Nature Healing: Exploring Ecotherapy as a Health Modality

 Spending time outdoors (I call this outdoor time 'ecotherapy') can be incredibly beneficial for individuals experiencing trauma for several reasons. 

Ecotherapy & the study of the Languages of Nature has helped me with my aortic dissection healing

Here are a few key ways in which it can help:

1. Stress Reduction: Exposure to nature has been shown to reduce stress, with research demonstrating that spending time outdoors can lower heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Trauma can create chronic stress conditions, and mitigating stress is a significant step towards healing.
2. Mindfulness and Presence: The natural world can encourage a state of mindfulness, which involves focusing on the present moment rather than ruminating on past experiences or worrying about the future. This can be particularly helpful for individuals dealing with trauma, as it can provide a break from distressing memories and anxiety-provoking thoughts about the future.
3. Physical Activity: Outdoor environments are conducive to physical activities like walking, hiking, or cycling. Regular exercise has been found to reduce symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and can stimulate the release of endorphins, the body's natural mood lifters. Physical activity can also promote better sleep, which is often disrupted in those dealing with trauma.
4. Increased Social Interaction: Spending time outdoors, particularly in public parks or community gardens, can lead to increased social interactions. Social support is often a crucial component of trauma recovery, providing opportunities for shared understanding, emotional expression, and reassurance.
5. Restorative Environment: Nature has been described as a 'restorative' environment that can improve concentration and motivation. This is beneficial for those healing from trauma, where cognitive functioning can often be affected.
6. Improved Mood: Research has also linked exposure to green spaces with improved mood and mental health. This can be especially beneficial for those recovering from trauma, who may be experiencing issues such as depression or anxiety.
7. Ecotherapy: A form of therapeutic treatment which involves doing activities in nature. It can help to improve your mood, reduce feelings of stress or anger, help you take time out and feel more relaxed, improve your physical health, improve your confidence and self-esteem, help you be more active, help you make new connections, provide peer support, and provide a sense of belonging and community.  Ecotherapy benefits us through a variety of ways, such as;

• Improved Mental Health:
• Reduces Stress: Exposure to natural environments has been shown to lower cortisol levels, a hormone that the body produces in response to stress. This reduction can help mitigate feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
• Improves Mood: Nature has a calming effect that can elevate a person's mood. The simple act of taking a walk in a park has been found to trigger the release of endorphins, the body's natural mood elevator.
• Enhances Cognitive Functions: Natural settings can be restorative for our cognitive abilities. Research suggests that nature can help restore attention, improve problem-solving and creativity.
• Improved Physical Health:
• Physical Activity: Ecotherapy often involves physical activities such as gardening, conservation work, or walking, which can help improve cardiovascular health, muscle strength, and overall physical fitness.
• Exposure to Sunlight: Outdoor activities increase exposure to sunlight, which facilitates vitamin D production. Vitamin D is important for various bodily functions, including strengthening the immune system and bone health.
• Lowered Blood Pressure: Spending time in natural environments has been linked with lowered blood pressure, beneficial for heart health.
• Improved Emotional Well-being:
• Building Connection: Engaging with nature can help individuals feel more connected to the world around them, combat feelings of isolation, and build a sense of belonging.
• Mindfulness: Natural environments encourage mindfulness and can make it easier for individuals to focus on the present moment. Mindfulness has been linked with a range of health benefits, including improved emotional regulation and reduced rumination.
• Improved Social Health:
• Community Engagement: Many ecotherapy activities involve social interaction, promoting community engagement and social skills, which can be beneficial for individuals feeling isolated or struggling with social anxiety.
• Increased Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence: Accomplishing tasks in nature, like growing a garden or hiking a trail, can instill a sense of achievement, thereby boosting self-esteem and self-confidence.

Despite the noted benefits, it's important to mention that ecotherapy is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Spending the day swimming in Wakulla Springs recently was so very relaxing

What works for one individual may not work for another. For some, ecotherapy might best serve as a complementary approach alongside traditional therapy or medication.  This form of therapy is based on the idea that people are connected to and impacted by the natural environment. It leverages the benefits of nature to promote healing and growth. 

