Eco-Wellbeing
„What would our lives be like if our days and nights
were as immersed in nature as they are in
technology?”
(Louv, 2012:2)
Nature in English Poetry
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
(Blake)
When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous
stay,
And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say,
'He was a man who used to notice such things'?
(Hardy)
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
(Wordsworth)
Seven Dimensions of Wellness

Social Wellness: is the process of creating and maintaining
healthy relationships through the choices we make.This also
refers to our ability to relate well to others, both within and
outside of the family unit.

Physical Wellness: signifies the process of making choices to
create flexible, cardiovascularly fit, energetic, and strong bodies
The choices we make are related to exercise, nutrition, rest and
sleep, intentional and responsible sexual choices, stress
management, management of injuries and illness, and the
responsible use of alcohol and other drugs.

Emotional Wellness: is the ability to understand your own
feelings, accept your limitations, and achieve emotional stability.

Intellectual Wellness: is the process of using our minds to create
a greater understanding and appreciation of the universe and
ourselves. Intellectual wellness is not dependent on intelligence
or ability; rather it requires making connections, appreciating
natural connections, examining one's opinions and judgements,
and questioning authority.
Seven Dimensions of Wellness
Continued….

Spiritual Wellness: is the process of discovering meaning and
purpose in life, and demonstrating values through behaviours.
Spiritual wellness includes acceptance of the concepts of
wholeness, unity, diversity, individual uniqueness, and the need for
community as well as personal responsibility to oneself and that
community.

Occupational Wellness: is the process of making and maintaining
choices related to work which include choosing a job for which you
are well suited, well-trained, and from which you gain satisfaction.
It includes staying current in one's chosen field, helping to create a
healthy organizational environment which contributes to your own
and others' well-being. Career wellness also requires balancing
work with the rest of your life.

Environmental Wellness: is the process of making choices which
will contribute to sustaining or improving the quality of life in
the universe. This dimension includes responsible choices
regarding the use of air, water, land, and energy so that future
generations of each species may survive and thrive. The
recognition of interdependence of humans, other animals,
plants and all of nature is a central tenet of environmental
wellness.
(http://www.accd.edu/sac/wellness/wellpage.htm)
Five Ways to Wellbeing
(New Economics Foundation, 2008)
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Connect (with people, not technology)
„Social isolation increases ill health and death rates.„
Be active
" Not being active makes us depressed because we are
evolved to be active"
Take notice (linked to ‘mindfulness’ concept)
"The more you relate to nature, the more positive
your emotions and the greater your life satisfaction”
Keep learning
”Those with more open minds are happier, not only
because they stay mentally vigorous but also because
they gain a renewed sense of mastery”
Give
"It can be about thinking ahead and how to give a
healthy planet to future generations, as yet unborn.„
Trends in Eco-Wellbeing

Understanding of environmental psychology

Use of ecotherapy

Green spirituality

Use of organic and bio products

Local and seasonal foods

Exercise in the fresh air (‘Green Gyms’)

‚Transition town’ and ‚slow city’ movements

Natural locations for spas and retreats

Greening of spas and eco-friendliness

Interest in local and indigenous treatments

Natural cosmetics
LOHAS – Lifestyles of Health
and Sustainability

Describes an estimated $290 billion U.S. marketplace
for goods and services focused on health, the
environment, social justice, personal development and
sustainable living.

Approximately 13-19% percent of the adults in the U.S.
are currently considered LOHAS Consumers.

LOHAS identifies different sectors:

Personal health

Green building

Ecotourism

Natural lifestyles

Alternative transport

Alternative energy
Environmental Psychology

Environmental psychologists try to determine what makes
humans comfortable and how we can adjust our surroundings to
reduce stress and enhance quality of life for as many people as
possible.

A great deal of the environmental psychology discipline is
devoted to how environment affects society.

Their work has a natural tie-in with conventional
environmentalism because they believe that unspoiled nature
can provide one of the best backdrops for human life.

When human beings are surrounded by parks and trees and
flowers, their minds function more efficiently and their moods
become more positive.

It is thought that when a person's environment is properly
arranged, his or her life-energy also arranges itself properly and
this can bring health, clarity of mind, and inward peace to the
individual (links to Feng Shui, Zen, Vastu – even ‚Virtual Vastu’)
Ecotherapy

According to Howard Clinebell, who wrote a 1996 book on the topic,
“ecotherapy” refers to healing and growth nurtured by healthy
interaction with the earth. He also called it “green therapy” and
“earth-centered therapy.”.

Ecotherapeutic work as Clinebell conceived it takes guidance from an
Ecological Circle of three mutually interacting operations or
dynamics:

Inreach: receiving and being nurtured by the healing presence of nature,
place, Earth.

Upreach: the actual experience of this more-than-human vitality as we
relocate our place within the natural world.

