How ecotherapy helps with mental health, wellness
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – May is Mental Health Awareness Month and today is CBS' Mental Health Action Day. So what does that mean? We're looking for ways to take charge of our own do the same. One of the oldest and cheapest forms of self-care is ecotherapy.
When was the last time that you went outside, closed your eyes, and took a deep breath?
Most of us would probably be embarrassed to admit it's been a while.
"People are needing more therapy, and more wellness because the world is a hard place to be," said Dr. Jaya Mathew, Owner of Wellness 360 in Dallas.
Our lives get busy, and hard. That's why Mathew says, we need a simple remedy. The great outdoors offers a solution.
"Our bodies are meant to connect to nature and our nervous systems automatically calm outdoors," Mathew said. "So, stand in nature and take deep breaths, use your five senses."
She keeps an ecotherapy garden outside of her office to use with her clientele and says she prescribes the "nature pill" to almost every client she works with. It's one of the cheapest and easiest mental life hacks we have.
"It is one of my favorite prescriptions to recommend, the nature pill," she said. "After working clinically for 20 years, I have seen the benefits of incorporating nature are immeasurable. For your body, for our well being, our stress..."
Ecotherapy can be enjoyed anywhere. She recommends sitting or walking at a local park, or the arboretum. Take five minutes to work on breathing, and engage all five senses. She says, even a tree outside your office could work.
If you get outside to do this daily, she says no doubt, you'll feel a difference.
"When you zoom in, your body will rest and the feel-good endorphins will rise, and we will create a buffering before you head out into the busy world," Mathew said.
