Get Outdoors! (Nature therapy is best – and free)

My boy and I did some back country bush camping, boondocking in a tent, on the Oak Ridges Moraine; hiking, exploring logging roads and public lands. It was wonderful.

(Only meditation beats nature as the world’s most powerful healer and stress reliever.)

Now, two days later, it makes me happy just to see the tent in the back yard.

I realized on our short camping trip – or more accurately, I remembered something that I had realized (or, again, confirmed from childhood) on my first wilderness camping trip, 35 years ago, the summer after high school:

1. Nothing beats nature for stress relief, other than meditation.

2. I feel most at home in the forest, or on the water, in the wilderness, the country – or at least outdoors.

And,

3. Why do I want to sleep in a house, in the summer, at least, when it’s hotter inside (I don’t like AC) and more glorious outside?!

(And my camping mattress (Nemo Cosmo Air 20R) is more comfortable than the bed in the house, to boot!)

I’ve had times of extreme stress, as many people have had. And I’ve tried everything, short of opiods and heroine, for stress relief. Nothing compares to yoga, pranayama, meditation – and nature. (Bach comes close, but even Bach is topped by nature Herself.) And the studies are confirming that nature is a powerful healer in many ways, and not just by way of food and botanical medicine.

So…

Get outdoors!

Get out of town, and into nature, as much as possible.

And for heaven’s sake – and for sanity and health – unplug.

Remember what Thoreau said, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”

(And don’t forget to bring Thoreau!)

Now go!

JTR,

July 31, 2020