[2021-06-24] Healing power of nature
Today, the Daily Almanac―an email newsletter from the folks behind the Old Farmer's Almanac―presented an article entitled "Stay Calm and Plant Something." Author Robin Sweetser writes that gardening is one of the oldest healing arts:
It gives the kind of solace that our present society cries out for. If you are finding that anxiety is becoming too much to bear, head outside for a nature fix.
She references neurologist Oliver Sacks, who found that music and gardens were vitally important to patients with chronic neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. He found that his long-shut-in patients at the Beth Abraham Hospital in New York City loved nothing more than to visit the New York Botanical Garden, which was located across the road from the hospital. Quoted in The New York Times, Sacks says:
I cannot say exactly how nature exerts its calming and organizing effects on our brains, but I have seen in my patients the restorative and healing powers of nature and gardens, even for those who are deeply disabled neurologically. In many cases, gardens and nature are more powerful than any medication.
He witnessed the healing power of gardens and nature in numerous cases. For example, he discovered that a friend who had severe Tourette's syndrome would lose all his tics when hiking in a desert. He met an elderly woman with Parkinson's disease who was unable to initiate movement until she was out in the garden. And some of his patients with very advanced dementia or Alzheimer's disease couldn't tie their shoes or handle cooking implements, "But put them in front of a flower bed with some seedlings, and they will know exactly what to do."
Though I don't have a neurological disorder, I can attest to the healing properties of gardens. One of the most nurturing activities I have undertaken as part of my cancer recovery has been gardening. So far, I've harvested onions, radishes and herbs. It's such a pleasure not only to grow food, but to consume it. Today, for example, my daughter and I made an incredible Chimichurri Chickpea Salad using parsley and cilantro from the garden.
In her article, Sweetser likens gardening to an act of meditation:
Whether you are planting seedlings, picking beans, or pulling weeds, gardening requires mindfulness of the task at hand, carrying us into a meditative state of complete absorption.
But my favourite quote from Sweetser's article is this one:
One of the most hopeful things we can do is to plant a seed. It’s an act of faith that tomorrow will come.
And so it shall.
