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Stay Sparked #24 - "Benefits of Nature"
8 Plays2 years ago
“Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
-John Muir
In this episode we share the benefits of getting out into nature! We talked about how different types of nature (ocean, waterfalls, desert) affect us differently. And we shared personal experiences of being grounded and healing from the earth.
HOSTS
BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer of massage therapy, CranioSacral and Dharma Coaching. She is an 8 year burner and has spent the last several years seeped in the personal development world, cultivating her passion for transformation and growth. Her recent project, The Power Affirmation Journal and virtual group empowers women to cultivate self awareness and healthy habits so they can live in greater freedom, mind body and spirit.
http://poweraffirmation.com/
Click here to get a FREE affirmation for Stay Sparked Listeners!
HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation YouTube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. His other podcast is "Hard on the 80's."
http://JohnStyn.com
JANUS REDMOON is a 10-time Burner, and has spent the last several years as an advocate for psychedelic medicine research and treatment. He is the founder and CEO of NuWorld Nutritionals, a nutritional supplement company providing mushroom-based, all-natural products to improve and maintain health for both body and mind. (Use code "SPARKED" for 10% off)
http://www.nuworldnutritionals.com
MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online.
https://dubsutra.com
Recommended
Transcript
Welcome & Episode Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:03
Speaker
On this show, we explore how to stay inspired in the modern world through the most profound lessons from Burning Man, relationships, entrepreneurship, psychedelics, spirituality, travel, and more.
00:00:16
Speaker
On today's episode, we talked about nature and how important it is to get into the world, the way it can affect our perceptions of ourself and the world around us.
00:00:26
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We talk about the ways that nature can nurture us and teach us valuable lessons in life.
00:00:31
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Also, the differences in what we can get out of various parts of the world, like what we get from the desert and the mountains and the oceans and how, if we can't get to these places, how we can get little doses of nature right here in the city.
00:00:45
Speaker
Enjoy the episode.
Meet the Hosts
00:00:48
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:51
Speaker
We are three longtime friends who have been inspiring each other for over a decade, and we are here to share conversations aimed to inspire you and light you up.
00:01:00
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening.
00:01:02
Speaker
If you have been enjoying our conversations, we really appreciate you leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcast, and please help us spread the sparks.
00:01:11
Speaker
Like Becca, thank you so much for your review saying great pod by great people about great topics.
00:01:17
Speaker
Keep up the good work, guys.
00:01:19
Speaker
Blessed be and burn on.
00:01:21
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Amazing.
00:01:21
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Thanks, Becca.
00:01:23
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I'm Betsy.
00:01:25
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I'm Healthian.
00:01:26
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And I am Yanus.
00:01:28
Speaker
I am the founder of the Power Affirmation Project that teaches life skills for sustainable happiness.
00:01:33
Speaker
And I am a holistic healing arts practitioner here in Southern California, spreading sparks of joy and healing energy.
00:01:41
Speaker
I am a lifestyle artist and love ambassador sharing my journey on the Hug Nation YouTube channel.
00:01:48
Speaker
And I am the founder and CEO of New World Nutritionals, a nutritional supplement company with products designed to improve your state of mind.
00:01:57
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We always love starting our conversations
Morning Routines & Health Changes
00:01:59
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with gratitude.
00:01:59
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So, Janus, what are you grateful for this morning?
00:02:04
Speaker
What I'm grateful for this morning is that for the last...
00:02:10
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Four days, five days.
00:02:11
Speaker
I've been on this optimized morning plan that involves waking up and immediately getting electrolytes and then immediately going outside and walking, getting some sunlight in my eyes and on my skin, coming back, taking a cold shower.
00:02:31
Speaker
And then starting pretty much starting my day at that point.
00:02:36
Speaker
And really, it's what it's done for me.
00:02:38
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It's like I've had so many friends be like, this is the best way to start my morning.
00:02:41
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And I've been doing it.
00:02:42
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And I got to say, it is pretty fantastic.
00:02:44
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I'm kind of feeling like Superman, like around, you know, by the time I get back and out of the shower, I'm a morning, I'm a daily coffee drinker, but I'm
00:02:52
Speaker
my coffee intake has probably been reduced by like 90%.
00:02:56
Speaker
I just don't feel like I want coffee after the shower, after I get out of the cold shower, because it's cold and then it's warm to actually get clean.
00:03:04
Speaker
And then you have to finish cold.
