Walking amongst the Daisies – The healing power of nature

Have you ever returned home after a walk on the beach feeling revitalised and bursting full of good cheer? And have you ever watched your kids (or fur babies) sleep ever so soundly after a good run in the park? Yes?

Well, did you realise that you were not simply taking the dog out for a walk or getting fit? You were also visiting mother nature’s medicine chest. One that offers a cornucopia of treatments for not only physical ailments, but anxiety, depression, learning disorders, fatigue … the list goes on.

We are all too aware of the widespread soul ‘sore-ness’ of ourselves, our friends and our communities. Often, a visit to the doctor is the first port of call. Medication, together with (hopefully) some kind of therapy is prescribed. Sometimes this works, most often not.

But how cool is this – doctors around the world have woken up to the fact that pharmaceutically based medication may not always be the answer (or the only one). Those in the know are actually prescribing time in nature as the medicine. Instead of taking the latest antidepressant, a daily walk into the forest or hiking on a nature trail is written on the doctor’s note. Patients in Canada, New Zealand, the UK and Japan have all enjoyed such ‘green prescriptions’. And the benefits of spending more time in nature are astounding, especially for kids.

It’s something that we have always intuitively known, but lost as society has further dissociated from nature. Well, Mother Nature is calling us back – and it’s time to heed her call.

The next time you are feeling tired and a bit cranky (and let’s face it, it happens to the best of us), grab your child, your dog, your bestie or even just your water bottle, and head outside. To the water’s edge, the sandy dune, the fynbos trail or even just to go stand under that gorgeous milk wood tree over there.

And take a moment. And another. And just breathe. And just listen. And just be.

I can guarantee that when you walk back inside your front door that you’ll feel better equipped to deal with what was next on your to-do list.

We really should update ‘mother knows best’ (personally I’m a fake it ‘till I make it kind of mum) to ‘Mother Nature knows best’. Because she really does.