While I personally attribute time outdoors to having contributed to healing PTSD and trauma associated with my aortic dissection, it should be noted that ecotherapy isn't considered a replacement for professional treatment methods such as psychotherapy, medication, or cognitive-behavioral techniques. Rather, it's an adjunct therapy that can support and enhance these other treatment modalities.

Regardless, I've found that spending time outdoors has provided me with so many healing health benefits since my dissection and aorta operations and highly recommend discussing ecotherapy with a professional for anyone seeking to anyone seeking relief from mental or physical trauma.

We are Overlooked Assets! #Marfan #EDS #LDS

Sometimes we as a nation can't see the trees for the forest.  When people make fun of those with disabilities, that jesting can foster cultural underestimations of talent values.

Connective Tissue Challenged Persons.  We are assets!

In the last week I've been declined for life insurance and jeered at while driving along with the other typical situations someone with a health challenge encounters daily.  Our van has a disability tag and I purposely drive the speed limit.  Other drivers often gun their engines to pass me by, blowing their horns loudly and usually flipping fingers my direction.  This week a man about my age rolled his windows down while flying by and twisted up his hands and face as if he were having a seizure then laughed as he sped on into the traffic ahead.

Today I take it all with a grain of salt assuming these people are probably having a really stressful day, pumped up on coffee and probably dealing with dangerously high blood pressure.  I am very happy with who I am, health challenges and all.  In fact I think my health challenges make me special.

Not everyone I encounter treats me this way.  Many are courteous, notice I am walking with a cane and treat me with kindness.  My doctors and nurses and their staff seem to really care and for this I am grateful. But our alpha nation, in its fast paced bootstrap mentality often treats those of us with pronounced health challenges as a discardable class.

Attitudes of disregard for the disabled can even be found in our governments.  Since my dissection in 2011 I've had my drivers license medically revoked and I've even been handcuffed, threatened and put on the ground by Flagler County Florida sheriff's department, hands on their guns and tasers as I walked to the grocery store one afternoon with my cane, a limping man that was an obvious threat to society.

Inevitably within the business community my resumes are politely returned, with a thank you but not interested response once my dissection issues surface.  Some say don't disclose the issue but I believe in transparency and it is hard to otherwise explain away the hospitalization time gap.

The 'forest' of mis-information and unfounded assumptions surrounding people with disabilities masks an amazing pool of talent though.

Over the past five years I've come to know others living with connective tissue challenges, aneurysms and dissections, scoliosis and pumphead, chairi and other conditions.

They are some of the most ingenious, brilliant, kind, enthusiastic and talented people I have ever known.

They are also surprisingly some of the healthiest persons I know, despite walking a fine line between life and death in many cases.

And they are certainly some of the most shrewdest and analytical persons on the planet.

Our communities, our nation and our world would be so much better off taping into this talent pool instead of pushing us to the side.

When living with a life threatening issue one realizes that time is truly borrowed and holds great value.  We can be better time managers than the most productive wall street executive for we know the value not only of each moment but of each breath.

And in spite of our challenges, many of us are more healthy than most.  Our diets are focused on  non-processed foods while we avoid inflammatory, artery clogging junk.  Our CT scans may reveal a dissection flap but they also reveal clean arterial pathways and healthy organs.

Yes, we may have physical or mental limitations but we've learned to adapt a better way and work around those issues.  Adaptation is a key component of long term evolution and survival.

Our awareness allows us to deal with and address our limitations - giving us an advantage over many of those who like the ostrich with its head in the sand, don't know what their arteries look like or haven't been to the doctor in a long time.

Besides, as someone recently reminded me, all of us are dying.  Those of us with diagnosed health challenges are just more keenly aware of this fact.  We are some say, better prepared than most when an incident occurs and in the meanwhile make the most of our allowed time.