00:03:05
Speaker
That's the important thing.
00:03:06
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And so I come out of that and I'm just like, I realized that as much as I enjoy coffee, it is, I drink it as much out of habit as desire.
00:03:14
Speaker
And then when that desire is out, it's almost like I feel, I feel the habitness of it.
00:03:18
Speaker
And I'm like, maybe I don't want that.
00:03:21
Speaker
I guess I don't.
00:03:22
Speaker
And then I would go without it and have a fantastic, energized day like all day.
00:03:26
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So this is I'm grateful for my new morning routine.
00:03:29
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It's working out fantastic.
00:03:31
Speaker
I wish it started sooner, but it's never too late to start.
00:03:35
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Woo, amazing.
00:03:36
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Yes.
00:03:37
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I feel your buzz, your morning ritual buzz.
00:03:41
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No coffee needed.
00:03:42
Speaker
Amazing.
00:03:43
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Well, that's so funny because my gratitude is actually for my morning drink, which sometimes has coffee and sometimes has a base of tea.
00:03:51
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My recipe changes a little bit every few months, but currently I love putting mushroom powder in my drink.
00:04:02
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and collagen and I put bacopa powder and I put, sometimes I put agave, put a little bit of MCT powder and all kinds of other wonderful superfoods.
00:04:15
Speaker
And it is just like so yummy and nourishing and it gets my brain going and it helps me feel really good about having my morning drink because it's immunity boosting as well.
00:04:26
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And so I love, I'm grateful for my morning drink.
00:04:29
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Nice.
00:04:30
Speaker
We need to have a stay sparked cookbook soon.
00:04:36
Speaker
I want my gratitude this week is for skiing.
Embracing Nature & Personal Growth
00:04:41
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I had a chance to return to the snow and ski after a 30 year break.
00:04:47
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And there was a bunch of mental obstacles I had about why I couldn't or wasn't able to return.
00:04:54
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And, and so returning as a, a grown man, um,
00:04:59
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And experiencing the experience of being sliding across the earth, this being of grace through snow, as opposed to my younger experience of like shredding and trying to be cool and trying to like hot dog.
00:05:16
Speaker
It was just such a beautiful growth awareness for me to experience this present moment in nature.
00:05:23
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as opposed to the way that I was in the world as a youth.
00:05:27
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So I'm grateful for skiing for helping me to experience that.
00:05:33
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I love that.
00:05:33
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Yes, that's so beautiful to be able to glide across the earth.
00:05:38
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Well, I'm so grateful to hear that too, because we actually are deciding to share our conversation today about the earth and about nature and how nature nurtures us.
00:05:50
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Halcyon just came back, as he said.
00:05:52
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I also just came back from some nature time myself.
00:05:56
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And so we're feeling some sparks around why we go into nature and what it does for us.
00:06:01
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So love to start our conversation off around a question.
00:06:07
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So I think one of the things that's really alive right now is what does it feel like when we don't have ample time in nature, right?
00:06:16
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So I'd love to
00:06:18
Speaker
kind of just get curious with you guys have you guys have had that experience where maybe you've been deprived of nature and you've noticed some different things um so either of you want to share to start us off um i will uh start that off because i'm in the category right now of not having been in nature for some time and i'm definitely missing it a little bit uh i know i know you two have been uh
00:06:44
Speaker
enjoying yourselves out there.
00:06:46
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And I've certainly had my moments of, uh, of being in nature and seeing the results and then bringing that back to, you know, the, the daily day-to-day world, like, you know, usually living in a city or a big city and such.
00:07:01
Speaker
And at a, I've currently at a point now where I'm, I'm,
00:07:06
Speaker
feeling that that need and that necessity to get back out of the trees and for me it's as much as i love the ocean i like to live by the ocean but i like to go to the woods or the mountains or the desert that's where that's the nature that's the type of nature that really rejuvenates me and allows me to kind of reset and it's
00:07:30
Speaker
As much as what's going on out there, when you go to the mountains, there's trees and nature and animals and such, or the desert is a place that I've also really come to appreciate what it has to offer.
00:07:43
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But as much as what's going on out there, it feels to me like it's a blank slate.
00:07:48
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I'm bringing myself to there with no preconceived notions as to...
00:07:55
Speaker
What was, you know, how do I say this?
