With thanks to Hayley Marshall at The Centre for Natural Reflection https://www.centrefornaturalreflection.co.uk/
In 2019, I attended a residential programme in Shining Cliff Woods, Derbyshire, called Taking Therapy Outside. Our group of twelve therapists stayed in a cabin, and cooked and ate communally. We gathered around a firepit, spent a rainy day in a beech wood, journalled, wrote and recited our poetry, and did therapy in pairs. Daily, we walked into the woods on our own to explore our responses to nature using the surroundings as metaphor. The seed for the Therapy in the Wild book was planted then.
It can be liberating, inspiring, and even transformational to walk outside, breathe deeply, and swing arms and legs in steady rhythm. We can look down and pay attention to the small things like leaves, grass, flowers, mud, and insects. When we turn our attention upwards and outwards, we connect to the larger world—trees, lakes, mountains, clouds, the ocean, the weather, the sun, the moon, and the stars and reflect on our place in it.
We may venture into nature alone, relishing the silence, or with friends or loved ones, as we move into deeper conversation. Perhaps we take along a dog or two, companions that offer another way of being, completely embodied and present in the moment. The greens, browns and blues of nature soothe and restore us, often bringing new perspective and clarity of mind.
But while nature may heal us, who is healing nature? Unfortunately, everyone of us is witnessing or experiencing directly the effects of the terrible tragedies of being inflicted on the Earth year after year, largely caused by human behaviours: climate change, poverty, pollution of air and water, over-consumption of meat, over-fishing the seas, destruction of the rain forests, and population growth. Humans are destroying the earth through greed and ignorance in a multitude of careless and heartbreaking ways.
That damage is perpetuated across multiple generations and affects our mental health. We may feel disconnected, lonely, depressed, abandoned, hopeless, despairing, or suicidal. We attempt to escape through addictive, repetitive, or compulsive behaviours that ultimately make us feel worse. This struggle with mental health is familiar to many, and some of us seek the help of a therapist – a professional who can listen and facilitate change and healing, detraumatise the past, and increase self-awareness.
This poetry anthology has been created by people who are therapists, as well as those who have sought and benefitted from therapy. Some of us fall into both categories. We are writers, poets, and artists and each of us has experienced firsthand the power of nature to heal, inspire and uplift. The poems in the book encompass a broad range of human experiences and emotions, from joy to deep grief. It The contributors come from ten different countries.
Just as you can enjoy singing without being a professional, you do not need to have a degree in creative writing to enjoy the benefits of poetry. The act of writing poetry is often therapeutic, and writing poems about nature allows us to re-experience or extract deeper meaning from our encounters.
This book is written for you—enjoy it! And go outside as often as possible...
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