My intent for my new book, Go Gently, is to explore the balance between tangible, forceful action to help combat climate devastation and gentle care for the self and the planet. The hard and the soft. The love and the anger. The rest and the resistance. The climate crisis is heartbreaking as we mourn the erosion of our home; it is also furious that we have done this to ourselves. But if we allow time to be fully present in the experience of life on Earth, I truly believe that we are able to see more clearly the beauty and abundance we still have and how it can become. protected. In these moments of active rest, I feel hopeful as I witness my interconnectedness with living beings and know what a collective force we are.

There are a few of the activities I enjoy that bring me closer to myself and my family in nature. These range from moving my body to avoid stagnation and cultivate energy, to doing breathing exercises to relieve day-to-day anxiety, to setting a goal to pick up five pieces of garbage on my walk home. As someone who can fall into the fight-or-flight mode of modern life, I find that these exercises give me an opportunity to catch my breath.

The mind-body relationship can sometimes reflect humanity’s relationship with the planet, a relationship that is deeply biologically connected, but can easily lose alignment. As we realize that our planet is not an unlimited resource, it is important to recognize that we are not either. Energy, ideas and action cannot be extracted 24/7. There should also be time for nourishing activities.

When we hear phrases like “connecting with nature,” we often think of hiking in the mountains or swimming in the ocean. But the truth is that we are as much a part of nature as the mountain we want to climb or the ocean we want to swim in. Access to green spaces and beaches depends on many variables, but before you go outside, a journey into nature begins within yourself. That is our most intimate connection. Fostering this intimate relationship with the self requires an intention to slow down and observe and observe our own mind and body. That way we can nurture our own ecosystem so that it can thrive in the outside world.

I love that our relationships with nature are so uniquely different and intimate. I encourage you to take these practices and make them your own.

This post Bonnie Wright’s Favorite Ways To Get Outside & Re-Center was original published at “https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/bonnie-wrights-nature-connection”