Meeting Your Edges for Nature Therapy

I have a secret to share.

I haven’t always been outdoorsy. For the first half of my life, I never did any hiking unless a group of us were headed to a watering hole on a hot day. My first two backpacking trips were a total disaster. The first one I had to abort, and on the second one, I packed so incorrectly that I barely made it up the mountain. At summer camp, I much preferred making lanyards in the arts and craft bunk than being outside playing freeze tag.

But, much like you, I’ve always been a nature lover and that is what eventually led me to Alaska where I unexpectedly became “outdoorsy.”

In yoga and in nature therapy we talk about edges.

The edge of your comfort zone is the place where you feel at ease, but if you took it any further, you might start getting heart racing anxiety, an all-out visceral repulsion or you might hurt yourself.

In yoga asana practice, this could be reaching for your toes in paschimottanasana and meeting your edge around your calves. Any further and your hamstrings start yelling for mercy. To allow for headroom, or space to shift our edge, we breathe. Breathing into a pose might allow us to go deeper or help us to accept where we are or even decide to come out of the pose all together because that was plenty, thank you very much.

In nature therapy, your edge might be going into the wilderness alone. You’re terrified of encountering a bear. Maybe like me, you’re prone to getting lost. Or maybe you just hate all the bugs. Also, how do you know which plants are poison and which are okay to rub against?

You need headroom. Headroom gives you space and opportunities to grow, evolve and try new things.

To allow for headroom, you may ask a more experienced friend to join you. Or you might check out the trail that always looks packed on Saturday that you know bears will avoid like the plague. Perhaps you cover yourself in head-to-toe clothes and Deet.

My edge is sleeping in the forest alone, a goal of mine. To make headroom, I joined a group of women doing a wilderness solo. In this case, I was alone, but there were people near enough by if I screamed loudly. I have also begun camping alone at campgrounds where I feel safer close to civilization. Perhaps one day my edge will shift enough for me to sleep alone in the wilderness, but for now, this feels like plenty.

Daring to meet your edges will help to create more headroom to meet new edges, allowing you to get closer to meeting your goals. Breathe into the experience, become more comfortable with it, accept where you’re at, and find new ways to broaden your comfort zone.

What is your edge? How can you make headroom?

If you are a hiker maybe you want to try a Solo Medicine walk. You can go for a half day instead of a full day. You can eat food instead of fasting. Find your edge. My guide to solo medicine walks has all the details you need.

If you aren’t ready to take to the wilderness, you can connect with nature via nature intuition through my course Earth Sensory Perception.