Welcome to the master list of anxiety relief strategies in nature! This page is updated regularly with activities and ideas for relief. Check out the blog for more detail on how to use these.
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JUMP TO PHASE:
Distraction
As a reminder, these techniques and activities are best for when you’re in the throes of anxiety and just need some instant relief. We all need this sometimes, and the activities below are healthy ways to get ourselves some quick help.
One of the keys to “distraction” is to try to allow it to come with a certain amount of acceptance. We all have coping mechanisms, but it’s important to develop these mechanisms into a tool that helps us understand that we are OKAY even when we have anxiety. This may be a gradual process, but it’s an important thing to keep in mind. We don’t want to disconnect from ourselves too much in order to find relief. It’s distraction, not disassociation.
These are very simple techniques, but it’s important to know that you can start here and experience immense benefits.
BREATHE
Breathing exercises are foundational to all anxiety relief, and what’s great about doing them outside is that you can really experience the fresh air, the temperature on your nostrils or in your lungs, and any smells that come your way. Find a safe place to sit or stand and just breathe.
My favorite breathing exercise is simply to count in seconds. Start by counting to three as you breathe in, then count to four as you breathe out. Start to deepen your breath, and increase the numbers, keeping the out breath longer than the in breath. My sweet spot seems to be counting to six while breathing in, and counting to 9 or 10 while breathing out.
Take your time with this, and focus your attention on your breath and your breath only. Also think about expanding your belly when you breathe, rather than keeping your breath in your chest. It may feel counter-intuitive, but you breathe more fully into your lower lungs, which feels like a belly breath.
FOCUS ON A PLANT OR ANIMAL
Nature can be distracting in the loveliest ways. And we underestimate what natural wonders exist just outside our doorsteps.
Animals work well for this because they are a bit more engaging, but if you can’t find a squirrel or bird to gawk at, find a plant with an interesting texture, or just one that is imposing (i.e. large enough to take up your whole vision).
The activity is simple – just move your focus from your anxiety to this animal. Observe it, watch its movements, laugh at any silly things it does. If it’s a plant, take note of the colors, the shape of the leaves or flowers, or the way it sways in the wind. Give this object or being your full attention, and if possible, try to relax your body while you do it. Give yourself at least ten minutes for this. It may feel uncomfortable to spend this long, but that amount of time will allow you to get some relief.
WALK
For something so simple, this is perhaps the most effective tactic, and my personal favorite. It makes logical sense – physical responses are uncomfortable and intense, and walking gently forces your body to focus on the act of moving your legs. I find it takes mere seconds to find some relief.
As you walk, you can incorporate breathing and/or focusing on a plant or animal as well, to immerse yourself in your surroundings and distract from discomfort. Once again, try to walk for at least ten minutes.
More coming…
Observation
While “focus on a plant or animal” above may seem like observation, it’s a small step below the anxiety relief techniques here. These activities require tapping into feelings, both external and internal. They are about exploring what is. Remember to do your best to keep judgement out of the equation. If at any point you get uncomfortable, feel free to re-focus on distraction, or just spend more time focused on the external thing you are observing, rather than your internal feelings. Over time, this ratio will shift and you will feel more comfortable focusing on yourself.
For these activities in particular, it can be excellent to follow them with a journal entry. Just write down what you observed and experienced. Nothing fancy. This helps to solidify the experience in your mind as well as in your body. Over time you will notice shifts and changes, hopefully toward a calmer overall experience.
EMBRACE YOUR INNER BOTANIST
Plants, leaves, and flowers are pretty amazing when you think about it. In fact, you don’t even have to think. On your next walk, stop when you see a plant that you find interesting.
Take a few minutes to learn as much as you can about this plant. Touch it, and feel the textures of it – the spines, petals, leaves. Look at it closely – notice the various colors and any interesting patterns. Smell it! Does it have a scent?
As you’re exploring and appreciating this plant, try two exercises.
- Practice being in awe of this plant. It might sound silly, but it’s a really fabulous way to embrace the beauty in the plant and build a habit of appreciation. Chances are, even if this is the simplest plant you could find, it’s pretty spectacular when you inspect it.
- Switch back and forth between being aware of the plant and the texture, and being aware of how YOU feel as you experience the plant. What do your fingers feel like when you touch it? What does it feel like to smell it? Does it make you want to take a deep breath? This is a simple exercise in becoming aware of your own body, the sensations you get with interaction, and your emotional reactions.
LOOK TO THE SKY
I walk nearly every day, and it’s amazing to me how many other people I see walking who (if they aren’t on their phones) are looking down at the ground as they walk.
This exercise is simple – look up. Similar to the inner botanist exercise, you’re making note of what you see. Observe if there are clouds in the sky, and if so, what is the quality of them? What do they remind you of? (I recently saw a cloud that looked exactly like a comb-over).
If you look long enough, you’ll also likely see a bird or two. What do the birds seem to be doing? Are they determined to get somewhere, or are they basking in their wings and flying casually?
As you look up, alternate the external observation with internal observation. How does it feel on your neck to look up? On your lungs? Are your feet flat on the ground? Are you leaning? And as you look up, what feelings does it bring up? Do you feel anxious? Do you feel your heartbeat? Does it slow down as you look?
