Why Eco-Therapy?

There is something about stepping outside, into the natural world, that can change our relationship with ourselves and our environment. We are no longer separate from what is around us. We become part of something bigger, something living, changing and beyond our control.

My experience of eco-therapy is one of gentle returning.

As I step into relationship with the land, my nervous system begins to settle, held by something steady, rhythmic and alive. There is less urgency here, less searching for answers. Instead, a slowing. A softening.

In this space, compassion naturally arises. Towards myself, towards what I am carrying, towards the parts of me that have been striving or holding on. The body begins to feel safer, the breath deepens, and I am reminded that I do not need to push or become anything more.

This is part of what draws me to eco-therapy. It isn't simply therapy that happens outside. It is an opportunity to explore our relationship with the natural world and, through that relationship, perhaps something about our relationship with ourselves.

We can become so accustomed to living in our heads, trying to understand, solve and control our experiences. Nature offers something different. The rhythm of walking, the changing seasons, the weather, the earth beneath our feet, the movement of trees and the sounds around us can invite us into a different kind of awareness.

My psychotherapy training included twelve days of eco-therapy, with immersive outdoor modules, embodiment practices and non-stylised environmental movement. My ongoing professional development has continued to deepen this relationship with the natural world, including my work with Emma Rich through Earth Tongue.

My background as a Pilates movement coach also informs the way I understand the BodyMind as a living, integrated process. I am interested in what happens when we listen not only to our thoughts and words, but also to sensation, movement, breath and our relationship with the world around us.

Eco-therapy can offer a different kind of space for this listening.

Working with the land rather than simply being upon it asks us to notice relationship, reciprocity and belonging. We are part of the living world, not separate from it. The more-than-human world can become part of the therapeutic relationship, offering perspectives and experiences that aren't always available when we remain indoors.

For me, there is something quietly profound about this. I found my true nature in nature: to be wild and authentic, where I matter and am matter.

Perhaps eco-therapy offers a space to remember something of this. Not to become someone different, but to return to something that may already be there beneath all the striving, adapting and trying to be who we think we should be.

A gentle returning to ourselves, and to our relationship with the living world.