Healing in Nature
After treating chronic disease for several years I’ve come to conclusion that modern life is one of the main reasons why we feel so sick and tired all the time. Our urban lifestyles often pull us away from the natural rhythms that once nourished our bodies and spirits, so in my practice, I try my best to get my city dwelling clients to reconnect with nature.
Forest Bathing
Forest bathing is a form of hiking in which you slow down and notice what’s happening around you. The nice thing about forest bathing is that you don’t need a deep wilderness to benefit. Even a city park, a small grove, or a quiet tree-lined street can become a sanctuary for this practice.
Science has shown that mindful immersion in nature lowers blood pressure, reduces cortisol, boosts immunity, and improves mood and sleep. For those living with fibromyalgia, forest bathing is a gentle way to step out of the constant “fight-or-flight” mode and let the body recalibrate.
The real magic, however, comes in how it changes your relationship with your surroundings. Instead of rushing everywhere, you begin to notice the subtleties: the way light filters through branches, how two trees lean toward each other, the tiny worlds of moss and insects.
Grounding
Grounding, also called earthing, is the practice of physically reconnecting your body to the Earth. At its simplest, it means walking barefoot on grass, sand, or soil, or letting your skin come into contact with natural surfaces.
The idea is that the Earth carries a negative charge, and when we connect directly, it helps balance the electrical activity in our bodies.
Scientific studies suggest grounding may reduce inflammation, improve sleep, speed up recovery after exercise, and lower stress levels. People often describe feeling calmer, lighter, or more “present” after just a few minutes of barefoot walking or lying on the ground.
Sunning
For as long as humans have existed, we’ve lived in rhythm with the sun. Its light governs our sleep, our hormones, and even our moods. In modern life, however, we spend much of our time indoors under artificial light, often missing the daily nourishment that sunlight provides. Sunning is the intentional practice of reconnecting with natural sunlight to restore balance in body and mind.
Sunning doesn’t mean baking in the midday heat or risking sun damage. It’s about mindful exposure: five to twenty minutes in the softer light of morning or late afternoon, adjusting to your skin type and season. Even in a city, you can practice sunning on a balcony, rooftop, or near a window where the rays touch your face.
Friluftsliv
Friluftsliv (pronounced free-loofts-liv) is a Scandinavian concept that translates loosely as “open-air life.” More than just outdoor recreation, it is a philosophy of living in close connection with the natural world, woven into the rhythms of everyday life.
For those with fibromyalgia, the beauty of friluftsliv is its accessibility. It doesn’t demand expensive gear or remote wilderness. It can be as simple as walking along a river path after work, taking lunch on a park bench, or sitting outside with a cup of tea to feel the air on your skin. The focus is less on achievement, climbing the highest peak, running the longest distance, and more on presence, belonging, and enjoyment of the outdoors.
Seasonal Living
Seasonal living is the practice of aligning your life with the rhythms of nature: the cycles of day and night, the changing seasons, and even the waxing and waning of the moon. For much of human history, these natural patterns guided our sleep, eating, activity, and rest.
In modern cities, however, artificial light, indoor living, and busy schedules often override these rhythms, leaving us overstimulated and out of balance.
By consciously returning to natural cycles, we give our bodies a chance to recalibrate. Exposure to morning sunlight supports healthy circadian rhythms, helping us wake more easily and sleep more deeply. Allowing the darker evenings to be quieter and calmer eases the nervous system.
Naturalist Observation
Not everyone connects with nature through spirituality or ritual. For some, the deepest sense of wonder comes from looking closely, asking questions, and learning how the natural world works. Scientific or naturalist observation is an approach that combines curiosity with mindfulness: paying attention to the details of plants, animals, weather, and ecosystems, and allowing the discoveries to spark awe.
Writers like Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees) and Tristan Gooley (How to Read Nature) have shown that ordinary landscapes hold extraordinary secrets. Trees communicate through underground fungal networks. Birds navigate across continents with uncanny precision. A patch of weeds by the sidewalk can reveal the health of the soil, the direction of the wind, even the passing of seasons. This lens transforms nature from something we pass by into a living book waiting to be read.
