What are Healing Gardens?
A healing garden is a space where you can relax, reflect, meditate, take a walk, or just enjoy nature. They promote health, wellness, and well-being.
They are often found near waterfalls, rivers, lakes, oceans, mountains, and forests. These spaces offer a sense of peace and tranquility. They provide opportunities for reflection, meditation, and mindfulness. They allow us to connect with our environment and ourselves.
Healing gardens enhance our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social well-being. They improve our ability to cope with stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and illness. They reduce pain and increase overall health.
There are many ways to create one, including planting trees, bushes, flowers, herbs, ferns, grasses, succulents, rocks, and anything else that makes you happy. You can plant them along sidewalks, paths, patios, and yards. Or, you can build them into your home or office.
What are important features of healing gardens?
Nature is the key ingredient in every healing garden. Plants provide oxygen, water, food, and shelter. They help purify our environment, relieve stress, and promote relaxation. A well-designed healing garden helps people feel better physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Abstract art and sculpture can cause anxiety and confusion in patients. These works are often abstract because they lack clear boundaries and shapes. Some patients find it difficult to distinguish between real and imaginary objects.
Patients with mental illnesses should never be exposed to large machines, such as air conditioning units, while outside. This could trigger flashbacks or lead to physical injury.
How to Create a Healing Garden
A healing garden should include plants and flowers that promote health, relaxation, and calmness. This type of space provides a sense of peace and tranquility. You can establish a healing garden indoors or out. Indoor gardens are easy to maintain and require little maintenance. Outdoor gardens are much larger and require more upkeep.
There are many different types of plants you can use in your healing garden. Some popular choices include lavender, rosemary, mint, yucca, ferns, and chamomile.
Connect with Nature
The healing power of nature is well documented. In fact, studies show that spending time in natural environments can help boost mood, lower blood pressure, reduce heart rates, improve sleep quality, and even increase longevity.
For patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or surgery, it makes sense to take advantage of these benefits.
Health Benefits of Healing Gardens
Gardens are more than just pretty flowers. They provide us with the opportunity to grow food, learn about nature, meet people, connect with our environment and improve our physical and mental health. In fact, there are many ways gardening improves our lives.
Exercise
A study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that gardening reduces stress levels and increases self-esteem. Researchers believe that the act of planting seeds and nurturing plants helps gardeners feel better about themselves.
Socializing
The same study found that gardening encourages social interaction among friends and family members. People tend to spend more time together when they work side by side in the garden. And while it might seem like you're spending too much time working outside, research suggests that those who garden regularly actually live longer than those who don't.
Stress Relief
If you've ever felt overwhelmed by life's challenges, gardening offers a way out. A University of Illinois study found that people who spent time tending to their gardens had less anxiety and depression than those who didn't.
Improved Health
A study conducted at the University of California, Davis, found that women who gardened experienced fewer symptoms of menopause than those who did not. Other studies suggest that gardening boosts energy and lowers blood pressure.
Why is nature still important to humans?
Humans are natural born wanderers. From the beginning we've been drawn to explore our surroundings, whether it's hunting wild game or simply exploring the world around us. And while technology has changed many things about how we live today, there is one thing that hasn't changed: our need to connect with nature.
We're no longer living in caves, but we continue to seek out ways to reconnect with nature, even if it's just spending some quality time outdoors. In fact, research suggests that being outside in nature can help reduce stress levels and improve overall health.
But why do we feel such a strong connection to nature? Is it really just a matter of survival instinct? Or is it something much deeper?
What health benefits does viewing nature offer?
Nature offers a distraction from our everyday stresses. Viewing it helps us relax and reduces stress and anxiety. Plants are known to help improve mood, boost energy levels, and even lower blood pressure.
Viewing nature also provides us with an escape from modern society. We may be surrounded by concrete buildings, busy streets, and other signs of civilization, but nature allows us to step away from all that noise and clutter. It gives us a chance to get back to basics.
And finally, nature reminds us that we're part of something bigger. When we look up at the sky, we seethe stars. When we gaze into the ocean, we see the vastness of the universe. Nature teaches us that we're connected to everything else in the world.
So next time you're feeling stressed, take a walk through your neighborhood. Go for a hike. Sit on a park bench. Look up at the trees. You'll find yourself feeling refreshed and ready to tackle whatever comes your way.
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Happy Gardening!
Dr. Vandana K.