00:07:57
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How, like, as what is happening out there, it just provides me a chance to kind of, you know, draw a blank, you know, a blank canvas for me to work out my stuff on or work out my stuff with and allows me to think and feel and process without a lot of sensory information.
00:08:17
Speaker
input, Wi-Fi signals, people, sirens, the day-to-day city life.
Nature's Perspective & Well-being
00:08:23
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Getting away from that is as important for me to get away from the stuff as it is to get to the other stuff.
00:08:31
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And so I get a lot out of that.
00:08:34
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And it allows me to kind of come back to my day-to-day life with a much like refreshed, re-energized kind of sense.
00:08:42
Speaker
There's a very ceremonial aspect to my experience with nature that is important and necessary to get into.
00:08:50
Speaker
Nice.
00:08:53
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I feel like I sometimes am not aware of my need for nature until I'm in it.
00:08:59
Speaker
You know, like I, my baseline just shifts so that I think that it's normal.
00:09:06
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Like, um, like if you ever clean your sunglasses and go, Whoa, oh my gosh, they've been so smudged and dirty.
00:09:12
Speaker
And that's how I feel like when I get into nature and they're like, oh, wow, I've been just in a congested state of, of my being that, that needed to be cleansed.
00:09:22
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I'm going to share a John Muir quote.
00:09:24
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And I, I, I have a bunch of them written down because
00:09:27
Speaker
I was just in the Sierras and there's just quotes of his all over the place.
00:09:30
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So there's one that says, keep close to nature's heart and break clear once in a while and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.
00:09:38
Speaker
Wash your spirit clean.
00:09:40
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And that's how I feel like, like, oh, my gosh, I didn't even know I was dirty.
00:09:45
Speaker
But when I'm in nature and there's something specifically for me that are like, like that.
00:09:51
Speaker
absolutely reset me and jumping, submerging in the ocean and feeling the pounding of a waterfall, even like a tiny waterfall on me.
00:10:01
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Those two things are like, there's nothing like it for me.
00:10:04
Speaker
Like I am, that is me.
00:10:05
Speaker
My soul is clean after that.
00:10:08
Speaker
Mm hmm.
00:10:08
Speaker
All those negative ions.
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:11
Speaker
Oh, my gosh.
00:10:12
Speaker
So rejuvenating.
00:10:14
Speaker
I love that so much, too, because, yeah, we don't always realize that we need it until we go into it.
00:10:21
Speaker
I personally have found myself getting.
00:10:25
Speaker
sort of angsty or a little like easily agitated and you know like usually when i check in if i'm not feeling my best self that's usually what i need is whether it's like go down to the beach or go on a hike or you know just go sit and breathe with some trees it really does make such a big difference to be able to kind of like unplug in a way
00:10:52
Speaker
But also plug in, right?
00:10:54
Speaker
Or I also like to kind of, it feels like closing tabs, right?
00:10:58
Speaker
Like running around and doing so much and tracking this and schedules with that and making sure I'm here and making sure I do that and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, monkey mind, monkey mind, monkey mind.
00:11:07
Speaker
Then I get into nature and it's like,
00:11:09
Speaker
Oh, flowers.
00:11:11
Speaker
Oh, birds.
00:11:13
Speaker
Oh, clouds.
00:11:14
Speaker
Oh, that's all that really matters right now.
00:11:16
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Okay, just keep watching the waves.
00:11:19
Speaker
It just brings me into such a deep place of presence.
00:11:22
Speaker
And like you said, Janus, then when I come back into my doing life and the tending of things, then I have so much more clarity and I feel so much more centered and so much more grounded.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:35
Speaker
And so that clarity is, is like the, the, the key element that I think we're, we're kind of all talking about what you guys have both referred to is that idea of like, you get, we start to assume that the, that our day-to-day life is like our, our normal baseline.
00:11:52
Speaker
And you're like, we're that we're not seeing through, you know,
00:11:57
Speaker
a clear lens, so to speak.
00:11:59
Speaker
So it's, so the nature is a way of like cleaning off your lens.
00:12:02
Speaker
And the idea that, you know, you don't realize that you're carrying a weight until you take it off.
00:12:08
Speaker
And then it's like, Oh my gosh, it feels so much lighter.
00:12:10
Speaker
Nature does that for you.
00:12:12
Speaker
So it's important for me to really have a,
00:12:17
Speaker
you know, almost like a schedule to be like, to not just do it until like, I feel like I have to, like it's imperative.
00:12:24
Speaker
Like you get, you know, you don't want to wait too long to do it.