The scientific lens also complements other approaches. Where forest bathing emphasizes sensory immersion, naturalist observation adds the joy of discovery. Where seasonal living aligns you with rhythms, observation shows you the mechanisms behind them. Both rational and poetic, this practice reminds us that knowledge itself can be a form of reverence.
Books on Reconnecting with Nature
People seem to know instinctively that spending time outdoors is a good thing. But, with our modern lifestyles, where we spend most of our time inside staring at screens, we’ve become detached from nature.
I love reading and have a huge library on homeopathy and health. All the books that I review on this site I've read, and have found practically useful as a practicing homeopath. Here is my list of the most handy books on connecting with nature.
Peter Wohlleben
Peter Wohlleben shares his observations of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the forest and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group.
The reason I recommend this book and that is that spending more time in nature will impove your health. However, there is a mental/emotional component to fibromyalgia (fibro fog, overthinking, depression, anxiety) and one of the best ways to over come this is through mindfulness or living more in the present moment. Spending mindful time in nature is even better than spending time in nature. I believe the information in this book will inspire you to seek out nature and really begin to observe it in a more mindful and scientific way.
how to read nature
Tristan Gooley
When most of us go for a walk, a single sense, sight, tends to dominate our experience. But when expert navigator Tristan Gooley goes for a walk, he uses all five senses to “read” everything nature has to offer. A single lowly weed can serve as his compass, calendar, clock, and even pharmacist. If you tend to live too much in your head then there is no better way to awaken your senses not only to the outdoors but to yourself.
Dr. Qing Li
Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness is the definitive guide to the therapeutic Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or the art and science of how trees can promote health and happiness
Notice how a tree sways in the wind. Run your hands over its bark. Take in its citrusy scent. As a society we suffer from nature deficit disorder, but studies have shown that spending mindful, intentional time around trees--what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing--can promote health and happiness.
Once you've discovered the healing power of trees, you can lose yourself in the beauty of your surroundings, leave everyday stress behind, and reach a place of greater calm and wellness.
Richard Louv
The Nature Principle presents a compelling case that a conscious reconnection to nature can make us whole again and that the future will belong to nature-smart individuals, families, businesses, and communities. Supported by evidence from emerging empirical and theoretical research and eye-opening anecdotes, Louv shows that when we tap into the restorative powers of the natural world we can boost mental acuity and creativity, heal illness, increase immunity, broaden our compassion, and strengthen human bonds. As he says in his introduction, The Nature Principle is about the power of living in nature, not with it, but in it.
Micah Mortali
Rewilding: Meditations, Practices, and Skills for Awakening in Nature will help you reconnect with your wild essence as you awaken your innate bond with the natural world. Micah Mortali brings together yoga, mindfulness, wilderness training, and ancestral skills to create a unique guide for reigniting your primal energy―your undomesticated true self―and deepening your connection with the living earth.
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans lived intimately with the earth. We were in the wild and of the wild. Today, we live mostly urban lives―and our vital wildness has gone dormant. As a result, we’re more isolated, unhealthy, anxious, and depressed than ever, and our planet has suffered alongside us. With Rewilding, Mortali invites us to shed the effects of over-civilization and explore an inner wisdom that is primal, ancient, and profound.
Clinton Ober
Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever introduces readers to the landmark discovery that living in contact with the earth's natural surface charge - being grounded - naturally discharges and prevents chronic inflammation in the body. This effect has massive health implications because of the well-established link between chronic inflammation and all chronic diseases, including fibromyalgia. I've included this book because eathing is really easy to do, it's really cheap, and it really helps with the symptoms of fibromyalgia.
I’m Dr. Rodger Douglas, DMH, a South African-born homeopath now based in Osaka, Japan. With a psychology degree from Nelson Mandela University and a diploma from the Hahnemann College of Heilkunst, I specialize in holistic care for fibromyalgia. I serve clients by phone or video across the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe.