People who garden are people that like to engage with the outdoor world. For many it’s task-related with an end goal of having a lovely garden landscape. But nature can give more than just beautiful gardens – it can in fact improve your well-being.
This column was inspired by a pamphlet I kept from a visit to Hampton Court Palace in London, which boasts many wonderful and assorted gardens with different purposes. At the palace you will find two circular paths around the gardens to help you explore mindful walking in nature. The emphasis is to make a connection for mental and emotional wellbeing using step-by-step directions with suggested sensory and grounding exercises. This lends insights into the benefits of nature.
Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit your mental health. It can benefit your physical wellbeing too. There are ways you can connect with nature. Doing things like growing food or flowers, exercising outdoors or being around animals can have lots of positive effects. It can:
Improve your mood, reduce stress, help with anxiety, depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), 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 meet new people and reduce loneliness, connect you to your local community, help you feel more connected to nature, and provide peer support.
Take the opportunity to slow down, connect with the present moment, and gently tune into the natural world. Think of it as yoga without all the contortions! So, what is mindful walking? “Mindfulness is a widely practiced approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing, bringing attention to the present moment,” states the pamphlet. It helps to ground us in our bodies and surroundings and can be incorporated into everyday life. Maybe you are already doing it without labelling it. If so, you know how much better you feel afterwards. Here’s why:
Mindful time in nature can help lower cortisol levels, reduce blood pressure and steady the heart rate – making it a powerful way to relieve stress and support a balanced lifestyle. Although these instructions are for walking in nature, I think it could be transferable to other outdoor activities. The guide offers suggestions rather than rules. There is no right or wrong way to mindful walk, “do what feels right to you.” The key principles of mindful walking are:
1. Give yourself permission. Taking time out just for you is essential. See this walk as an act of self-care.
2. Remove distractions. Silence or switch off your phone if you can. A little digital detox allows you to be less interrupted and more connected to the environment around you.
3. Slow down. How often do you walk quickly, always on the move? Let this walk be different – slow your pace and notice what you see and feel. This is about connection, not completion.
4. Connect with your senses. Your senses connect you to the present moment. Listen, look, smell, hear: sound of birdsong, scent of herbs, texture of leaves. Let your senses guide you.
5. Be curious. Let yourself explore, look closer at patterns, textures or tiny movements. There is so much to discover.
The guidebook dispenses advice and fun facts that I will extract here: During a 20-40-minute walk through the rose garden and the tiltyard (a historical enclosed area designed for jousting – common to Tudor era castles and palaces), and kitchen garden it suggests pausing before beginning – noticing your breath, your body and how you’re feeling. Notice the transition into the peaceful green space. Stand still and let your feet feel rooted. Let your eyes scan the space: colors, textures, and movement. Notice the scents in the air and the sounds near or far.
It suggests wandering slowly through the tiltyard observing the shapes of the leaves and textures of the bark and how their branches stretch or twist “If a particular tree draws your attention, pause beside it. You don’t need to know its name – just enjoy its form and imagine its journey of growth.” Much the same applies to the kitchen garden where scents of aromatic herbs and the vibrant earth shout out. A fun fact: soil contains a natural microbe (Mycobacterium Vaccae) that boosts serotonin levels. Simply breathing in while walking, gardening or sitting outdoors can lift your mood. Nature is powerful medicine.
Finishing the tour, it suggests getting up close to observe the detailed patterns of leaves, flowers, and stems. Yes, stems. Take a seat on one of the benches and absorb the richness of the garden. Having a seat within your home garden is essential for this reason. Upon the return to the rose garden, you’ll notice the palace rising in the distance, states the guidebook. “These gardens have long been a place for people to pause, reflect and find peace.” Reflection is part of the reward: Reflect on the footsteps that came before you and, on your journey, comparing how you felt at the finish to when you began.
There is an additional nature walk of 60-90 minutes covering the wilderness, yew trees, fountain garden and the long water at Hampton, with lots of great suggestions such as pausing at the water’s edge and “let its vast expanse create a sense of stillness and perspective.” Did you know that trees release phytoncides, a natural compound that supports your immune system. Breathing in while among trees can boost your wellbeing. Another footnote noted in the guide state that natural settings offer ‘soft fascination’ – effortless attention that restores clarity, concentration, and mental energy.
These are good take-aways for us to apply here whether walking through a woodland path or along the shore or in your own private space. Take nature in and disconnect. Try it now!
“The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The Seaside Gardener
By Laura McLean