Cure for Anxiety: Let Nature Be Your Guide

Mother Nature offers a surefire cure for anxiety. And she can help decrease your depression, too. Just taking a walk in a beautiful natural area can do wonders for your brain, make you feel less lonely and more optimistic, while boosting your serotonin levels. 


People enjoying the sunset over the waterTaking time to enjoy a sunrise or sunset can be a great way to ward of stress and decrease worry and anxiety

Want an Easy Cure for Anxiety? Let nature inspire you and stimulate your brain.

Yes, you can overcome ANXIETY and Depression thru NATURE. Let sunshine be your drug of choice, and your ultimate cure. Simply by spending more time in nature, soaking up the fresh air and smelling the proverbial roses, you'll enhance your brain and feel better right away. 

So, resolve to spend more quality time in and around nature. Take frequent walks to not only stretch your legs but to breathed deeply the fresh air. Take time to notice the goings-on of nearby animals and devote time to cloud watching, one of my favorite ways to shrug off the stress and tension of a hard day and to center myself. Yes, I recommend these simple, but powerful steps to my therapy clients, and I use them myself. 

I have found, in my personal life, nature to be a powerful anecdote and at times even a cure for anxiety. 

How? Spend some free time in nature letting go of your worries and having fun. 

  • Walk or ride your bike instead of going in car.
  • Get more sunshine. Studies show sunlight is healing and therapeutic. 
  • Combine exercise and nature, taking advantage of each cadre of benefits. 
  • Interact with animals and birds by simply observing their behavior and being in their environment (this adds an intriging element that elevates interest and a  social component, reducing loneliness).
  •  Make yourself at home with dozens of plants, trees and other living things
  • Enjoy the sunrise or sunset, cloud formations and aquatic creatures 

Nature Is Therapeutic and a Good Cure for Anxiety and Depression

Losing yourself in nature is a therapeutic way to spend time and overcome stress. Nature has a unique way of making you feel better, no matter what you're dealing with. When you spend more time in nature you'll feel better, less stressed and more alive. 

I always feel a sense of contentment and a profound peace of mind when I take time from my busy schedule to enjoy nature. I may take a walk in the woods and sit on a bench to take in the beauty all around me and to enjoy the serene silence of the lush forest. Some of my favorite ways to enjoy nature are to hike, ride a mountain bike, trout fish, listen to waterfalls, photograph landscapes, especially mountains and water features, bird watching and star gazing. 

My psychotherapy clients asked me to create a relaxation audio to help them relax quickly and effectively, sleep better and find more peace of mind, so I recorded an original guided meditation and had it recorded in a professional sound studio. It's called Journey to Relaxation, and it's available for you to purchase here. Find out why many of my clients use it to get to sleep or to get past troubling worries and obsessions. 

The program only takes 30 minutes and you'll be floating on a sea of tranquility and positive thought before you know. It's the same audio I give clients to take home and use in their practice to fight anxiety and stay positive in a crazy, stressful world. 

A lovely Lighthouse and waterA lighthouse gives help to troubled ships and makes a relaxing and peaceful scene

A Cure for Anxiety: Do Natural methods Really Work?

Do such simple and apparently non-clinical techniques really work as a cure for anxiety? You bet! I've used them for years with my private psychotherapy clients, to great advantage. they won't replace the need for medication in all cases, but may reduce in some. Plus, using nature to reduce anxiety is a proven and healthy way to help yourself. Use nature along with medication, and you'll find a synergistic affect that really works for you. 

A Few Ways I debrief and protect myself from anxiety:

1. Cloud watching

2. Sunrise/sunset observing

3. Sketching on sidewalks with chalk

4. Peering at the sun through a mosaic of leaves

5. Star gazing and moon adoring

6. Eye closing and bird song listening 

7. Playing in sand boxes or gardens, getting my hands dirty

You can think of your own creative ways to stay mentally and emotionally healthy by being playful and creative out-of-doors. 

