Element-ary, my dear...

Earth, Air, Fire, Water...Snacks

I’m a bit late with this week’s installment because I have been indulging in my favorite form of self-care: the great outdoors. I understand what a privilege it is to be able to scoot off camping for a few days, to have access to open spaces and amazing places, and to be able to hike loops up and down mountains for pleasure and then complain about blisters or sore muscles.

I’d been trying to figure out how to distill the whole concept of nature as self-care without sounding pedantic or repetitive. I’ve read so many books about the value of trees and natural spaces, but how best to share that information?  I stared into the campfire (yet another privilege) when I came to understand that it isn’t just the trees and the dirt and the forest and the mushrooms. It’s the whole package, it’s all the elements that help keep us grounded in wellness: earth, air, fire and water.

Trees, forests and green growing things are the so-called it-girl of the natural world, getting all the capitalist attention and books written about them. But there is so very much more to dig into.   My fire-trance induced brilliant idea of the elements of nature feels a bit more, well, natural…

Earth:

There has been so much written about the benefits of “forest bathing,” or immersing oneself wholly in a forest or nature. The concept was developed in Japan in the early 1980’s as “Shinrin yoku” (Japanese for forest bathing): a way to promote human and forest health that has been gaining traction all over the world. There are plenty of people who will gladly charge you money in exchange for coaching you through a forest bath. But you can pretty much do it on your own.

Step one: go to a forest, or any wooded area.

Step two: Hang out. Pay attention. Look around. Breathe deep. Stay off of your phone.

Step three: Hang out some more. Don’t be in a hurry. Absorb the color, sights, scents, and sounds.

Step four: if/when you must emerge, do so slowly.

There is been a ton of scientific research about the many different health benefits.

Smells: Phytoncides are Volatile Organic Compounds given off by trees and breathed in by humans. They have powerful effects on the human body: everything from anti-depressant to analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant, among others. Think of the scent of pine trees or even a leaf of basil. Even dirt and composting leaves/grasses/trees release scents which promote stress-busting responses in our bodies

Colors: human brains and eyes can detect almost 100x more different shades of green than any other color. It’s been proven that the thousands of greens in a forest have calming effects upon the brain.

Sounds: Birds and breezes beat beeping and honking and engines and traffic.

Sights: the natural, curving organic shapes presented in nature have been shown to relax the eyes, and in turn, the whole of your personal ecosystem.

To make this part of your everyday practice, make time to spend among your favorite trees. If that isn’t possible, surround yourself with plants, pictures of forests, and incorporate forest smells into your space with either essential oils or candles. Listen to birdsong and forest or beach sounds during your day or an ocean/brook noise machine. My screensaver is a collection of my nature pictures from my adventures. They’re more than just striking beach/desert/forest photos, they’re all attached to fond outdoor journeys, the memories of which bring my joy.

Air:

So, we’ve already talked about the value of good breathing towards creating a healthier you. I’m going to take it a step further and talk about air air. Like the sky.

Sunsets and sunrises and the moon and stars.

There’s something about a blazing orange, pink and purple sky that sends a bit of a reset to the psyche. The long slow evolution of dark to light (or vice versa) ushered in with mind-blowing stratospheric pageantry of color is nothing short of miraculous. And yet, it happens twice a day.

Although sometimes the transition is unspectacular, and that’s okay, too.  

Because there’s also moon baths, star gazing and cloud watching.

We don’t always have the time or vantage point to absorb a sunrise or sunset. There is a way to ground ourselves under the dome of sky as part of a daily practice. Acquaint yourself with celestial comings and goings: make a point to know moon phases and times of sunset, sunrise, moonrise and moonset. Once you get in the flow, you’ll begin to feel yourself existing as part of a larger whole. Get a stargazing app and get to know your sky.

Fire:

There’s just something about staring into a bonfire. I could do it for hours. It’s like meditating without even trying—getting caught up in the dance of flames and the drama of glowing embers. One of my favorite parts of camping is the nightly fire. Over the past four nights, husband and I averaged about 2 bundles of firewood per night—roughly 2-3 hours of a modest fire and between $14-$18 of wood per night. That’s about one month of Netflix, 5 gallons of gas or an order of chicken fried rice.

Also, it represents a destruction of those same trees with all of those healing properties I was just boasting about. So, there’s that.

A single candle flame cannot um…hold a candle (?) to a bonfire or a campfire. But sometimes that’s all we can do.

Water:

There’s forest bathing and then there’s actual bathing: swimming in a lake, a river, the ocean. Baptizing yourself in a natural body of water does all of the good things for a body: pain-relief, mood elevation, calming, cleanliness.  There seems to be a before and after that comes with submerging oneself in water. The result is always an elevated mood, clarity and a sense of renewal or rebirth.

We don’t all live on beach-front property or have access to swimming holes, but you can make a water ritual part of your everyday practice.

I’m not judging you if you shower daily or not. That’s between you and your own stank, and I did just say I’ve been camping for a few days, so, aside from some lengthy dunks in a lake and a long walk in a downpour, I may need a shower myself.  

Historically, humans haven’t ever had as much access to clean water as we have now. We can wash daily. We don’t need to share tubs with our whole family or everyone else in the boarding house. We can turn a knob and hot water just washes upon us.

If you can’t immerse yourself in a cool mountain lake or splash among full-moon ocean bioluminescence, consider an Epsom salt bath, or a shower in low light.

Or this one; if you find yourself stressed out or agitated, slowly wash your hands under hot running water for a few minutes. Give yourself a hand massage with the water washing over your hands. Close your eyes and sink into the moment. I’m not saying it’s as good as a long soak in a hot tub, but it is very soothing.

Bringing an awareness to natural elements in your days helps keep you grounded. Any chance to interact with nature is an opportunity to enhance your well-being, even a teeny tiny bit. Notice public spaces and how much of their design or architecture incorporates nature. Observe how you feel in spaces devoid of organic elements, versus your response to even a single plant in a waiting room or a tree in a parking lot.