Our Powerful Connection to Nature and How it Inspired the Elderly

I recently traveled from New England to Arizona for a 3 day conference and then, I flew over to Maui for some well needed rest and relaxation.
I found that each place has such powerful natural beauty in their own way. Those of you that haven’t gotten to know me yet should know that I have this hobby/mission of recording amateur video clips in nature to give those in need of some inspiration a quick dose that is easily accessible on the internet. These two minute movie prescriptions are, what I call, “Meditation Mooditation Moments”.
If am feeling the mood is right, I just pull out my iPhone whenever I see something that I feel inspired by in nature and record a couple minutes with a little intro from yours truly. I find that nature is such amazing medicine for the soul. It has been what healed me of all the tough times that I have been through and I know it from first hand experience that it works for others too.
Check out Leah Marie's video about her Meditation Mooditations Moments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdbY2irVhIA&t=4s
In my work educating people about holistic stress management, I have found that there seems to be an association with being removed from nature and losing one’s sense of playfulness. I have taught hundreds of seniors meditation over the course of several years that were living in facilities. I found that the when tuning into nature through meditative practices, using audio, visual, tactile and sense of smell was an approach that always brought them much joy. It would uplift and inspire the most difficult skeptics in the classes. The memories that were brought up and shared were precious moments of interactions with nature that somehow got locked away and forgotten about for years.
When they were reminded of those moments that they experienced nature in impactful ways, I would hear about exotic trips they took, beach excursions with their families, gardens they grew and fishing adventures that they had. Most inspiring to me was that I would witness their inner light start shining bright through their eyes and their smiles, as they reminisced about these wonderful long lost memories. I found that the mindfulness exercises involving nature that I brought inside to them would bring out the joyful, playful, kid that is always there within for them to access through experiencing nature. This really inspired me too.
We had a lot of fun with those experiential moments. I loved bringing things in for the groups I taught that would allow them to be in the present with memories of the past.
One of their favorites was when I would bring sand and quahog shells from Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA. In the winter time, the beach is loaded with discarded shells that are overtaking the beach, so I would grab a few to bring to my elderly students that were from the area and most of them hadn’t had the chance to visit the ocean in years.
When I told them where the shells came from, the stories would start to fly about experiences at that beach and others. It was great to inspire all of this energy of joy in these people just by bringing a little nature for them to be in touch with. We would listen to waves on an audio player and I would lead everyone through a guided meditation that would be featuring the beach. It was an honor to see how this inspired people to share in the experience that nature brought them. I am so grateful for sharing those moments with my very wise students.
Technology has made it possible for anyone to access a bit of nature whenever we feel like we need it, so I am taking full advantage of that. My usual office space has big windows overlooking a lot of trees, so I can access it whenever I need to by glancing out the window and taking a few short meditation breaks during the day. However, there have been times when I have worked in offices that have no windows and after a few days working in that environment, I felt like I was getting claustrophobic and I would have feelings of anxiety coming on. That is when I knew that I needed to tap into the healing power of Mother Nature.
I really appreciate the relationship that I have with nature and that all humans do. It is something that a lot of us take for granted and it is going on all day long. Literally right under our noses! Think about it…we are breathing oxygen all day long and that is what the trees, plants and other natural elements are releasing for us. We are exhaling carbon dioxide 24/7 and feeding these other living things without barely giving it a thought. It is an amazing, reciprocal cycle that goes on and on and we barely ever think about it. All living things have some sort of balancing connectivity to one other somehow. That is why it makes us feel a connection when tuning into the life within nature. It definitely is something to be grateful for.
Next time you feel like you need a dose of nature or you are visiting someone that is spending time in a facility for care, find a bit of nature for healing. It sets the mood for everyone to be healed.
My Meditation Mooditation Moments can be found on my FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/LeahMarie999 and on my YouTube channel.
Here is a Medititation Mooditation Moment with Leah Marie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcCIdvaHs_4

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