Getting real in difficult times, with nature's help

At times when every unthinkable news story seems to top the last, we can get the increasing sense that collectively our breath is catching in our upper chest, as though we’re heading for a panic attack.

We need to breathe.

An in-breath activates our fight-or-flight mechanism - our autonomic nervous system.

The out-breath then activates our parasympathetic nervous system - release, rest and digest.

In the normal way of things we’d be in perfect balance: flex and release, tighten and relax, yang and yin.

As a species, we're allowing ourselves very little out-breath.

And if the space we retreat to - such as online life, scrolling etc - doesn't ground us, there is no release. Hence the sense of an impending panic attack - our bodies, minds and communities are really struggling to pull this one together.

When the world is moving too fast, the safe space is to be found in the oldest remedy of all. The fight-back is literally just an out-breath away.

Sit in a green space and ponder the fact that plants co-breathe with us. They inhale the carbon dioxide of our exhale, turn it into oxygen and exhale it back to us. We inhale their oxygen and reciprocate to them with carbon dioxide. Thanks to the plants we don’t suffocate. Thanks to the other side of the process, the plants don’t either. It's a gift and reciprocity cycle that maintains balance and co-responsibility for each other.

Nature is full of love. Whether it’s cute sea-otters with their babies, or the love-is-in-the-air scents of the flowering season, love is everywhere. We humans didn’t invent it! And if the practical signs of love are nurturing, feeding, giving joy and all those things we recognise in relationships with our favourite fellow humans, it’s hard to deny that nature loves us and that that is where we’ll find our cure and our reality.

Let’s remember that if the worst ever did come to the worst, most of the answers to our fears and loss of groundedness are to be found in a hands-on relationship with nature and in real-life community.

If you’re getting your hands in soil this spring, remember that even the science says it's good for us. Researchers from Bristol University and University College London found that a bacterium commonly found in soil - mycobacterium vaccae - activates brain cells to produce serotonin and alters behaviour similarly to antidepressants. As the lead researcher put it: it leaves us wondering if we shouldn't all be spending more time playing in the dirt! Even if our runner beans are available at Sainsbury's, growing them in a pot (or even in one of their ‘bags for life’ - see the image above!) reconnects us to something real. (And as they're perennial, if we look after them they'll be back next year too!).

Eden Rooted is here to help us all get real (in the best of times, and the worst of times!) through a user-friendly relationship with nature. Take a workshop, come on a walk, create a naturalistic garden or do a downloadable course - there are great early bird offers on Finding Happiness and Becoming right now starting at just £55 for a delicious self-directed day retreat that'll give you tools to stay grounded every day of your life.

eden-rooted.co.uk

I really hope to see you soon!

Warm wishes

Juno