MACRO AND MICRO
You know the expression, “can’t see the forest for the trees”?
Whether you’re on a hiking trail or in a neighborhood, there is a lot to see. We may walk without really taking note of much around us. Perhaps we allow our attention to be drawn by whatever is the brightest color, or whatever makes a sound. Or perhaps we’re detail-oriented people and get drawn in by minutiae.
Stop where you are and try this. See if you can, for a moment, take in the vastness of everything around you. See how broad you can make your awareness. This means visually, yes – don’t focus on any particular thing, but on the space in front of you broadly. But also use your other senses. Listen to the vastness of the space. Take deep breaths and feel as though you’re smelling the whole space.
Then, do the same with yourself. See if you can observe your body as a whole. Be conscious of the fact that there are millions of tiny pieces working together to create this whole. See what it feels like to be aware of all of it at once.
Alternate this with the inner botanist activity! Getting ultra-specific and then ultra-general is an amazing mindfulness activity.
More coming…
Connection
When you’re ready to work on a deeper connection to nature and to yourself, these activities are for you! They go beyond anxiety relief techniques, and more into self discovery. These can at times feel silly or woo woo, but do your best to stave off judgement and take them for what they are: activities to help you understand and connect.
Once again, journaling after each of these can be an added benefit.
HOW’S THE WEATHER?
Some people are so in tune with the weather that they can predict rain and snow by smelling or feeling the air. For the rest of us, we have weather apps. 😉
For this activity, you need about a week. Use a good weather app like Accuweather and commit to looking at it throughout the week. Each time you see that there is an upcoming change, go outside and see if you can feel it.
Does the app say it’s about to rain? See if you can feel the difference between that time and the dryer time that preceded it. As the temperature changes throughout the day, try to be super conscious of it.
Then, do some reflection in your journal. What does it feel like to be more in tune? Is it boring? Is it interesting? What do you have to do in your body to be able to sense these subtle changes more clearly?
If moon phases are your thing, this is a great activity for those too!
PATTERNS AND CYCLES
This is one of my personal favorites. I live in the path of a huge murder of crows (yes that’s what a group of crows is called!) as they fly from their nesting place to wherever-the-heck-they-go in the daytime and back.
The key to this exercise is to notice a pattern or a habit or a cycle in nature that you can observe for multiple days. For me, the daily crow migration is perfect. You could choose a moon phase, a flower that blooms only during the day or only at night (datura! evening primrose! night phlox!), or a squirrel that comes to the same spot to bury nuts.
Start by observing the pattern. How similar or different is the behavior each day? How does it feel to observe it? Then, really connect with the pattern. Pretend that you are a part of it. Imagine you’re one of the crows, or imagine what it would be like to only “bloom” at night.
Reflection and journaling is essential for this one. Make note of your own patterns, and how they are serving or not serving you. Note comparisons between yours and those you are observing in nature.
You may feel inclined to end this activity with a commitment to change or adjust your patterns, but I want to encourage you to do that ONLY if you feel incredibly motivated to do so. It’s not a necessary part of this – the purpose is simply to understand your own patterns more deeply.
SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT
This activity is about finding similarities and differences between you and some element in nature. I find pets to be particularly fun to do this with. 🙂 So my example will be my cat, Fox Mulder.
Notice and interact with the everyday activities of this creature. Fox gets an early morning meal, devours it, then sleeps for most of the morning. Around noon he gets hangry. After his lunch he get frantic and runs around for about an hour, playing and occasionally getting overzealous and running into something. And so on…
Make notes of which activities you relate to and also practice. Make note of moods that seem similar to your own. Reflect on those similarities. (Yes, there is a tendency to anthropomorphize here, but just go with it!)
Then make close note of differences. This list can obviously get quite long, but choose ones that feel important. You might also know some facts that help with this exercise. For example, I learned recently that cats have a much smaller prefrontal cortex than humans, which means their memories are simpler, and when they experience things like being put into a carrier to go to the vet, they don’t have the capacity to know that this experience will end! No wonder they hate it.
There are lots of other fun things to read about and use to explore these differences and similarities. It’s a fun exercise for appreciating being human and perhaps being a bit silly in the process (i.e. try playing like a cat – it’s pretty great).
More coming…
Growth
When you are in the growth phase, you are eager and ready to dig deep into yourself, and perhaps start to make some adjustments to your routine, your mindset, your health, etc. I will introduce some more structured activities to do for this phase soon, but for now, here are some journal prompts to get you started.
- Do you feel a sense of belonging in your home / city / town? Why or why not? What elements make up a sense of belonging, and how does being out in nature play into this?
- If you sometimes experience a sense of “losing yourself,” what does that look like? How can activities in nature bring you back to yourself? What else helps bring you back to yourself?
- When ecosystems are broken and repaired, it is sometimes almost like magic. A stream or a species can find its way back to health over time. How have you experienced this in your life? How have you found ways to repair or heal from experiences?
- What is your relationship to change and the unknown? What role does predictability play in your life? What can you learn from nature about change?
- Do you “hibernate”? Do your patterns and moods change from season to season? How do you perceive this – is it a welcome shift, or does it seem to hold you back? How can you embrace these ebbs and flows?
More coming…