Part of the Visitor Experience team at Dundreggan Rewilding Centre, Caoimhe is an experienced conservationist and yoga teacher who has been practising mindfulness in nature for many years. She leads guided rewilding, nursery, and mythology and folklore walks at the centre.
Before we begin, let’s pause for a moment. Sit upright, relax your shoulders, and take a deep breath in. Now do this a few more times.
Mindfulness is breathing, smelling, looking, listening, walking and touching. Every act, every breath, and every step in nature can be a mindfulness practice. It allows us to cultivate a feeling of empathy on a deeper level. Tuning into the rhythm of the natural world we become more aware of the interconnectedness of all living things.
I would encourage everyone to take this practice outside into nature - into a forest, to the seaside, or any green space you can find. The earth and ourselves become truly alive when we practice mindfulness in nature.
Spending quality time outdoors has been proven to reduce stress, increase happiness and creativity levels, as well as lower heart rate and blood pressure, boost the immune system, and accelerate recovery from illness. Nature has untold superpowers.
It is a place of profound beauty, strength, growth, and decay. Organic matter composts and recycles old lifeforms, before transforming them into new beginnings. Being present with the cycles of nature allows us to tune into the cycles within ourselves.
Gentle, dappled light cast through a woodland canopy; sunset and sunrise lighting up the iridescent dew on a spiderweb; soft aspen leaves dancing in the wind; sweet birdsong as dawn breaks. These moments bring magic to life and allow us to remember where we come from. We were born out of this world and will dissolve back into it.
This sense of empathy and connection is what creates relationships with the organisms in the natural world, moving our focus on human relationships to include relationships that are not species-specific. Be it plants, animals or people, the awareness that all life needs care and attention is one of the greatest results of mindfulness in nature and ultimately creates a global society of people who care for the earth.
At Dundreggan Rewilding Centre, we run guided daily walks through the surrounding woodland to share the many ways that people can rewild not only nature - but themselves too. Speaking to visitors about how they can cultivate a deeper connection to nature in a way that works for them individually and on a collective level - through tree and plant identification, heritage crafts, or foraging for food - are just a few of the ways we can experience the grounding, healing, and rejuvenating benefits nature has to offer. I hope you can visit us soon and experience it for yourself.
To find your own mindful place in nature at Dundreggan, go to visitdundreggan.co.uk