What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature

Why take your mindfulness practice outside? Rochelle Calvert explains how being in nature releases us from needing to “try” or “do,” so that we can feel more connected to the world around us.

Adobe Stock/ Ivan Kmit

Nature is always changing, evolving, letting go, surrendering, adapting, dying—revealing to us how it is to be alive. 

These are beautiful lessons. If we are present in our lives, we can awaken to our own true nature and experience being more fully alive. 

Think of a time recently when you were touched by an experience of being with nature. Maybe you noticed the bud on a flower just about ready to burst into bloom, or the stillness and solidity of a tree you stood next to, or the gentle flow of water. As you connect to and learn to become fully present to these experiences, you can begin to feel that you, too, can experience a sense of innate well-being. The potential to bloom and open, the solidity and fluidity you perceive in nature are all present within, for you to connect with and experience. 

By calling these qualities to our attention, nature supports our intention to be present. It allures our attention and invites us to be with this moment as it is. The heart of mindfulness practice is establishing a clear and kind relationship with what is here in this…

GROW YOUR MEDITATION PRACTICE


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About the author

Rochelle Calvert

Rochelle Calvert, PhD is the author of Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma. She’s a certified mindfulness teacher with the Mindfulness Training Institute and the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She’s also founder and clinical director of New Mindful Life, which offers mindfulness, nature-based, and somatic experience therapies.