Outreach: activities with other people that care for the planet.

‘Ecotherapy uses a range of practices in order to help us connect with nature
and ultimately with our ‘inner’ nature.’ (http://www.ecotherapy.org.uk)

„The reinvention of psycho-therapy as if nature mattered” (International
Association for Ecotherapy)
Ecotherapy: The Green Agenda for Mental
Health (UK, 2007)
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Three of the Government’s six
key priorities set out in the
recent Public Health White Paper
were to increase exercise,
improve mental health and
reduce obesity we believe that
implementing this green agenda
would go some way to achieving
all three.
For the first study, 108 people
involved in green exercise
activities with local Mind groups
were surveyed. The activities
included gardening projects (52
per cent), walking groups (37%),
conservation work (7%), running
(3%) & cycling groups (1%).
90% of people who took part in
Mind green exercise activities
said that the combination of
nature and exercise is most
important in determining how
they feel.
94% of people commented that
green exercise activities had
benefited their mental health.
Some of their comments
included:

“I feel better about myself and have a sense
of achievement.”

“I am more relaxed, have better focus of
mind, greater coordination and greater selfesteem.”

“It improves my depression, helps me be more
motivated and gives me satisfaction in doing
things. Since starting the project I have been
able to improve on my quality of life. Coming
here has helped me overcome most of my
problems.”

90 per cent of those surveyed commented that
taking part in green exercise activities had
benefited their physical health. Comments
included:

“My fitness has improved, I feel refreshed and
alive.”

“I feel as though I can do things without being
tired. I am more active, I want to join in
things and my body is looser and more agile.”
(www.mind.org.uk/mindweek)
Ecotherapy: The Green Agenda
for Mental Health
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The second study looks at the role  Self- esteem:
the environment plays on the
 outdoors
effectiveness of exercise for
improved 70%;
mental wellbeing. 20 members of
indoors 17%
local Mind associations took part in
2 walks in contrasting
 Depression:
environments to test the impact
 outdoors 71%
on self-esteem, mood and
improved;
enjoyment.
indoors 45%
The green, outdoor walk was
around Belhus Woods Country Park  Tension:
in Essex, which has a varied
 outdoors 71%
landscape of woodlands,
improved;
grasslands and lakes. The indoor
indoors 28%
walk was around a shopping centre
in Essex.
Nature Deficit Disorder

NDD was written about by author Richard Louv (2005) in his book Last
Child in the Woods in order to explain how society’s disconnection with
nature is affecting today's children.

Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical condition; it is a description of
the human costs of alienation from (lack of contact/connection) with
nature.

The symptoms of NDD include attention problems, obesity, anxiety, and
depression.

Problems with too much time indoors with TV, computers, mobile phones

Water, trees, bushes, flowers, woods, and streams are the best kind of
toys!

Evidence shows that:

children learn more and behave better when lessons are conducted outdoors

symptoms of children diagnosed with ADHD improve when they are exposed
to nature

children say their happiness depends more on having things to do outdoors
than owning technology.
Louv, R. (2012) The Nature Principle:
Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age,
New York: Algonquin Books.

The Nature Principle „holds that a reconnection to the natural
world is fundamental to human wellbeing” (p.82)

The idea of going beyond sustainability to the re-naturing of
everyday life, about the power of living in nature – not with it
but in it

„All of life is rooted in nature and a separation from that wider
world desensitizes and diminishes our bodies and spirits.
Reconnecting to nature, nearby and far, opens new doors to
health, creativity and wonder” (p.9)

„Our sensitivity to nature, and our humility within it, are
essential to our physical and spiritual survival. Yet our growing
disconnection from nature dulls our senses” (p.18)

„Short, quiet encounters with natural elements can simply calm
us and help us feel less alone” (p.55)

„The future will belong to the nature-smart – those (...) who
develop a deeper understanding of nature, and who balance the
virtual with the real” (p.4)
Louv (2012) The Nature Principle:
Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age, New
York: Algonquin Books.

Kaplan and Kaplan (1989) showed that direct and indirect contact with
nature can help recovery from mental fatigue, calm and focus the mind,
but also induce a state which transcends relaxation

Even five minutes in nature can help to improve mood

Helps humans to return to biological instead of mechanical time

Japanese research on ‚forest therapy’, including for employees

The natural world connects people to their ‚authentic selves’ (Weinstein
et al., 2009)

The natural world as a ‚window into spiritual intelligence’

Idea of ‚Vitamin N’ for nature (e.g. in Ecotherapy)

Even seeing a view of nature helps patients recover more quickly

BMI of children lower in green neighbourhoods and less violence

People are more caring when they are around nature

‚Blue-green’ exercise is the best (green areas by water)

Helps with anti or active ageing

Should national park systems be part of the healhcare system? (‚the
nature prescription’)
Sustainability and Spirituality
Carroll, J. E. (2004) Sustainability and Spirituality.
Sunny Press.

