Eco Psychotherapy
(Nature Therapy)

For a lot of us, being outside in nature makes us feel better. And if we don’t feel better, we’ll often feel something, and then we feel better. You might already know that being in nature helps you feel:

  • More peaceful, less stressed out with less unhelpful mental chatter.

  • A more positive perspective on life and a sense things will be okay.

  • More of a sense of connection and belonging with something outside of yourself.

So how do we ‘do’ eco psychotherapy? It’s a bit like asking the question: how do we do art?

My answer to both those questions is: with curiosity, an open mind, and a willingness to engage with the world around you.

I offer eco psychotherapy sessions outside in nature. These sessions are 120 minutes.

Practically speaking, we’ll meet somewhere with access to nature where we’re unlikely to be disturbed. From there we set off together - this might look like talking, walking and sitting, engaging with each other, our inner worlds, and the natural world around us.

Before we venture outside, we’ll meet inside or over Zoom for a session or two. This gives us an opportunity to get to know each other a bit and make sure this approach will be a good fit for you. We’ll also take the time to discuss and agree together what we will do in various circumstances (for example - what if it rains? What if we run into someone either you or I know?).

 

For more info on eco psychotherapy, you might like to check out these blog posts, and for questions or to book in a session, click here and I’ll get you some answers!

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Reflections from the road.
Reflections from the road.

I'm road tripping at the moment - en route from the far north to as far south as I can go without jumping the straight to Tasmania. And as always, travel is one of my biggest teachers.

Here are a few reflections from the road; things I've been musing on while driving for hours and hours and more hours.

Balance
Balance

If I were a tightrope walker (I am not a tightrope walker), I would say that balance requires awareness and presence.

At least, at first.

If you've learned to walk a tightrope (or ride a bike), you'll know that eventually the micro-movements required to keep you upright become automatic and unthinking. I'm not sure if life balance is the same - perhaps it is for some, though I haven't found it to be so, or perhaps there are too many variables for it to be a fair comparison.

You are not a machine.
You are not a machine.

Humans aren't machines.

Artists aren't art factories.

Parents aren't child rearing robots.

But often we bow to the pressure of a society that seems to think we should be.

Do more, be more, get better, fit more in, set some goals, achieve them, set some more… now do the thought experiment - can you hit your ten year goals in six months? Do you feel as tired reading this as I do writing it? We're not ingenious contraptions meant for perpetual expansion.

How you do one thing…
How you do one thing…

It's going to come as zero surprise to you when I tell you that having a regular creative practice can help you live better.

Aside from the mental health benefits that come with focussed creative time, it’s related to the idea that how you do one thing is how you do everything - you tend to have ways of thinking and feeling and moving through the world that are similar, no matter the circumstances you find yourself in.

And so if you regularly play with a blank page (or in your kitchen or your garden or sewing room - however you like to create) and watch what you do and how you do it, the parts that feel fun and the parts that challenge you (and how you deal with those challenges), you might start to see connections with how you live life in the world outside your blank page or art journal or kitchen or garden or wherever you like to create.

Want an example? Read on...

Feel the fear… and make it a cup of tea?
Feel the fear… and make it a cup of tea?

Given how popular the phrase 'do it anyway' is, I imagine that works for a lot of people, but for me - even thinking about that just makes me kind of tired. Life is busy and fast, and getting faster all the time. Being an adult sometimes feels like an endurance marathon where someone keeps moving the finish line further and further away. Do we really need to push more, and to do things scared?

I wonder if the answer might be no, at least, not all the time. Or maybe no, not that scared.

The Room of No Consequences
The Room of No Consequences

Why is it so hard sometimes to take the moral high ground and be endlessly empathetic and non-judgemental?

When someone irritates you, as you are probably well aware - often there's a part of you that wants to fight them or tell them what you really think, or turn around and walk away and never come back. And it's necessary to override those impulses because there aren't many situations where you can slap someone or scream at them or walk out and never return with zero consequences.

So what do you do?

No straight lines. You are not a brick.
No straight lines. You are not a brick.

Have you ever noticed how other than the horizon, if you're looking out to sea or across a plain, nature doesn't really do straight lines?

If you lie in the grass under a tree and look up at the canopy it's a chaotic jumble of erratic angles and curves. Stones aren't made like bricks, they're tumbled and wind scoured and sun baked and no two are the same. Trees aren't made like walls, they are drawn out of the ground by the sun, bent by the wind, made green by the rain or water tapped by deep roots. They grow in response to their environment.

So do we - we grow in response to our environment.

What are you defending?
What are you defending?

Getting defensive sometimes gets a bad rap.

"Why are you being so defensive?"

Personally, I think it's kind of nice.

If you think about it - when you're being defensive, you're usually defending something that matters to you in some way. Something you care about. Something you want to protect. If it didn't matter, there'd be no point in defending it.