Ecotherapy and Spirituality

February 1st, 2010
By Laurel Vogel, M.A., Ecotherapy / Nature Therapy Topic Expert Contributor

Click here to contact Laurel and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

Facebook Delicious Stumbleupon     Tweet

Tu B’Shvat, a Jewish celebration of trees, begins the evening of January 29th, marking the time when the tree sap begins to rise in the region of the custom’s origin. During this time of appreciating and respecting life, celebrants eat tree fruit or nuts. If I was a Jewish celebrant, this evening after sunset I might take a pomegranate and savor its sweetness, feel its tang on my tongue, and imagine the dusty region my ancestors came from, how they may have tilled the earth, or walked or prayed or sang together, connecting through taste and spiritual practice to the earth and my people. Although I may now be severed from that place, in this way I would remember and acknowledge my ongoing rootedness and connection to it. Why might a practice like this be important for our health and mental well-being? While nearly every religion has been used to excuse a lot of harm and mayhem, religion also seems to hold much value for containing restorative practices that may actually nurture a sense of meaning and act in beneficial ways in our lives. The spiritual aspects of a religion hold true, even if some manipulate it for their own less than benign purposes.

Spirituality is much on my mind recently, as I try to make sense out of the destruction just existing seems to cause. By my being here, I create death for other creatures, plants, and trees as I consume that which is necessary for my life, sit in a wooden chair, use a piece of paper, or drive my car to work. I wonder how to make sense out of this–how to give meaning to the disparate ways in which I impact the earth and consume resources. How do I remain open and connected to the earth, even as my life necessitates destruction? The obvious ways of mitigation (planting trees, recycling, restorative work, consuming less) are helpful, but I also need some way to find meaning in the process of life and death.

Our culture has developed many ways to deny the subject of death–and many of us deny the death caused in our daily lives for houses we live in, products we use, and cars we drive. It is this hiding and avoiding and distracting ourselves from death that may lay at the root of many of our problems. We hide in our insulated cars and buildings, we hide in our media and entertainment, and we shut ourselves off from the reality of nature rising and falling all around us at every moment. I believe spirituality is one way we can face death and find meaning in it, and learn to respond to the earth more effectively, with more wisdom and grace than, let’s be truthful, we have thus far. By facing death, we appreciate life more, and find ourselves living more respectfully.

In my own spiritual practice, death is a subject of ongoing reflection. At the root of this reflection is the knowledge that if nothing dies, nothing can then live. Death is the reason life is not static, that it is the dynamic, ever-changing and groundless place we are negotiating our way through. One of the precepts I’ve studied and attempt to follow is not to kill, but rather to nurture all of life. And yet, my life requires the sacrifice of plants and other creatures so that I may continue.

I’ve come to see how both death and life are much larger and more complicated issues than they at first appear to be. I swallow life, I swallow the fruit of a tree, and now those seeds will not germinate in the ground. My life is then allowed to continue because of its nourishment. In this way, I nurture my life which is, in fact, connected to all of life. Perhaps I take another fruit of this tree and plant it. I then nurture the tree’s life and continuance. I create life. I do not deny that I have caused death, but I realize it is also my own death that I am causing. And I acknowledge that one day this body will also die, and perhaps nurture some other life, or allow some other form to continue. Life and death is, in this way, one continuous event, not something separate and distinct. Watching and being in the natural world in an uninsulated way brings this truth home to me and helps create meaning.

If Nature therapy is about helping us feel more connected (and I believe it is), then it is at base a spiritual practice, whether we label it as such or not. Adding an existing spiritual practice to Ecotherapy can enhance and enliven it by connecting to practices that have long traditions and deep connecting roots to place and rhythms so necessary to life. The repetitions found in nature are echoed in many spiritual practices, and can be experientially included in nature therapy practices, even if they are not labeled as such.

In Zen practice, we stand together, we sit together, we walk together and create through very specific practices an enhanced sense of awareness of ourselves in relation to each other. This awareness continues to expand when I am out in nature–I carry this practice of attending to and relating to all aspects of my life, and notice how this attention brings meaning and depth to my life in ways I never dreamed. Developing intimacy in spiritual practice with my mind, my body, and my surroundings, I find myself feeling more naturally related to streams and birds and forests. I notice more about how things change, and see more of what is being damaged. This enhanced sensitivity helps me respond to the crisis the earth is undergoing with greater feeling and insight. It also helps me understand those I’d rather blame and distance. I’m not separate from “them.” In this way, Ecotherapy, laced with spiritual insight, may be used as a guide for compassion, caring, efficacy, and the creation of meaning.

 

Facebook Delicious Stumbleupon     Tweet

©Copyright 2010 by Laurel Vogel, M.A., therapist in Seattle, WA. All Rights Reserved.

 Print This Post

• Find the Right Therapist

  Enter Zip or City: 100 Miles
•