Just a quick post from me today. I've been talking with my colleagues about the training and support that we can offer to individuals and groups to encourage people to connect with nature as everything starts to open up again, and as there is more sunshine (hopefully). As we experienced last summer, the outdoors was the go-to (and often only) option for people wanting to get together and we were pleased to offer zoom training sessions with the South Lanarkshire Countryside Rangers about how to go about taking a group outside, what you need to think about and ideas for activities that work well outside. You can find the videos of these sessions on our YouTube channel.
However, our focus has shifted a bit since we ran those sessions, as we have learned more about nature connection. Yesterday afternoon I was sent a link to a video published by the University of Derby about the Five Pathways to Nature Connection. You've heard me talk about these before, but for a quick recap, they are:
Contact - using all your senses to connect with nature
Compassion - making choices that consider nature
Emotion - reflect on your feelings for nature
Meaning - thinking about the signs nature gives us
Beauty - appreciating the beauty of nature
As well as watching the short video on the link above, you can also read more about it here.
I wasn't quick enough to press the stop button after watching the nature connection video, and as YouTube is wont to do, it started playing another video, this time a TedX Talk by Jon Young called "Repairing emotional isolation by reawakening deep nature connection". Not the snappiest title but as with any good Ted Talk, it had me hooked in seconds. He opens with the words "a long time ago, the lions ate a lot of us" and I'm afraid that is all I am going to tell you. I strongly urge you to watch the video, and learn more about how we can engage with nature, where we are, just as we are - and thus become super natural!
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