Episode 5—Knowledge and Trees (Ecotherapy Podcast)
Yew trees can live up to 3000 years old!
In episode 5 of Nature Therapy Online, I talk about how I came to nature therapy/ecotherapy with virtually no knowledge of nature at all, and yet I connected with nature through the pure beauty of trees. Click on the black player above to listen.
Have you ever felt that your knowledge of nature isn’t ‘good enough’ to appreciate it properly? Have you ever connected deeply with a beautiful tree and then wondered if you ‘should know more’ about it for that connection to be valid?
When I went to my first ever ecotherapy training course (a small weekend course that took place in Edinburgh), I was embarrassed by the lack of knowledge about nature that I had compared with the other students. I had been working as a therapist for years, and I knew that nature therapy/ecotherapy was something I needed to explore further, but I knew so little about nature itself!
I decided not to let that get in the way. Our ancestors connected deeply with nature without scientific knowledge of it. Ironically, nature thrived better thousands of years ago too! So my invitation in this podcast is this: don’t let your potential lack of knowledge of nature be a barrier to letting it heal you, for you to connect with it as therapy. When it comes to practising nature therapy / eco-therapy, knowledge needn’t be important.
In the podcast, I talk about how trees were so important in my journey to loving nature, even though I could barely recognise one single species. I also share a simple exercise that you can try yourself, to connect with trees. I’ve typed it our below for you too:
Get to know a tree you’ve never paid close attention to before. Appreciate it in as many ways as you can. Look at it from a distance, noticing its branches and the individual way it has grown. Does the way it has grown make you think of anything in your own life? Go up close. Feel its bark. Smell it. What are its leaves like? If you can see anything living here, what is it doing? If you can’t, what can you imagine might live here? Why were you drawn to this particular tree? Reflect and maybe even write some journal notes about your tree.
I hope you enjoy the podcast folks!
If you enjoyed the episode, please do comment below or let me know however you like! Please subscribe on Itunes, or wherever you listen to your podcasts if you listen elsewhere. You can also subscribe via the RSS link below. Have a lovely week folks! Stephen x
