"Nature gives forth of itself willingly and abundantly.

~Sharon O'Hara, The Growing Place

Ah, the beauty and simplicity of nature, particularly in the more unspoiled wilderness areas unpolluted by noise, lights, sirens, signals and radio frequencies. In nature our spirits soar, our energetic fields expand, and the brilliance of the stars in the night sky are beyond compare. Traversing nature’s pathways silent and alone, it seems an effortless endeavor to access balance. Along with my own spiritual practice of cultivating curious attentive intimacy with the land, my life’s focus is to walk in balance.

At present, my lessons, papers and projects with ITP access the talents of my left brain, and the imaginative, creative and intuitive realm of my right brain hemisphere is activated through painting, poetry, music, silent meanderings, stillness and drumming. When I taught in the college, I was often asked how folks could more easily access hemispheric balance between the left and right brain. Of course I fully endorse participating in a drum circle, as this balance is created when left and right hands cross over and play various rhythms. I’m also a firm believer in hemi-sync music. However, one of my favorite methods is connected to the land.

You can’t change the problems of the world

using the same thinking that created them. ~Albert Einstein

Author, activist, and talk-radio personality, Thom Hartmann, wrote a fascinating book about the phenomenon of hemispheric balance and its necessity in our culture. His method involves the simple task of walking in nature utilizing two intentions:

1) Walking trails unfamiliar to us due to the fact that our eyes have a tendency to sweep back and forth as we find our way and become better acquainted with our new surroundings.

2) He encourages us to focus on a specific idea, issue, or problem while walking, for as we access both halves of our brain, we often realize unique solutions arising out of thin air and how best to engage in seeing them through.

Time spent in nature helps us to achieve balance, which allows for ease in accessing what I termed for a college class: Innate Natural Guidance.

In my research I have found that along with left and right brain equilibrium, another balancing act occurs while interacting with nature—a mind/body connection. It is more profound when involved in new activities that challenge you, thus making you more alert and mindful of the present moment: 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. Cultivating attentive intimacy with the land and achieving balance are life enhancing endeavors. Each engaged experience in this coursework holds the potential for realizing increased health and wellness.

Ecopsychology, the study of how nature and ecology affects our psyche and spirit, 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). A wonderful book entitled: The Last Child in The Woods by Richard Louv addresses this problem. It is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it. NDD has both family physicians and mental health professionals alarmed at the rise of disorders linked to mental and physical imbalance: autism (more profoundly amongst men), bipolar (higher in women), attention deficit disorder, and various forms of depression and isolation now affecting all of us, particularly our children. In 2009 the rise in pharmaceutical remedies for depression was at an all time high in the Western population. Therefore, mindful participation in this brain-balancing activity whenever you find yourself on a new trail, and just taking the time to visit the healing power of nature on a regular basis is life-enhancing in ways we’ve only begun to realize.