Because of our focused efforts on our health I would suggest that we are a better class of individuals to issue life insurance policies for, rather than being rejected time after time for 'heart conditions' or other generic but unsubstantiated factors.  Yes we've disclosed these limitations on our applications.  They may sound 'un-insurable' at first take. Yet I still contend those of us with health challenges may be a better insurance wish than those in the population who appear healthy but may be walking time bombs themselves.

Over the years I've met some of the greatest artists, poets and well read intellectuals who each battle with serious or debilitating health issues.  There is an amazing pool of knowledge and creativity waiting to be tapped by a society willing to embrace differences.

And we would make the very best of employees.

All we need is a chance.

But the life insurance rejection letters, the returned job applications, the brush-offs, dismissals and cold shoulders, exhaust smoke and fingers still keep coming.

Fortunately, we are a resilient group.  We don't give up easily.

Many of us describe ourselves as 'survivors' or 'warriors', a fitting description for a group who have experienced trauma and difficulties most can not even imagine, and come through to the other side with strong fortitude and unspoken yet perfected resilience.

The world would be so much better off if this pool of talent was brought into the fold instead of being pushed to the side.

We truly are an overlooked worldwide asset.

And so we ask the world to take note of what we can offer.  We ask all the support organizations out there that provide us with wonderful resources on our afflictions to also advocate for our acceptance into mainstream society.

Those willing to take a risk on us will be rewarded far beyond their expectations.

Living a life challenged by connective tissue issues, cardiovascular and skeletal, vision and other maladies is the best training ground for human creativity and enlightenment.

All the world has to do is to ask for our help.

And if they don't then they'll be missing out.

Designed to Help Disabled? 'Normal' Persons May Not Understand Disabled Life.

As a disability challenged person living in a world designed for 'normal' people, everyday brings on tough new gauntlets to navigate.

Publix bicycle rack is also the location for employee smoke breaks.

As a disabled cyclist I am forced to walk through second hand cigarette smoke to use the Publix Bike Rack

Unfortunately as the world moves ahead with new buildings, roads, cities and infrastructure, those of us who face life physical and mental challenges are still being left far behind.

Yes, there are many advocate groups who do good and help keep the issue of being 'different' than most out in the spotlight, and I am thankful for these efforts.  Groups such as the National Organization on Disability, American Association of People with Disabilities, The Arc, the National Disability Rights Network, and others all have a web presence.  Some offer links to helpful references and other provide useful information such as contact telephone numbers and addresses.

Yet even though advocacy groups may influence broad reaching policy decisions and have a positive effect on me as a 'disabled' person, I still encounter needless and thoughtless situations where I am discriminated against daily, especially with respect to access and transportation.

Yes, today there are many marked improvements in our surroundings and cities that have a profound effect for good for those of us living the disabled life.

Granted, most of us disabled persons can now use sidewalks with non-skid ramps instead of a steep curb, and rely on cross-lights that talk, whistle or beep to alert us of changes in traffic flows.  Too, there are automatic doors and widened bathroom stalls with reachable sinks.  Even most public transportation systems are 'disabled' friendly now, in many ways.  This is all well and good but there is still so much room for simple, straightforward and uncomplicated improvement.

Sometimes the most simplest, obvious things that can help a physically or mentally challenged person are those things 'normal' people tend to overlook and are the easiest for the world in general to forget.

For instance, I bike my world.  I have to bike my world because my drivers license is medically suspended due to my dissected aorta and side effects of the medications I take to keep my heart just barely beating in 'anti-rupture' mode. I am 'OK' with living my life as a cyclist though it presents difficulty at times.

Our local grocery store, Publix on Palm Coast Parkway has graciously installed a bicycle rack to the left of and not too far away from the front door.  I am grateful for the bike rack.  Many stores or facilities, even those you would think would have bike racks, do not provide bike racks.  But they all provide a massive amount of parking spaces in huge asphalt or concrete paved parking lots for the car drivers.

