"I just need to push through this season. Once I'm done, I can finally rest."
"I don't have time to slow down. There's too much to do."
In my sessions with clients, I often hear words like these. And in response, I find that there is no better medicine than nature. I frequently suggest connecting with the natural world—whether that is the ocean, forest, lake, garden, or a nearby park.
The Weather of the Soul: Why Emotions Aren't Problems to Fix
I use nature as a reference to help clients understand their emotions: our feelings are like the weather. They shift and are influenced by many different factors. There is nothing wrong with raining or having a storm; it is just part of life, and so are our feelings.
In therapy, the work isn't about stopping the rain—it is about learning how to take care of ourselves when we are going through the storm.
Prescribing the Wild: The Science Behind Nature-Based Therapy
This has clinical grounding, too. In recent years, health systems around the world have begun to formally integrate nature into medical care. Japan pioneered the practice of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) in the 1980s as a cornerstone of preventive health care, and countries including Finland, South Korea, and Canada have since developed their own national programs. England's NHS now has a Green Social Prescribing Programme, and the World Health Organization includes 120 minutes of weekly time in nature as a global public health guideline alongside exercise and nutrition.
The research behind these programs is substantial. Studies on forest bathing show measurable physiological effects: reductions in cortisol, lower blood pressure, and increased parasympathetic nervous system activity—the body's "rest and digest" state. A 2023 systematic review of over 90 randomized controlled trials found that participants in nature-based therapy experienced meaningful reductions in symptoms of depression and anxiety. By stepping outside, we give our bodies a chance to move out of "fight or flight" and remember how to simply exist.
The Myth of Efficiency: Why We Aren't Built to Bloom Year-Round
We live in a result-driven culture that demands we be more efficient—yet this is not how we were created.
Nature refuses to be rushed.
There is a time for the seed to marinate and wait to sprout, and a time for the animal to hibernate. We, too, have our phases: childhood, teenagerhood, and adulthood. When the time is right, growth happens naturally. When we resist our natural pace or judge ourselves for not blooming year-round, we create a friction that leads to exhaustion.
Learning the Soil: Exploration Before Solution
I often compare self-exploration to caring for a plant. To help a plant grow well, you must first learn about it. You ask:
- What environment does it like?
- What type of soil nurtures it?
- How often does it need to be watered?
- When does it need a new pot?
In therapy, we ask the same of ourselves:
- What do I like and dislike?
- What nurtures me, and what drains me?
- Do the old ways of doing things still apply to this current period of my life?
Often, it feels uncomfortable to answer these questions, and there is a desire for a quick solution to "fix" things.
But to impose a solution without knowing what we truly need can be another form of violence and invalidation—something many of us experienced growing up.
The Art of Just Being: Trusting Your Own Pace
If we pay attention to nature, we realize the art of trusting ourselves and the process. We can learn to stay still, learn patience, and quiet the chatter of our minds to listen to our hearts. By observing how nature takes its time to grow, we can begin to honor our own unique pace.
Coming Home: Healing as a Return, Not a Destination
Perhaps this is what healing ultimately is—not a destination we arrive at, but a returning. It is a returning to the rhythm we were always meant to live by, before the world taught us to hurry. Nature does not ask us to be more than what we are in this moment. The tree does not apologize for shedding its leaves in autumn. The river does not rush to reach the ocean ahead of schedule.
And you, too, are allowed to take up space, move at your own pace, and trust that what is growing inside you—even when invisible—is real.
Healing, like nature, asks only that we show up, stay present, and remember that we already belong.