I am delighted to join Lucinda, a qualified Forest Therapy Practitioner, to co-host an in-person workshop for a small group, in celebration of the United Nations International Day of Forests, and inspired by the day’s theme this year: ‘Forests and Innovation’.

We will be offering relaxing nature connection oppoprtunities in the beautiful setting of Westbury Wildlife Park Foundation, and incorporating light-touch, coaching-inspired reflection points. For more information and to book, please visit the Eventbrite page: here or e-mail me on christina.transformational@gmail.com. The workshop is 3 hours, costs £35, and includes refreshments and a goodie bag. If you are interested but the time or location don’t work for you, let me know or sign up to receive information about future in-person events like this, as well as virtual versions.

With the theme of ‘Forests and Innovation’ as our inspiration, we are particularly interested in how connecting with nature can help us tap into creativity and fresh new perspectives. So whether you have a goal or challenge in the back of your mind, that you want to look at with fresh eyes, or you just want to feel lighter and have a chance to relax, come and join us for the afternoon.

Whether or not you will be able to join us for the workshop, getting out in nature is almost guaranteed to help you feel good. In this blog post, I’ll share a few of the things that are inspiring me as I prepare for this workshop, and which may inspire you too:

De-stress

Just being in nature – or even looking at it – has been shown in many, many studies to reduce activity of the ‘fight or flight’ system and increase activity of the ‘flow and grow’ or ‘rest and digest’ system. Within minutes of being in nature, the heart rate and blood pressure reduce, and after about 20-30 minutes cortisol lowers too.

This is important for creativity because when we are in a stressed state we tend to have a narrower focus, and are more alert to threats or problems, which doesn’t support ‘outside of the box’ thinking, new connections and exploration. Feeling safe, we can explore and get curious, take risks and be ok with making mistakes - which can all help with creativity and innovation.

Movement

Being in nature lends itself to moving, walking and exploring, and research suggests that this is good for creativity:

Walking, exercise and movement have been associated with greater creative thinking compared to sitting.
Walking on a flexible pathway or unguided pathway, and improvised movement have been associated with greater increase in creative thinking compared to structured movement or walking on a rigid pathway.
Flexible or fluid types of movement are associated with greater creative thinking, and studies have shown that ‘fluid arm movement’ was associated with enhanced creativity in three domains: creative generation, cognitive flexibility, and remote associations.

Playfulness

Being in nature can bring out our playful and adventurous side – scavenger hunts, exploration, getting lost, balancing, scrambling, climbing, wildlife spotting, curiosity (yes even for adults!).
Play, exercise and social interaction stimulate activity of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which stimulates nerve growth in the brain (and BDNF is inhibited by cortisol so in addition to encouraging playfulness, just being in nature can also result in more BDNF to be released by reducing cortisol levels).
Play allows our brains to grow, develop, change and adapt. This is neuroplasticity - and it's not just when we are children but throughout our lives.
Being able to change and adapt is also part of innovation – being able to make new combinations, seeing things with fresh eyes, getting out of old patterns and perspectives.

Inspiration

Nature is full of different shapes, colours and beauty, which can inspire our own creative and artistic energy.
Humans often come up with new ideas based on things they discover in nature (biomimicry).
Nature lends itself towards symbolism and we have a natural tendency to take new inspiration and new ways of understanding ourselves and our lives from that symbolism. For example, feeling strong and rooted like a tree, accepting the natural phases of your life like the cycling of seasons, feeling ready to bloom etc.

Embodiment

In nature we are more likely to make use of our body, hands and feet, increasing connectivity within the brain.
We may find it easier to make use of interoception (information that comes to the brain from the body).
We are more likely to be present in the body, or at least it might be more possible to create some space or quieten things down in the head.

Attention and concentration

Modern life, with constant demands on our attention, can lead to a mental fatigue, where we are increasingly likely to make mistakes, become more impulsive, irritable, find it harder to make and follow plans, and are more likely to have our attention ‘grabbed’ than being intentional about where we pay attention. This mental fatigue also increases our vulnerability to stress. According to Attention Restoration Theory, to recover from this, we need periods of effortless attention or fascination. In particular it is ‘soft fascination’ that has been found to be most restorative. Soft fascination captures attention effortlessly without completely occupying the mind, so that there is ‘headspace’ for emergence of unrelated thoughts and reflection. Nature is a perfect source of soft fascination, such as the sights and sounds of birdsong, waves, trees and leaves. As our visual system is specifically adapted to natural visual stimuli, we can detect and interpret it effortlessly and almost automatically, whereas the interpretation and classification of artificial stimuli requires ‘controlled’, effortful attention. When there is space in our heads for the emergence of unrelated thoughts and reflections, this means that creativity and innovation is much more possible.

Collaboration
There is a growing body of evidence showing that when we spend time in nature:

We are more prosocial and feel more connected to others.
We show more trust, empathy, and generosity.
We care for, help, and assist others more.

Collaborating with others is a great way to increase creativity and innovation as new ideas, combinations and opportunities emerge.

Every human is creative.

We can get stuck and fixed in the same way of looking at things. To find new ideas and solutions for your life, you need to tap into your creativity. Luckily Dr Jonathan Iliff, NHS Psychiatrist with a background in neuroscience, says that every human is creative, and that from a neuroscience perspective, creativity is with us almost every moment of every day - each time we connect ideas, new combinations of neurons fire.

Dr Iliff’s tips to finding your creativity:

Do things without purpose - play!
Don't over-focus: split attention leads to mistakes and therefore creative opportunities
Listen to music
Observe what's going on around you to get inspiration
Give yourself new things to look at - go to new and different places
Create things that matter or have meaning for you
Give time for ideas to incubate
Prioritise your happiness - we are more creative when happy

What do you find inspiring about being in nature?

We would love to welcome you to our nature connection and innovation workshop so please make sure you sign up here, or sign up to be the first to hear about future online and in-person workshops.

Join us: Nature connection and innovation workshop, 16th March