment, and the splintering of cooperation within our communities. By paying close attention to nature, we notice where the earth has been wounded by our actions, and see how each part of a living environment works in cooperation with every other part.

 

Forest Bathing excursions use nature guides to help people notice and identify the details—the different species of birds, the squirrels digging for acorns, how animals are moving about, what plants are growing, the different sounds of wetlands and creeks, and how the bark on different kinds of trees can have deep ridges or be smooth to the touch. The longer you sit quietly, the more you see and hear because the animals and birds return from their hiding places and resume their daily lives.

 

Some therapists, like Emma Pritchard, an integrative counsellor at Dorchester Counselling and Wellbeing in the UK, take their clients into the woods. Nature has become the basis for her therapeutic work. She feels it’s important for people to be in nature where they find mental, physical, and spiritual health. Often, by the end of a session outdoors, she can see the inner light coming back into the eyes of her clients. 

 

I’m not aware of any nature and grief programs going on in central Illinois. In Peoria, we do have the Forest Park Nature Preserve that has miles of trails that wind through the forested hills along the Illinois River, and there are trail guides who will take you on guided tours. I don’t know if any therapists work with their clients there.

 

The nearby Sun Foundation for Advancement in the Environmental Sciences and Arts, begun by Bob and Joan Ericksen, coordinates a wide variety of innovative programs that help people experience the natural beauty of the land, understand how they are connected to the earth, and how to be good stewards of the environment.

 

I often hike in Forest Park. At points on each trail there are listening benches where I can sit, catch my breath, and listen to the life going on in the woods. After each hike, I come away feeling refreshed.