00:12:28
Speaker
So it's important to kind of almost like schedule that into your calendar at some point and just be like, no, regardless of what, I'm just going to schedule some nature time and then just getting out there and feeling that
00:12:40
Speaker
It's almost like using nature as a preventative as opposed to a cure for something.
00:12:46
Speaker
I'm getting to the point now where I'm like, I kind of need to go out in nature.
00:12:50
Speaker
I feel like I've definitely put it off too long.
00:12:54
Speaker
So approaching it as a...
00:12:57
Speaker
What's the word I'm looking for?
00:12:58
Speaker
Just, you know, just a modality.
00:13:00
Speaker
A vitamin.
00:13:01
Speaker
A vitamin.
00:13:02
Speaker
Thank you.
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:04
Speaker
Like a nutrient that I need to take once a month or every few weeks or so.
00:13:08
Speaker
It sounds like, Yonis, you might need to start putting some nature on your calendar more regularly.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's getting to that point where it's maybe fallen off a little bit.
00:13:18
Speaker
And I think it happens to all of us.
Lessons from Nature's Cycles
00:13:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:20
Speaker
Little reminders to like, yeah, the sips of nature.
00:13:24
Speaker
whether that's a hike or just a little bits out in nature to help to bring that sense of ease in life.
00:13:32
Speaker
And speaking of scheduling, it's interesting that one of the things that is so energizing or clarifying for me is when I look out over the ocean or into a forest and I have the sense that
00:13:48
Speaker
What I'm witnessing is the patterns and the cycles that I'm witnessing have been going on so long.
00:13:55
Speaker
You know, there's been animals chasing animals, things growing, dying, decaying, and that
00:14:02
Speaker
the drama of my life is so minute compared to this pattern that has been going on and is perfectly balanced, you know?
00:14:14
Speaker
And so suddenly all the stress that I have in my little one unique human life, like everything on my calendar is suddenly like statistically invisible, irrelevant, nothing.
00:14:26
Speaker
And so it's like, ah, I just find that just takes all of my tension and goes, whew.
00:14:34
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:14:34
Speaker
We're a tiny little speck in all of it.
00:14:38
Speaker
All of it.
00:14:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:38
Speaker
The first time I went snorkeling, I was in, I was in this beautiful place in Fiji and I went under the water and I saw this whole world under there and it was like, oh, oh wow.
00:14:53
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yes.
00:14:54
Speaker
I really don't.
00:14:56
Speaker
I mean, I'm part of this whole, but also like there's a lot more going on.
00:15:01
Speaker
than my own little tiny little world here.
00:15:03
Speaker
It just made me feel so tiny in comparison to this beautiful grand orchestra of nature and all of her creatures.
00:15:11
Speaker
It's just puts things in perspective.
00:15:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:14
Speaker
And that that perspective check or perspective shift is it's vital.
00:15:20
Speaker
It's vital to our to our well being both physically and emotionally, spiritually as well.
00:15:27
Speaker
We're going to get esoteric about it.
00:15:30
Speaker
So it's for me, it, it helps to, it helps to have that perspective check, but there's been, there've been times where I have, there was a time in my life where I, I was very aware on a daily basis, like how, how tiny I am and how not insignificant, but how there's, there's so much more going on than my little world.
00:15:49
Speaker
So I'm just going to be part of the whole infinite kind of thing.
00:15:55
Speaker
and it's, it's tough to operate in this world from that perspective, 24 seven, I, I, I, I tried it and, uh, found myself living in a van down by the river.
00:16:04
Speaker
And, uh, so it doesn't, uh, so it doesn't necessarily, it's, it's good to dive into that while also having, you know, get what you need out of it.
00:16:14
Speaker
And if, Hey, if you need to live in a van down by the river, that's a lot of people's dream right now.
00:16:18
Speaker
Uh, I'm great.
00:16:19
Speaker
I'm not hating on that by, by all means.
00:16:21
Speaker
Um,
00:16:23
Speaker
But there's a way for me to dive into it, get what I need out of it, and then I'm able to come back to what I'm trying to do in day-to-day life with a renewed energy, renewed perspective, and a new bit of more energy to get done what I want to get done.
00:16:45
Speaker
Absolutely.
Educational Value of Nature Documentaries
00:16:46
Speaker
There's so many lessons that nature teachers teach us too, right?
