Why Yoga and Nature? Plus, how to add more nature to your life during the winter!

Palm Tree Yoga with Sara is centered around combining yoga and nature to reduce stress and anxiety. Why combine yoga and nature? Because they both have been proven to reduce levels of stress and anxiety, so we can utilize both as tools in order to have an even greater impact on our mental health.

There is a lot of evidence that shows that being out in nature can physiologically reduce stress levels. One theory as to why this occurs has to do with our history as a human race. For thousands of years, our lives as humans comprised of living outside. We slept outside, hunted and gathered outside, bathed outside, traveled outside, and cooked outside. It was only very recently in the history of humankind that we started building shelters and started living indoors. Our ancestors had to survive in nature, and so nature provided calming affects that made them feel safe and stable. We still feel these affects today.

You probably have a certain place that you feel especially relaxed. For a lot of us, that's someplace outside. Walking the beach, hiking in the mountains, kayaking in a lake, camping in the wilderness. If you're lucky, you can experience these places on vacation. If you're extra lucky, you can sneak away to your favorite spot on the weekend or for an evening picnic. When you get there, you instantly feel relaxed and more like yourself. You can breathe

fully. Your worries leave your mind instantly. Other times, being out in nature helps you work through the problems you are facing because you can think clearer. Fresh air and sunshine do absolutely amazing things.

So how can you spend more time outside to increase this peaceful feeling? I'll have a lot of suggestions and ideas in the springtime, but it's winter now. Depending on where you live, it may be hard for you to go outside without freezing. This may seem obvious, but if you're able to bundle up and go for a 20-minute walk around your neighborhood, you will still see benefits of being outdoors. Even just getting out of the house and out of the office will help you from feeling cabin fever. When I lived in the Northeast, I absolutely hated the cold. Going outside for a walk when it was in the single digits was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. I put on a million layers, walked the dog with my mom, and always came back to the house feeling better. Plus, it was a relief to reach the warmth! It may feel hard starting out, but getting fresh air, feeling the cold breeze, and seeing different sights will improve your mental health.

If you live near the beach, lake, river, or woods, try visiting those places during the wintertime for a completely different view. One of my favorite memories is going to the bay after a huge snowfall and seeing the beach covered in snow instead of sand. The waves were slower than normal because of the cold temps, and the gentle waves hitting the snow-covered beach was quite a sight. Getting these different perspectives on nature can be very uplifting in a curious way.

If you cannot spend more time outdoors because it's too cold out or because you cannot make time in your schedule, here's how you can make a difference in your day-to-day life inside. While being at the beach, lake, wilderness, or mountains can offer a huge calming effect, even simply viewing nature can reduce stress. There are surprisingly significant changes in stress levels that can be made by altering your office space. One study published in HortScience in 2005 showed that participants who worked in an office space with either a window view of some trees or an indoor plant had significantly reduced levels of anxiety and nervousness, as seen in various psychophysiological responses such as blood volume pulse (Human Response to Window Views and Indoor Plants in the Workplace in: HortScience Volume 40 Issue 5 (2005) (ashs.org)). If you work indoors and have access to an office with a window view of some trees, flowers, shrubs, etc. try to position your desk so that you can see out the window. If this isn't possible or if you want even more of an affect, bring in a small indoor plant to put on your desk or on the floor. Some plants require minimal amounts of sunlight or no sunlight at all, and so they can be suitable for office spaces. You can find these plants at local nurseries or even at your Lowes or Home Depot.

Nature causes physiologically calming effects on our bodies and minds. Yoga also does this. Combining yoga and nature is a powerful way to reduce stress and anxiety. Palm Tree Yoga with Sara utilizes nature both on and off the mat to achieve this. On the mat, doing yoga outdoors can be incredibly calming. Off the mat, incorporating more ways to be outside or even bringing the outside inside (such as what is discussed in this blog post) can help you feel more like yourself even while you aren't on your mat.