Four Exercises to Reconnect With Nature
Nowadays, it’s difficult to reconnect with nature without doing exercises for just that purpose because we don’t live as close to it as we used to.
If you disconnect from nature, you might start to feel incomplete, anxious, or frustrated. Thus, this is why it’s important to start doing some weekly or monthly exercises to reconnect with nature.
Nature gives you physical and mental energy
The amount of time we spend out of our house has a big impact on our health. But we’re not talking about being at a bar or café, we’re talking about going to a park, the countryside, the mountains, the sea, or a river. We’re talking about being in nature, far from our fast-paced, stressful modern lives.
The first thing you have to do to get back your mental and physical energy is to give both your mind and body a break. Nature is perfect for that, which is why it can be helpful to have a few tricks to disconnect from your daily life and reconnect with nature.
Four exercises to reconnect with nature
We used to be in daily contact with nature. The urban societies so many people live in now are really just a few decades old. Ask yourself: When was the last time you spent a few hours outside the city? If you have trouble answering, these exercises to reconnect with nature are definitely for you!
1. Start by understanding why it’s important
You should understand that connecting with nature is important because it has endless benefits, including getting away from pollution, achieving a sense of peace and calm, and rediscovering an environment humans used to spend a lot of time in centuries ago.
2. Truly be in contact with it
If you want to reconnect with nature, you have to actually be in it! Find the closest natural space to you and visit it. Sit down a take a deep breath. Close your eyes and listen to all the life around you.
Take your time and try to take things in. Do you know the names of the trees you can see? Do you know what animals live in your area? How many different types of flowers can you spot? It’s not necessarily about having specific answers, as long as you take the time to really notice the things around you. It’ll make you feel much closer to the flora and fauna.
3. Walk barefoot
If the ground is safe to walk on barefoot, do it! Open yourself up to nature through touch, not just sight, smell, and sound. Do you know what a leaf feels like in the fall? What about a mossy rock? Give your sense of touch a chance to explore new worlds.
4. Use the time to get to know yourself
You can also use the time in nature as an opportunity to get to know yourself better. It’s best if you do this on your own so that you can meditate or just sit down and reflect on some of the important things in your life. Introspection and self-knowledge combined with the sensory experience of nature will help you relax and get some clarity.
Nature makes you smarter
These exercises aren’t just good for your physical and mental health. They can also make you smarter, as they:
- Reduce stress and mental fatigue. Doing these exercises can help you get back your energy and develop new skills. They’ll also help you clear your mind and keep your worries away.
- Reduce irritability and aggressiveness. Being in nature helps you identify your emotions more easily and make room for positive ones.
- Improve self-esteem and self-control. They boost your emotional intelligence, allowing you to better relate to other people and yourself.
- Improve imagination and sociability. Being intelligent isn’t just about the knowledge you have in your brain. It’s also about being able to adapt, getting to know the people around you, and investing energy into your relationships.
Nature is a wonderful gift that we tend to disregard. Nowadays, people believe that the “comforts” of the modern world have eliminated the need to be in nature. However, you should find a balance between modern life and being in contact with nature.