Authors and visionaries like Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, Virginia Woolf, and Albert Einstein have written eloquently about the benefits of taking in the natural world. Frederick Law Olmsted, the 19th century architect of many great American parks, captured the experience well: 

“Nature employs the mind without fatigue and yet enlivens it. Tranquilizes it and enlivens it. And thus, through the influences of the mind over body, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigoration to the whole system.”

So let’s look at why nature is good for us. There are a few theories. 

The biophilia theory suggested that since we evolved in nature, our senses and body rhythms are best suited for that environment. According to biologist E. O. Wilson, there is an “innate emotional affiliation with other living organisms” that makes us calm and comfortable in nature. The sounds, smells, sights are our evolutionary “happy place” where we can rest and rejuvenate. We are deeply tied to a world from where we have strayed. 

The restoration theory presented by Rachel Kaplan at the University of Michigan says “soft fascination” with the beauty and mystery of the natural world draws us in. Nature, she says, is “enticing but not demanding.” 

Perhaps getting out in nature feels like getting back to the basics of movement, enjoying ourselves and quality time. In my view, those are all good things to start 2022 with. 

Best, 

Manal