Back to the bike rack.  I am grateful to Publix for the bike rack availability.  I love their grocery store and they are one of the few places where I can purchase high quality, reasonably priced organic foods.  I depend on healthy foods to support my kidneys (which are recovering from total failure after open heart surgery) and my dissected cardiovascular system.  Unfortunately Publix employees keep forgetting that as a cyclist who uses the bike rack I must breath in all the second hand cigarette smoke their employees cough out when they take their smoke breaks immediately adjacent the awesome galvanized bike station.

This is just a typical example of 'normal' people not having a clue what the physically or mentally challenged persons have to go through to adapt to the 'normal' world.

I have sought out the store managers and asked repeatedly to have the employee smoke station moved away from the bicycle rack area.  The tall young female manager usually makes this happen for a day or so but then the entire must breath second hand smoke begins all over again.  I ask again and the smoking stops for a day or so yet begins once more soon afterwards.

Compounding the problem, customers who exit the store see the employees smoking and light up right next to the bike rack also.  

As a disabled cyclist I am forced to walk through second hand cigarette smoke to use the Publix Bike Rack

'Normal' people - those driving cars - don't have to walk through the smoke, rather they walk in through the front doors through areas away from the smoker break section.  If the employee smoke break section was adjacent the front door and 'normal' customers had to walk through the smoke, the smoking would immediately cause an uproar from 'normal' persons.

There is a very easy solution to this problem.  Publix should install a 'No Smoking' sign around all store entryways AND the bike rack area.  It should be obvious that if I purchase organic foods, those fruits and vegetables and meats free from pesticide, herbicide, antibiotic  and hormone contamination, then I also want to breath clean air.  I especially do not want to re-breath air hacked out by a smoker.

Second hand cigarette smoke just really does not fit the image of a Publix grocery store either.  So I don't get it.  But I am not a 'normal' person.  I am a person living with 'disability' issues.  I suppose the only way to get things changed is to raise awareness.  If asking does not work, continue to raise awareness by blogging about it.

A 'No Parking' sign may be too obvious also.   So after the second hand smoke from Publix employees, I had to deal with a construction truck driver who decided to park on the way home sidewalk and probably had no idea how important a clear sidewalk was to a person in a wheelchair or on a bike.

It is hard enough to navigate the construction areas around Palm Coast Parkway.  No pedestrian access is provided through or around construction areas during the ongoing widening project of the roadway.  Yes, access was provided for automobiles but none for pedestrians or for those in wheelchairs or on bicycles.  I do not think this was an intentional oversight.  Rather I think 'normal' people just don't have any concept of what it is like to life of a physically or mentally challenged person.

Automobile drivers have little concept of what life without a car is like.  For those with a disability a sidewalk can make life doable.  When the sidewalk is blocked this presents a potential to fall or otherwise injure one's self.

So to most parking a truck on a side walk is no big deal.  But to me, carrying bags of groceries on my bike it is a big deal.  I have to slow, stop, dismount my bike (hard enough under normal conditions) and walk around the truck, hoping my Marfan weakened ankle doesn't give out or my bike turn sideways off the sidewalk edge, spilling the groceries across the grass.  To me it could actually cause physical injury.

One would think a large construction company would recognize the need for disability and pedestrian access around construction projects.

A 'No Parking' sign along the sidewalk would be way too obvious.

Sure, people without disabilities have to deal with these second hand smoke and blocked sidewalk-no pedestrian access issues too.  But they are not forced to do so.  They have the option of their automobile.  If I want to carry any amount of groceries home I need my bike.   The Publix bike rack is right in the middle of the employee smoke break section.  

So I will continue to write about these challenges and maybe someone out there with a child, brother or sister or friend who struggles with life's physical and mental challenges, someone who is also 'in charge' at a grocery store or construction company or other corporation of governmental entity might read this and say 'I can help make a change'.

It doesn't hurt to ask.  It does hurt to continue to have to breath second hand cigarette smoke or twist an ankle or break a leg trying to navigate an automobile-less world.

Speak up if you have a life challenge.  Awareness is the only way we can make the world a easier place for those of us today with disabilities and for subsequent generations.