How to ground yourself in nature

By Marte Garmann

To really connect with nature is not that hard, it’s all about remembrance.

Some of my earliest childhood memories are strongly connected to nature. My first kindergarten was in a forest; outdoor facilities with moss and blueberry leaves, big pine trees, and birds filling the air with their songs. I guess I must have been around 4 years old because there wasn’t so much distance between my face and the abundant blueberry bushes.  And I remember having this strong connection to my surroundings. The ability to just ‘be’, taking in all the beauty and simplicity, feeling at one with nature—not observing it, not harvesting from it, not conquering in it or playing with it. Just being part of it….. 

I lived so many of my adult years in denial of my connection to nature before I remembered the simplest way to ground myself. Because, like many of us, we were taught early on how to use nature as a place to work out, go for long walks, harvest mushrooms, gather plants, pick flowers and explore new areas; all of which is so healthy and important for well-being. Still, I had lost the feeling of forgetting myself in nature and merging with my surroundings. The feeling of opening up to a deeper connection and feeling the trees, the grass, the leaves, the soil, the air, the rocks, the sticks, the stones, the snails, the mushrooms all living in my physical form. A total and complete integration between me and Mother Earth.

Nature connection

So, how do you really connect with nature? Nature is matter and energy and so is your body. First, you have to connect with yourself. And the easiest way to do that is through the breath.

Many of us have this ongoing chatter in our heads, analyzing everything, all the time. In order to calm those thoughts, the best way is to focus on your breathing. Inhale and allow your breath to go in through your nose and out through your nose or your mouth with a long exhale. Follow your breathing and stay with it as it slows down.

This way of breathing has an even more calming effect if you practice it out in nature. It can be in a park, in your backyard near a tree, in a garden, in a forest, or by the ocean. You can lay down or sit on a patch of grass or soft sand. Sit with bare feet, walk or stand with bare feet, press the palms of your hands into the ground, close your eyes and feel the earth. Or just look into nature.

Then think of nature as an expanse strong enough to contain all of you. It can hold you endlessly like a loving parent, and even more so because nature doesn’t judge. Feel the support, take it all in, and believe.

Whenever I feel I have too much in my head and too many feelings in my body, I often download it to the earth. I think of it as composting; I visualize everything I don’t need spiraling into the ground, combining with the soil, and transforming into nourishment for the plants and flowers.

Then I thank the earth for holding me, knowing that it will always be there waiting for me to connect again.

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