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C h e c k o u t A B M P 's l a t e s t n e w s a n d b l o g p o s t s . Av a i l a b l e a t w w w. a b m p . c o m . 27 SAVVY SELF-CARE best practices Back to Nature Biofeedback for Your Body and Soul By Jennie Hastings When I was a child, my mother would turn off the television and shoo my brother, sister, and me off the couch and outside. Without her insistence, we never would have chosen this change in activity ourselves, but she knew better than we did. She knew how important it was for people to get outside, breathe some fresh air, and feel the sunshine on their skin. I was always reluctant at first. It would be so much easier to stay in my soft burrow in the couch, watch another episode of Saved by the Bell, and eat some dinosaur-shaped fruit snacks. Going outside meant breaking my comfortable inertia and figuring out what to do with myself once I was there. I didn't have a choice in the matter, so my decision was clear. THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW Once I cast off my sluggishness and made it outside, I always felt better. I had a favorite fallen log on the side of our driveway that I thought looked like an alligator, and I loved to play on it. We had bikes, a pogo stick, stilts, jump ropes, roller skates, and various other objects of recreation to play with. A favorite outdoor activity was to check all the basement window wells for toads. As I got older, I would hit tennis balls against the garage door for hours. Now, as an adult, I love being outside. I am grateful that my parents instilled in me a love of nature and showed me how to play in it. Nature is one of the best forms of self-care I have these days. There is nothing more healing to me than walking on a path through a forest. I don't care where it is, what kind of trees there are, if it's uphill or downhill, or even where it leads. Just the act of walking a trail brings me to a centered and secure part of myself. The branches arching overhead, the sound of birds chirping, and the rustle of leaves in the wind bring me a sense of calm and grounding that I deeply value and truly need. For most of human history, we have intuitively known that nature is healing. Now science is beginning to provide evidence that proves what we already know. At the University of Utah, researcher David Strayer showed that nature measurably reduces stress and lets our brains rest. In one of his studies, participants performed 50 percent better on creative problem-solving tests after four days of wilderness backpacking. 1 In South Korea, most people live in urban areas and experience high pressure to succeed, and addiction to technology is rampant. The government has so clearly recognized the link between nature