Argues that true sustainability must be based in
spirituality and looks at religious communities dedicated
to the environment.

Carroll contends that true ecological sustainability, in
contrast to the cosmetic attempts at sustainability we see
around us, questions our society's fundamental values and
is so countercultural that it is resisted by anyone without
a spiritual belief in something deeper than efficiency,
technology, or economics.
Dark Green Spirituality
Taylor, B. (2009) Dark Green Religion: Nature, Spirituality and the
Planetary Future. University of California Press.

„nature- related religion has been rekindled, invented, spread, and
ecologized. A great deal of this religious creativity has been dark green,
flowing from a deep sense of belonging to and connectedness in nature, while
perceiving the earth and its living systems to be sacred and interconnected”

„I think a good deal of the global sustainability movement resembles religion
in general and dark green religion in particular. I think a good deal of the
global sustainability movement resembles religion in general and dark green
religion in particular. Sustainability not only grounded in concern for human
beings but in respect and reverence for all life.”.
Slow Tourism

„Tourism that respects local cultures and
history, protects the environment and is
socially responsible. More than this, however,
it is tourism that celebrates diversity,
connects people and brings back the joys of
discovery, learning and sharing”

„Slow tourism encapsulates a range of lifestyle
practices, mobilities and ethics that are
connected to social movements such as slow
food and cities, as well as specialist sectors
such as ecotourism and voluntourism”

Travellers enjoy a more authentic experience
of living in a place, rather than just holidaying
there. Slow travellers prefer to rent an
apartment rather than staying in a hotel and
enjoy activities such as shopping, walking,
cycling, tasting local cuisine and attending
cafés in their neighborhood which encourages
interaction with local communities.

Dickinson, J. & Lumsdon, L.
(2010) Slow Travel and
Tourism. London: Routledge.

Fullagar, S., Markwell, K. W.
& Wilson, E. (2012) Slow
Tourism Experiences and
Mobilities. Clevedon:
Channel View.
The Greening of Hotels and Spas

Many hotel chains have committed to sustainability schemes including
their spas (e.g. Accor, Mariott, Hyatt).

The International Spa Association (ISPA, 2013) gives guidelines on how
spas can be greener by embracing the three pillars of sustainability:
planet, people and prosperity.

The Green Spa Network was established officially in 2006. Their spa selfassessment includes: Environmental Sustainability, Social Justice, and
Accountability.

Retreat Finder (2013) includes a category for so-called Eco Retreats
which are described as “Environmentally sustainable retreats and
retreat centers employing a wide variety of tactics to help the planet
including: solar power, rain barrels, organic farming, recycling, and
much more!”

The Retreat Company (2013) lists over eighty Eco Retreats around the
world

Global Spa Summit (2012) mentions getting back to nature and ’earthing’
as major new trends in spas and wellness, e.g. walking or hiking
barefoot. More classes (e.g. yoga, tai chi) are being held outside in
natural surroundings. Spa design is becoming more focused on views of
nature and some are even being built in remote wildernesses (e.g. ‘popup’ spas).
Case Study: Wild Fitness, Kenya
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Wildfitness is a special kind
of health holiday – more like
an open-air fitness retreat
than a spa . It aims to help
people rediscover their
natural physical potential
which they would have
needed to survive in the
wild.
A typical programme lasts
from nine days to three and
a half weeks, and group size
is limited to eleven people.
Emphasis is placed on three
main elements, which are:
(http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=PL7NyzaXguw)

Wild Movement e.g. learning proper techniques
for physical activities like running and swimming,
challenging oneself, enhancing performance,
preventing injuries, strength training.

Wild Eating e.g. locally-sourced raw & organic
produce to ease digestive and other problems.
Two menus are available: Primate Menu (e.g.
eggs, seeds, nuts, fruit, non-starchy vegetables)
& Hunter-Gatherer Menu (the same but with the
addition of meat and fish). There may also be
cookery lessons and nutritional workshops.

Wild Living e.g. Learning how to control stress
through breathing, sleeping, relaxing, being in
nature & studying physiological responses to
these aspects of life. This also includes having
fun & bonding with the small group as tribes
would have done.
The Future of Eco-Wellbeing
Tourism?

Eco-therapy camps

„Digital de-tox” retreats in nature

Occupational wellness retreats in rural landscapes

Re-discovering spirituality through nature and landscape
„pilgrimages”

Eco-spas and retreats using only local and indigenous materials,
products and treatments

Adventure spas based on outdoor fitness or „Green Gyms”

Nutritional retreats based on local, organic ‚slow’, bio or
‚foraged’ foods
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Green festivals