Go Prepared
Ph.D., executive director of Project NatureConnect, adds, “If you want to increase the healing effect of being in nature, it helps to change the way you think and feel about connecting with it.” He has students repeat the word ‘unity’ as they encounter natural attractions—be it a tree, bird, brook or breeze—until they feel that they are part of nature, not separate… part
of the healing wisdom of the planet. More, he states, “Sharing helps so- lidify the experience and opens you to greater personal healing.”
Maggie Spilner, author of Prevention’s Complete Book of Walking and Walk Your Way Through Menopause, leads walking vacations for her company, Walk For All Seasons.
Connect with Nature on Earth Day Return Home to Your Senses by Yvette Lyn
I
n this month’s Fit Body, forest bath- ing—experiencing the revitalizing benefits of fresh air and exercise in a quiet setting—is highly recommended for good health. Southwest Floridians that want to learn more about the healing power
in renewed the ever- present connection that I have with nature and others. I want to share what I’ve learned with others so that they can share in the peace and joy that is present all around us.”
Janet Weisberg
of nature will be delighted to partici- pate in Project NatureConnect (PNC) activities, which are a special part of the Earth Day events at Koreshan State Historic Site on April 22. In preparation for Earth Day activities, Kevin Piotrowicz, Ivette Gomez and 10 other participants eagerly enrolled in PNC training at the Happehatchee Center, in Estero. Upon completion, each noted a palpable, heartfelt sense of oneness with nature and everyone in the group. “Project NatureConnect opened a place in my mind that has always been there,” advises Piotrowicz, a PNC guide. “The experiences I participated
Gomez, a licensed mental health counsel-
or and fellow PNC guide, agrees: “My connection to nature is the first step to an intersubjective and interpersonal biology of love, peace and cooperation with all that is. As human beings, we are wired to be in relationships. The ‘separation syndrome’ has rendered us disconnected, unbalanced, fearful and ‘home’-sick.”
“Experiential PNC exercises, such as New Brain Connecting, Natural Consensus, and Natural Systems Think- ing, as well as others, gently assist our reconnection to our sensory knowing called self-evidence,” says PNC Facili- tator and Educator Janet Weisberg, who is also a certified traumatologist. “It has
Protect and comfort your feet when traversing forest paths and trails by switching to an off-road shoe, hiking shoe or boot, because the sole will grip uneven surfaces better. If weak ankles are a problem or if uneven trails or rocky climbing are on tap, select high- top models. Wear them around town before heading into the woods, and always take along moleskin or specialty blister band-aids and thicker or thinner socks to aid any hot spots or blisters. Note: A moisture-wicking synthetic sock prevents blisters better than an organic
cotton or cot- ton blend sock.
been my experience that people are starved for this sense of oneness with others and everything around them, because their lives are so fragmented and compartmentalized,” she advises. Through her own PNC practices, Weisberg has learned that being re- moved from direct experiences with na- ture, as well as mostly intellectualizing life and living in either the past or the future, separates humans from nature. Yet, nature is essential to our being and can restore self-evidence-sensing pow- ers. “When people have PNC experi- ences, they stop living their life in their head and learn to appreciate nonverbal understanding. They move into experi- encing life through their bodily senses, many of which they notice for the first time through experiential, nonverbal exercises,” she explains. “The language center in our brain interferes with our ability to feel our experiences instead of interpreting them. We don’t need words to listen to and connect with nature.”
Project NatureConnect activities are by preregistration only, which begins on Mar. 26 at Food and Thought, For Goodness Sake, Happehatchee Center, House of Gaia and Unity of Naples. For more information, call Janet Weisberg at 239-280-8229 or email Janet_
PeacePrevail@me.com.
natural awakenings April 2012 43
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