00:16:49
Speaker
When we're talking about perspective, I know for me, I always find so much insight when I look at the patterns of nature and the way that certain plants grow and the way that certain animals do things.
00:17:04
Speaker
You know, there's so much wisdom.
00:17:06
Speaker
Like an example that I always come back to is the butterfly.
00:17:10
Speaker
the caterpillars metamorphosis into the chrysalis and into the butterfly and how it teaches this really beautiful journey of our own transformation, right?
00:17:21
Speaker
We go in these different stages and cycles of life where the caterpillar is consuming and taking in and eating and filling itself up.
00:17:29
Speaker
And it gets to a certain point where it knows it's ready to go inward on a very deep level and allow itself to transform.
00:17:37
Speaker
And that teaches us level of surrendering to the unknown.
00:17:40
Speaker
It teaches a level of patience as well.
00:17:44
Speaker
And then to be able to witness what the butterfly then represents, right?
00:17:48
Speaker
It's a pollinating, it's a stage of life where there is much more expression.
00:17:53
Speaker
And it's taught me so much to like, I don't have to be outward and expressing myself all the time.
00:17:59
Speaker
I can, you know, sometimes go inward and let myself be in the chrysalis phase.
00:18:03
Speaker
And sometimes I, you know,
00:18:05
Speaker
get to move through these different layers of metamorphosis in short periods of time or long, more extended periods of time.
00:18:12
Speaker
So I feel like the animals and the totems and the symbology and the spiritual part of nature is always just fueling so much inspiration for me.
00:18:25
Speaker
And it's great that we live in a time where we have access to information and technology.
00:18:30
Speaker
So it'd be great to be able to witness the full cycle of a caterpillar into a butterfly and to research it and to understand what's happening during all those phases.
00:18:40
Speaker
But we have access to brilliant scientists and biologists that have shared so much that we can learn
00:18:47
Speaker
about things.
00:18:48
Speaker
And, and, and like, I feel like watching David Attenborough nature documentaries is, you know, can, is more powerful than reading the spiritual texts.
00:18:55
Speaker
You know, as you get to witness these, you know, animals and, and their patterns and their cycles, there's so much to be learned.
00:19:02
Speaker
I want to give a plug.
00:19:03
Speaker
There's a new thing on Netflix, Chimp Empire by the guy who did My Octopus Teacher, that is such a beautiful look at the personalities and, and the interactions of,
00:19:17
Speaker
of, you know, beautiful animals that are not humans.
00:19:20
Speaker
And I think this, the more that we can understand that the division between the human animal that we are and all the animals, you know, the more that we can be in, feel in connection.
00:19:32
Speaker
And I think also,
00:19:34
Speaker
I think that's also a part of cleansing, of letting go of so much of the false importance of our societal stuff.
00:19:45
Speaker
And again, the same thing you said, Yanus, you got to have a balance.
00:19:48
Speaker
It can't be all nature and all the worldly world.
00:19:53
Speaker
It's getting your nutrients of nature enough so that you can be healthy in both worlds, hopefully.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:01
Speaker
And, um, I think a lot of people may be listening to this, uh, have seen, uh, my, my octopus teacher.
00:20:09
Speaker
Uh, it was, it was fantastic.
00:20:11
Speaker
I, if you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend looking it out.
00:20:13
Speaker
So I'm definitely interested in checking out a chimp empire.
00:20:17
Speaker
Um, if it's by the same people.
00:20:19
Speaker
So, cause that, cause octopus teacher was really kind of somewhat profound.
Reflections on Different Environments
00:20:25
Speaker
for me to watch that.
00:20:26
Speaker
So, um, a question I wanted to ask you guys in regards to getting out in nature, what, if anything, what's we've all spent a significant amount of time at the desert, for example, um, as well as, you know, we've, we've, we're, our, our nature experiences vary a lot in a, you know, tropical, you know, mountains, desert.
00:20:46
Speaker
What is, for example, what do you guys get from the desert that you don't get from the mountains?
00:20:52
Speaker
Um,
00:20:53
Speaker
or or or the ocean for example i mean i'm interested to hear from you from you guys what's what's what's different from you guys in different environments what do you got what do you got betsy ah yes i'm like lighting up in that question because i love the desert um i grew up um very far away from the desert in ohio and i had this idea of what the desert was based on what i saw in movies and then i moved from ohio to arizona which is
00:21:22
Speaker
desert and it radically shifted my idea of what the desert was actually like in a way that was so beautiful and illuminating because my idea of what it was was just like dry desert barren no life and then when I got to the Arizona desert I saw the most beautiful life there
00:21:47
Speaker
that is so resilient and so strong and so just dynamic.
