So far this year has been a real test for all us with the worldwide pandemic that has turned our lives upside down and affected our daily routines massively, not to mention had devastating effects on a lot of people's livelihoods. There has been very little we have been able to control, planning has gone out of the window, and we've had to learn very quickly to adapt to change and find new ways of doing things. It's no surprise that it has taken its toll on our mental health and wellbeing and it's not over yet.
At Space Fitness & Wellbeing we're constantly looking to add new, exciting experiences that we can offer to our wonderful community. Whilst wellbeing related courses and events like mindfulness are not new on our agenda, we are growing this area even further by teaming up with likeminded people and places that resonate with our ethos to offer some very special events and experiences. More so than ever we feel there is a growing need for this.
Make It Wild
Last week a small group of us; Sarah Clough and two of our clients, Hannah Colman and Sue Drakard, and myself had a wonderful time in beautiful Nidderdale - more precisely Summerbridge, in the woodlands owned by Make It Wild. Helen and Chris Neave from Make It Wild are dedicated to preserving and enhancing the natural environment and they have planted thousands of trees in their nature reserves with plans of planting many thousands more to make homes for insects, birds and mammals. Basically their plan is 'to give nature back to nature'.
We had a test run of a Natural Mindfulness Walk run by Helen Neave from Make It Wild. She took us on an enchanted walk through the woodlands whilst stopping in beautiful places to do some mindfulness exercises that really united us with nature, the trees, the birds and wildlife - and ourselves.
It was incredible how differently you experience things if you consciously concentrate only on certain senses and when you feel at one with those then you can start to introduce more senses. As Helen said, the world is very visual nowadays so we may not always pay as much attention to things we don't see immediately.
Find Your Tree
I love everything to do with nature and grew up on a farm in Denmark with rolling hills around it and woodlands close by where I spent a lot of time during my childhood, climbing trees, making dens, riding my horse and just loving the adventure of being in the woodlands. However, I have never thought of finding a connection with a specific tree and that by really looking and leaving all your senses open you can feel drawn to a tree, feel a connection with its shape, the structure of the bark, how it feels to touch. Somehow, metaphorically, you can in fact read your life story. Wow - we had some deep thinking going on and it was lovely to hear each other's stories.
Here's my tree, an old oak tree with strong roots showing above the ground and a strong tall trunk branching into four thick branches with some twists and turns going on as they extend upwards and outwards.
What a great day, relaxing and a rare opportunity to stop and think about things, reset ourselves and really feel that wonderful bond with nature around us.
A big thank you goes out to Helen Neave at Make It Wild, you did a fantastic job and made us all feel at ease and relaxed. See you again soon.