"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." ~Lao Tzu

Ah, the beauty and simplicity of nature—a direct comprehensive way to access Innate Natural Guidance, particularly in unspoiled wilderness areas unpolluted by noise, lights, sirens, signals and radio frequencies. In nature our spirits soar, our energetic fields expand beyond the protective cocoons with which we surround ourselves. As we traverse nature’s pathways silent and alone, we effortlessly come into balance accessing both left and right brain hemispheres. Author, activist, and talk-radio personality, Thom Hartmann, wrote a fascinating little book about this phenomenon, stating that this balancing act is most profound on trails unfamiliar to us due to the fact that our eyes have a tendency to sweep back and forth helping us become better acquainted with our new surroundings. He also encourages us to focus on a specific idea or issue while walking, for as we access both halves of our brain we often realize unique avenues for action and solutions to problems arising out of thin air. Time spent in nature helps us to achieve balance, which allows for ease in accessing Innate Natural Guidance.

Along with left and right brain equilibrium, another balancing act occurs while interacting with nature—a mind/body connection, which is more profound when involved in new, challenging activities: navigating narrow goat trails along a cliff’s edge, scrambling over rocks during a spelunking expedition—any activity that asks us to move our bodies and make a connection to the location in a mindful manner. Ecopsychology, the study of how nature and ecology affects our psyches and spirits, speaks to this connection and balance. Addiction to technology, substance abuse, passivity, and a disconnect from our food and life-sustaining sources has resulted in what experts have termed: Nature Deficit Disorder. NDD has both family physicians and mental health professionals alarmed at the rise of disorders linked to mental and physical imbalances: autism (more profoundly among men), bipolar (higher in women), attention deficit disorder and various forms of depression and isolation. In 2009 the rise in pharmaceutical remedies for depression was at an all time high in the Western population.