00:21:53
Speaker
And one of the things that I really enjoy about being in the desert is that there is this very apparent cycle of life and death everywhere you look.
00:22:04
Speaker
Joshua Tree is another one of my favorite places to visit the desert.
00:22:08
Speaker
We're here in San Diego, so it's not too far of a drive.
00:22:11
Speaker
And when you're walking around out there, you see dead tree just going right back down into the earth, you know, and then like just not too far away, there's another one growing.
00:22:22
Speaker
And it's just so incredible to be able to recognize that how we are in this constant state of death and rebirth.
00:22:32
Speaker
And the desert really shows us that.
00:22:34
Speaker
And it's like, oh, wow.
00:22:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:22:36
Speaker
Like I'm going back to the earth and then birthing again.
00:22:39
Speaker
And then the other thing I love about the desert is this, the expansive sky that's usually available in the desert landscapes.
00:22:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:50
Speaker
versus in the forest or the mountains it's a little different perspective and so you can see so far and wide and it's just this very beautiful feeling within that you know when we're looking out to this expansive uh skyline in nature then i can feel it inside as well so yeah i love the desert i love that answer betsy i i i
00:23:17
Speaker
I will see more in the desert now after hearing that, because I feel like the desert for me is such a place of stillness.
00:23:25
Speaker
And when I crave nature, I do not crave the desert.
00:23:28
Speaker
I crave the abundance of life in the decaying, moist soil of a forest or the big green leaves of a jungle.
00:23:41
Speaker
But there is, you're right, there is a dramatic view of that life and death.
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, I had this one experience, I'm going to shift from desert to jungle since that's what popped in my head, that I was in the Costa Rican jungle on a tour and I took like two steps off the trail
00:24:00
Speaker
and looked down into like a foot by foot section of the ground and was just like just staring at it, you know, for a certain amount of time and just looked at all the little bitty insects and the leaves that were fresh and the leaves that were decaying and little things scurried through.
00:24:16
Speaker
And I was just like, wow, there's so much life in this one foot by one foot section and then panned up and saw just miles and miles in every direction.
00:24:26
Speaker
And this is like just the, the, that feeling of abundant life, you know, it was just so powerful, um, that, uh, anytime I I'm kind of in my track of the world, I try to think about like, wait, what, there's so much happening in nature on this micro level and macro level.
00:24:48
Speaker
I guess that's another part of it, but, but, but, that, um, we, we have to, in our, in order to cope with all the input,
00:24:56
Speaker
we focus on what is ahead of us.
00:24:59
Speaker
And often as our lenses get blurry and, and, and dirty, what's ahead of us is our calendar and our to-do list and the things that, yes, they matter, but they don't matter with a capital M and, and, and that recognizing and using nature as a recalibrator of just how much is happening and how much, uh,
00:25:23
Speaker
Again, I guess it's similar to the thing I see in the ocean.
00:25:24
Speaker
I'm just like, oh, right, right, right, right.
00:25:27
Speaker
I'm small again.
00:25:30
Speaker
It's just I need it.
00:25:34
Speaker
humbling yeah it's um you know it's it's funny to to what you're speaking to john as far as like looking into a a small section of nature and see that it is just bursting with life and knowing that this is like just a mere foot section of like miles around you it's almost like looking at that that photo from the hubble telescope where it's like got that focus on the on the
00:25:58
Speaker
interstellar sky and every dot is like a galaxy and it's like there yeah there's a lot going on out there there's
Connecting with Nature through Practices
00:26:05
Speaker
a lot going on down here too for sure um that and that's that's what i get from like that tropical um myself whether i'm in hawaii or uh the jungles of peru like outside you know just off the amazon or costa rica for example or some real
00:26:22
Speaker
jungle areas i've been to there's just there's a lot going on there and while the desert is um that whole life and death aspect that is always always present in nature is a lot more stark in the desert um i find that
00:26:39
Speaker
Whenever I encounter, I'm much likelier to encounter like a carcass of a dead animal, like out in the desert, as opposed to nature, where I think that process is a lot more like, you know, when something dies out in nature, it's like, yes, the earth and surrounding me is like, yes, come back.
