“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees”. —Henry David Thoreau
How good is mother nature and her fresh air? Never have I appreciated her more than the on-off lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Wasn’t that a shitshow!! When you are isolated from life, school, work, family, have a curfew of 8pm and only allowed to go outside for 1 hour a day, holy crap do you suck up that air, sky and ground for the 60 minutes you’re entitled to.
When I think about when I’m at my calmest and most content, I think about having mother nature at my fingertips. Specifically, I think of mountains, crisp air, the changing of seasons for summer to autumn, flowing rivers and sitting outside the local country bakehouse where they serve their famous homemade sausage rolls and vanilla slices all while the warm sun beats down on my back. Ahhhhh, one day I’ll live there, wherever ‘there’ is.
Why is it that mother nature, and being out in all she has to offer, makes us humans feel so damn good? From helping us to reduce anxiety and stress to increasing our attention capacity, creativity, and even our ability to connect with other people, scientists have proven that we are physically and mentally healthier when we spend time in and with nature. Take a look!
Being in Nature Decreases Stress
Studies out of Japan, Finland, and the US recently compared the health and wellbeing of people who took walks in either a natural space (a park or woodland) versus those who took a stroll in an urban area. In all three studies, participants who took their walk in a natural environment had lower blood pressure and heart rate and reported lower stress levels than those who walked in urban environments. Another study of nearly 1000 Swedish city residents found that the more often a person visited open green spaces, the less often he or she reported stress-related illnesses. How much time is “enough” to experience these benefits? Research backs anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours per week, but truly any time you can spend out in nature--even just a short break during your workday--can turn your mood and day around.
Nature Increases our Happiness
Spending time in nature--or even viewing nature scenes--has a positive impact on our mood and overall happiness. In a recent study in the journal Mind, 95% of those interviewed said their mood improved after spending time outside, changing from depressed, stressed, and anxious to more calm and balanced. Another study published in Frontiers in Psychology of over 8,000 individuals found that those who felt more connected to nature tended to experience more positive affect, vitality, and life satisfaction compared to those less connected to nature. This held true regardless of age or gender.
Nature Increases Attention Span and Improves Creativity
Time in nature or viewing nature scenes increases our ability to focus on what is in front of us. Because we find nature inherently interesting, we can naturally and more easily pay attention to what we are experiencing out in nature. Studies with children with ADHD showed that time spent in nature increased childrens’ attention span later on.
Being in nature also provides a respite for our overactive minds that are used to being in modern, information overload environments. When we enter into nature (especially without a cell phone in tow,) it refreshes us for new tasks and frees our minds up for creative tasks. David L. Strayer, a researcher from the University of Utah, explains that when we use our cell phones to talk, text, shoot photos, or whatever else we use our cell phones for, that we’re tapping our prefrontal cortex and reducing our cognitive resources. “If you’ve been using your brain to multitask—as most of us do most of the day—and then you set that aside and go on a walk, without all of the gadgets, you’ve let the prefrontal cortex recover,” he explains. “And that’s when we see these bursts in creativity, problem-solving, and feelings of well-being.”
It’s no wonder us humans are the best versions of ourselves after some time spent in the great outdoors!
Now imagine the benefits of doing Pilates in nature, with the sky as your ceiling and the grass as your mat.
Pilates is really good at encouraging you to be present. It requires you to connect the mind to the muscle, no point in thinking about what you're going to cook for dinner later or how much washing there is to do, you won’t get as much out of the session. But if you can turn inwards and focus on the movement, you will feel strong, more mobile, taller and more content. Exercise is a powerful tool in getting those feel good hormones to come to the surface. Couple that with what is going on immediately around you in mother nature and you have a recipe for success.
And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing all summer long. Taking my group mat class to the park.
It’s 50 minutes of ‘you’ time. Strengthening and stretching while surrounded by the gum trees and birds.
Even though I’m teaching and not doing the class, I feel like it’s the best start to my day all week. You may spy me with my shoes off so I can feel the grass between my toes as I guide you through the Pilates class.
I’ve got no doubt that when you take a walk in the Pilates woods, you too will come out taller than the trees.