Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
In an uncertain world, ‘green relief’ offers respite, healing and beauty
A recent article by Carol Lefevre for The Conversation that looks at the growing need for a connection with the natural world for the ‘green relief’ it can offer – perhaps now, more than ever, we could all use some green relief, as we deal with a world that seems to only grow more anxiety-inducing and uncertain.
What evidence is there that the natural world can have a healing effect?
Excerpts
In most cultures throughout history, medicine and botany have been closely entwined, and gardens have been associated with healing the body, mind, and spirit. From around the 4th century BCE, Greece had healing centres known as “asclepieia”, after the god of medicine, Asclepius.
In medieval Europe, monasteries kept medicinal gardens. In England, hospitals and asylums were set within landscaped grounds in the belief the tranquillity of the setting played an important role in lifting patients’ mood.
Our compulsion to turn towards the natural world is known as “biophilia”. The term was first coined in the 1960s, by German–American social psychologist and psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm. He described it as “the passionate love of life and all that is alive”, speculating that our separation from nature brings about a level of unrecognised distress.
Read more on The Conversation
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