How Nature Works on the Brain

I encourage many of my psychotherapy clients to spend more time in nature, and I often make it in the form of a prescription. For some, it works better than an anti-depressant or an anxiety medication. When I used to manage mental health programs, before my private practice days, I would take my staff to a beautiful park for an inspirational retreat to help everyone to recharge their batteries.

I find that many modern individuals spend too much time indoors, not doing enough, and they don't get enough time to connect with nature. When a person starts spending more time in natural settings, their mental health improves. Nature is good for the senses and the brain.  And nature breaks down barriers, making it easier for us all to connect in meaningful and joyful ways. 

A Cure for Anxiety and Cancer: A True Story

Years ago, I was presenting a workshop on using nature to manage stress, anxiety and depression, when a woman came up to the podium to talk with me during the break. She told me she had been given only a cancer diagnosis and had been given just a few weeks to live.  

But, she asked her husband to find her a cabin in the woods where she could spend her last days. He obtained a rustic cabin and she moved in. She spend her days communing with nature and doing nothing, other than enjoying all of nature's beautiful gifts. She told me she felt closer to God there than anywhere else on earth. 

After some time, she went to see her doctor, who was amazed because her cancer had gone into remission. He told her that nature, her deep level of relaxation and her powerful spiritual connection had evidently cured her. 

Meditations on Nature

Can't get to where nature is, then try listening to nature. Play the sounds of nature in your house. Also, you can bring plants inside and cultivate green growing things to make your apartment seem more like a garden. 

Or, close your eyes, and we'll try a cure for anxiety through a brief, simple visualization:

"Float downstream and relax. Now visualize yourself walking through your favorite meadow, park or natural area. Delight in every soft, crunchy step on a carpet of leaves or moss. And delight in smelling the wonderful scents of lowers and bushes and fresh air all around you . . .  and find simple soy in seeing the beautiful trees and animals. Let yourself flow into the ONE and the ALL, as you trace cloud shapes with your eyes. Sit on a bench in the comfort of a cool shade tree, and let go of tension as you watch the slow drift of a turtle sunning himself in the clear, sparkling water. Feel a burst of dappled sunlight on your cheeks. Let go and be free of all worries and concerns, and let mother nature inspire and nourish your soul. Listen to her rarified whispers on the gentle wind." - Richard Hamon

Make a movie of it all inside your head -- a movie with lots of interest and living color. Make it real. Go there in your mind. Spend plenty of time soaking up nature. 

Your brain will take the cue and help your body and mind to relax. It works. I do this with my clients all the time. 

Become an Amateur Naturalist 

This could be a fun project to serve as a cure for anxiety. Turn your backyard into a small nature sanctuary, where you can sit and walk and enjoy nature at its finest. Plant native plants, add water sources and make your little place attractive to butterflies, birds and small mammals. You'll have your own built-in cure for anxiety. 

You can go through a naturalist program. Try, for example, the Audubon Society's naturalist program. Or just become a member . . . and you'll receive a multitude of benefits that can help you to stave off anxiety and get involved. Make great new connections with other people who love nature. 

www.audubon.org

More Nature Organizations You Can Join

The National Wildlife Federation is a great group that advocates for the well being of all things nature. They sponsor wonderful programs for children. 

www.nwf.org

Trout Unlimited is a terrific organization which cleans up foul streams, restores habitat and makes it possible for young and old to fish in and enjoy the greatest waters in the world. A great group for young people to join. 

www.tu.org

The Sierra Club helps with conservation, protects animals and fights against habitat destruction to benefit creatures great and small. 

www.sierraclub.org

In Sum

A cure for anxiety is right around the corner. Just spend more time in nature, noticing its hidden and obvious beauty, and taking part in her many offerings in any number of ways, and you'll automatically feel better, reduce your anxiety and depression, and promote your own invaluable mental health and well-being.