Nature & Mama’s Mental Health
Hey Mama,
This month’s newsletter will be slightly different. There’s no playlist. There’s no affirmation. No recipes and no journal prompts. It’s just me sharing a major life hack with you. Are you ready for it?
Today I’m talking about the benefit of nature when it comes to a mother’s mental health. Did you know you had access to free mental health support right outside your door? When I look back over my journey through motherhood, I’ve relied on many tools to help me clear my mind and process things (talk therapy, somatic movement, ect.) but the one that stands the test of time is nature.
Being in nature has proven to be beneficial for me when dealing with a wide range of emotions. It has helped with anxiety, sadness, anger, loneliness, creativity, happiness, joy, disappointment, shame, guilt, and love. What about nature is so important to a mother’s mental health though? I think it comes down to the feeling of being heard and held completely no matter what you’re feeling or how you show up. When I lived in LA I hiked Runyon canyon often to help me deal with the feelings of being alone in a new city. As a kid, I always played outdoor sports and felt my strongest in the sun. Even in college. I would sit by the waterfront at Hampton University or take the long way to class.
I started walking outside regularly when I was pregnant with my son in 2019. I thought it was to help prepare my body for delivery, but I realize now it was much more than that. Innately, my spirit needed to reconnect to Mama Earth, our great mother, as I transitioned into motherhood. I was learning to rely on her medicine early. Walks in nature became my number one addiction during the first 2 years postpartum. On top of new mom anxiety, I experienced anger related to my recent breakup, embarrassment about how my life seemed to be crumbling, and soooo much more. I was a wreck. But nature held me then. Even to this day, I go on walks or sit outside regularly to find clarity. Nature continues to hold me now.
I go to nature for everything and I want to encourage you to do the same. In no way am I undermining the importance of talk therapy or other modalities of reaching mental wellness. I believe they are all necessary for different seasons and reasons. But I am suggesting that there may be an easy solution to alleviate some of our everyday discomfort all year. I do wonder if it is the disconnection from Mama Earth that influences much of our maternal mental health concerns anyway. What if we turned to the trees and trusted they were listening? What if we believed the birds carried messages for us if we could just sit still to hear. What if swimming in the lake, river, or ocean could wash away our worries? What if the sun could melt away the pain?
We come from the Earth and it is the Earth we return to when it’s all over. Maybe it would benefit us to get outside more and spend time getting to know the goodness of Mama Earth while we live on her. I’m convinced, she has a remedy for anything we are going through.
If you’re ready to reconnect with nature and receive it’s healing power but don’t know where to start, consider joining us at The Fall Family Getaway next month. I’d like to show you how easy and how comfortable it can be to exist in nature. AND how good you can feel. It’ll be a weekend of no responsibilities; no doing. Everything is taken care of: food, housing, activities for the kids. Just show up and receive.
Let’s make our way to the lake!
Kayla
“As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears.” - Rumi
