Calm Your Mind with the Power of Nature

More and more scientists concur that nature has miraculous healing affects for physical and mental health. But we don’t need scientific studies to prove to us how much better we feel when we are in green spaces. Connecting with nature has an impact similar to meditating, bringing more calm and focus into our lives. And meditating in nature? Dude, that’s like a blast of restorative superpowers.

In our modern world, there is so much stimulation and so many “things” in our surroundings to attract our attention that it can be difficult to calm our mind from the deluge of involuntary thoughts that overwhelm us. Oftentimes these thoughts might be full of criticism, doubt, and negativity. When our mind feels out of our control, it can be difficult to hear our intuition, relax, be present, and live in our true authenticity.

Most of us already know about how helpful meditation can be for calming the mind. Meditation creates space and quiet when we sit down to meditate. Overtime and with practice, we can create space and quiet within ourselves when we are not only sitting down to meditate, but also when we are out in the world interacting with others. You will soon find that your mind can stay calm amongst chaos because you have learned to create space for non-thinking. This is also called mindfulness. Practicing meditation overtime will allow the effects of mindfulness to transfer to your everyday life.

Mindfulness can be practiced off the meditation pillow, as well. This is the act of being fully present and embodied in any moment. While standing in line at the grocery store, instead of thinking about something you need to do later or a conversation you had earlier, in other words your mind is somewhere other than in that grocery line, mindfulness would mean to bring your attention fully to the moment. Notice the people in line with you, the quality of light in the store, the din of conversations and background music, and the smell of fresh baked bread. Feel how your body immediately calms when you tune out your thoughts and into your sensory perception. I call this bodyfulness because we are embodied in our mindfulness. The more we practice this, the more our mind will calm and clear.

Though you can practice mindfulness anywhere, it is even more powerful when practiced in nature. The Attention Restoration Theory (ART) is a scientific theory that proposes that exposure to nature improves focus because it encourages more effortless brain functions, which allow the mind to recover and replenish from over-stimulation. There have been multiple scientific studies to support this theory, including a 2022 study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry that revealed that participants who walked for an hour in a forest showed decreased amygdala activity during a stress task, while those who walked for an hour in the city did not. One study from 2019 showed that woodland sounds help people relax more than meditation apps do! 

The act of meditating in nature will double the positive powers of mindfulness. Meditation + Nature= super clarity.

The reality is that many people struggle to sit in meditation and clear their mind. There are all types of meditation practices, including tuning into your body, chanting mantras or monitoring thoughts. We also discussed the practice of mindfulness or bodyfulness that you can use anywhere anytime if you only remember to do so.

My favorite form of meditation is guided meditation. Specifically, I like to practice intuitive energy work for my guided meditations each morning. This is a very direct way of quieting your mind to receive intuitive guidance and to work with energy. There is usually an intention behind the guided meditation. The results of this work include a calmer mind, more clarity and more relaxation because it necessarily calms your nervous system.

The first step in this kind of meditation is to relax your body. This can be done in different ways. Sometimes with breathing exercises. The act of closing your eyes already signals to your body that you are ready to rest. Breathing into your belly begins to downregulate your nervous system. (BTW, in my course Earth Sensory Perception, I teach the Intuition Transmission Technique, which is like the process I use everyday on my meditation pillow, as well as the Energy Clearing meditation.)

Because nature has been proven to relax and heal without even being in green spaces but just by hearing or seeing nature images, guided nature meditations are a powerful way to calm your mind when you can’t get outside into nature. Listen to nature sounds and imagine yourself in your mind’s eye walking through a forest or floating down a river. If you intention is to release stress, perhaps the river washes away tension. If your intention is to heal, perhaps you imagine gathering a bouquet of plant medicine that you give to your heart. If you’d like to set new goals or intentions, perhaps you do a new moon meditation like we do each month in our new moon ritual. (And now, if you register for new moon emails, you will receive a free guided new moon meditation.)

There are many ways to meditate with nature to calm your mind. Whether you are outside in nature practicing bodyfulness or inside meditating and envisioning nature, for best results choose the one that is easiest for you and that you can do on a regular basis.

If you want to dive even deeper into this topic and learn more about meditating in nature, you might be interested in Take a Walk on the Wildside: Beginner's Guide to Solo Walks.