00:26:55
Speaker
Come back.
00:26:56
Speaker
Give me, give me, give me.
00:26:57
Speaker
Whereas in the desert, that happens, but it's a much slower pace.
00:27:01
Speaker
But you're more readily, there's a lot less around it.
00:27:05
Speaker
So you're more likely to see that and be a witness to that process as well.
00:27:11
Speaker
And I think being a witness to that process helps because we really don't see that on a day-to-day basis in our Western civilization.
00:27:20
Speaker
So it's important to get to kind of jump back into being a witness to the...
00:27:25
Speaker
the process of life and death and um and all that kind of happens in between much easier to get that in nature than than uh then uh a drive down to uh get our morning coffee so true you know um one of the things i really love to be able to connect with nature when i'm in my day-to-day if i'm not able to go camping or not able to go on a hike finding ways to put my feet on the earth
00:27:51
Speaker
grounding and earthing, right?
00:27:53
Speaker
There's this little patch in my front yard that I love going to in the morning when there's sun.
00:28:00
Speaker
Right now, it's been pretty gray here in San Diego, but when there is sun especially, I love getting to put my feet on the earth first thing in the morning, let the sun in, just ground, connect, and
00:28:12
Speaker
there's something that happens just biologically when we put our feet on the earth.
00:28:17
Speaker
So often we're just having the separation of whether that's concrete or tires or shoes or foundations of buildings that we're in.
00:28:28
Speaker
Same thing with hugging trees.
00:28:32
Speaker
Right.
00:28:32
Speaker
It's maybe a cliche to some people like, oh, a little tree hugger.
00:28:36
Speaker
I used to think it was kind of like, kind of that way, but now I embrace it because it really does support our nervous system.
00:28:43
Speaker
It really does support our bioenergetic field to recalibrate to nature in these simple ways.
00:28:50
Speaker
I know I personally had one, one sparkle shares recently.
00:28:54
Speaker
I was on a road trip and it was been a few hours and I started to feel a little kind of carsick, nauseous, just off and
00:29:02
Speaker
And so I was with my friend and we were like, let's just stop for a little bit.
00:29:07
Speaker
I was like, okay, what do I need right now?
00:29:10
Speaker
Oh, I think I just, I think I just need a ground.
00:29:13
Speaker
And so we found this parking lot and I found a tree and I just put my hands on the tree.
00:29:18
Speaker
And it really helped.
00:29:19
Speaker
It helped me to ground.
00:29:21
Speaker
It just helped me to slow down, you know, all those just electromagnetic frequencies of the travel and the movement and all of that.
00:29:29
Speaker
It's really, it's very powerful.
00:29:31
Speaker
So yeah, when I plug into the tree, it just helped me ground.
00:29:36
Speaker
It helped me to restabilize my energy after moving so much and all those EMFs and everything.
00:29:42
Speaker
And so it's just really amazing when we take that time to plug in how grounding it can be.
00:29:49
Speaker
there is a lot to be said.
00:29:51
Speaker
It's, it's, it's funny is I know that the idea of hugging a tree or like grounding, you know, barefoot in nature sounds, you know, can sound a little wonky to a lot of people.
00:30:01
Speaker
I think the only people that sounds wonky to you are the people who have never tried it.
00:30:05
Speaker
It's one, it's one of those things that I definitely had not judgment, but just, I was dismissive of that
00:30:11
Speaker
that hippie perspective for quite a few years until I got to be around enough people who were like, no, no, I'm going to go ground today.
00:30:19
Speaker
I'm like, all right, let me try this.
00:30:21
Speaker
And it's immediate, instantaneous, like not me just building something up on my mind, like putting my hands on a tree and just feeling myself just like my adrenals just draining like into the ground and just being just like relaxed and energized at the same time.
00:30:41
Speaker
I've had, you know, it's like just barefoot on the ground or putting my hands on a tree or hugging a tree.
00:30:47
Speaker
Um,
00:30:48
Speaker
there's some strong benefits and I think there's, it's been kind of scientifically proven in some level.
00:30:52
Speaker
I'm not going to get all into that, but, um, but I'm pretty sure I've read that there's some measurable benefits, uh, from doing these things from, from what one of my friends referred to as micro dosing nature.
00:31:04
Speaker
So like, if you can't, if you can't get out, you know, and do, you know, do the thing for a while, then you can, um,
00:31:12
Speaker
you know, do little things during the course of your day or the course of your week to kind of ground out and kind of reset your, reset your, reset your vibe, so to speak.
