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One of the best ways to groom your inner green is to reconnect with nature. Understanding the significance of living a green life becomes a lot more important when you realize that you're part of nature yourself. I'm a firm believer that when I'm in my biggest funk simply walking outside can help me snap out of it. It's a reminder that there is just so much more to life than the minute issue currently overwhelming my thoughts. Is this therapy? At the Holos Institute it is.
What's Nature Therapy?
- At Holos Institute, they believe that a holistic path of healing includes a personal and intimate connection with the natural world.
- The institute has tons of programs that encourage reconnecting with the wilderness. The intention is to restore balance, harmony, inspiration, and imagination by attuning to the energies and seasons of nature.
Holos Institute Programs
Visit the 265-acre retreat center nestled in a high valley on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo range in northern New Mexico.
- Nurture your greener side with afternoon medicine walks. The non-strenuous walk can be in a group or in solitude.
- Or maybe the Healing Journey is more your speed. It's a six day intensive program in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains of Northeastern New Mexico. This land-based retreat allows time for quieting the mind as you reconnect with yourself and nature at the same time.
Earthways Programs
The Holos Institute works with Earthways in Sebastopol, California, another group working to restore the human relationship with the natural world.
- Check out the Wilderness Vision Quest where participants go alone into nature for an allotted period of time, depending on the program and go back to basics. Don't worry, in preparatory meetings, you learn what you will need to know about equipment and using a backpack, safety procedures, wilderness ethics, and minimal impact camping.
- Earthways believes in ecopsychology, a practice that joins psychology and ecology to assist us in remembering we are part of a very big life process and that we are embedded in nature.
If you don't think that you'll be traveling to New Mexico or California anytime soon, don't fret because you can practice nature therapy at home or plan your own therapeutic trip:
- Pick a Saturday and go on a nature walk. I didn't say hike for a reason because the point of the walk is not the intense workout that you get from climbing a mountain; but rather, quieting your mind. Or if possible, sign up for a guided nature walk in your area.
- Plan a camping trip or go national park hopping and check out all the spectacular nature out there. From Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the United States has the largest national park system in the world all waiting to be explored.
Related posts:
Hidden Eco Gems: Seven Green Cities Nobody Talks About
Go Play Outside; Nobody Else is
Boost Your Energy Level: Go Outside
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