00:31:24
Speaker
That's wild.
00:31:24
Speaker
I mean, I was a, a not open to tree hugging until this last week.
00:31:31
Speaker
Really.
00:31:31
Speaker
I was, I was, when I was hiking, um, I was encouraged to get my nose deep into a Jefferson pine and it smells like butterscotch.
00:31:42
Speaker
It's so awesome.
00:31:43
Speaker
I'm like, wow.
00:31:45
Speaker
And then a couple of days later, I had a therapy session and I was asked to tune into my subconscious about some healthy ways to, it's a long story, but what my subconscious of the list of things that gave me to do, one was just get my hands on trees.
00:32:00
Speaker
And I'm now a believer, science or not, testify.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:07
Speaker
Yes, amazing.
00:32:08
Speaker
There's even research that shows how it can improve immunity, lower blood pressure, it helps us to clear trauma.
00:32:18
Speaker
Essentially, I think what's happening too is, I'm sure there's a lot of things happening, but one is it's helping us release oxytocin, which is a feel-good hormone.
00:32:27
Speaker
And so once we get over the judgment of ourselves being a tree-hugging hippie, whoever projected that out into the pop culture, then we start to actually feel the benefits of what happens when we connect in that way.
00:32:44
Speaker
And it's just so restorative.
00:32:46
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:32:48
Speaker
So...
Integrating Nature into Daily Life
00:32:51
Speaker
So we talked about like grounding.
00:32:53
Speaker
We were hugging trees.
00:32:54
Speaker
We got our hands on trees.
00:32:57
Speaker
Anything else that is good for like, okay, getting a nature prescription.
00:33:02
Speaker
If we're going to give ourselves a nature prescription, ideally we can go out for, you know, if only an afternoon, great.
00:33:09
Speaker
But doing the like multi-day nature break like we've all done is really like –
00:33:15
Speaker
essential for me at least a handful of times a year so but if we're not able to do that so we got grounding we got tree hugging um what else do we got i feel like uh betsy's probably got a whole prescription book of uh good things like that
00:33:33
Speaker
I got a few.
00:33:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:34
Speaker
You know, I'll share about something I sparked earlier was about negative ions, right?
00:33:41
Speaker
Negative ions come from when water smashes against itself, right?
00:33:48
Speaker
And it helps to eradicate free radicals in our bodies.
00:33:52
Speaker
And so you wonder why it feels good to sit by a waterfall or why it feels good to be sitting next to a stream or the ocean because we're getting all these negative ions, right?
00:34:04
Speaker
You know, oftentimes people sing in the shower
00:34:07
Speaker
Because you're getting these negative ions in the shower and it just helps us to feel really good.
00:34:13
Speaker
It helps us to be able to breathe deeper.
00:34:16
Speaker
And so just a little reminder, going to the beach is not only about swimming or trying to get sign.
00:34:24
Speaker
You know, it's really can be so supportive to our bodies and a lot of different ways.
00:34:31
Speaker
So yeah, that's one of my little vitamins is the, is
00:34:41
Speaker
I think I could do a whole episode on this, but, you know, houseplants and gardening are kind of doses of nature that if you don't have access to, you know, an actual trip into nature, bringing a piece of nature into your home and getting to witness it.
00:34:58
Speaker
Now, I know a lot of people are scared about that because they feel like they kill plants.
00:35:02
Speaker
And I would I would say if that's the case, you're probably overwatering.
00:35:09
Speaker
But just having a plant in your house that you, I'm surrounded by plants.
00:35:13
Speaker
I love, it does give me a little feeling of nature.
00:35:16
Speaker
I get to witness living things, cycles of things.
00:35:20
Speaker
And if you are not comfortable with gardening, I'm going to say, get a bulb, like an amaryllis bulb.
00:35:28
Speaker
And if you plant a bulb and just put it in dirt, you water it the once when you get it, basically, you'll have the real instructions on it, you know, and you will watch something rapidly
00:35:38
Speaker
have a life cycle in front of you that is so magical.
00:35:42
Speaker
My first experience with like spirituality was watching a bulb grow in my house, just being like, my God, this is amazing.
00:35:51
Speaker
So I want to mention that too, about getting into nature is a real gift.
00:35:58
Speaker
If you have an opportunity to watch
00:36:01
Speaker
nature in an extended way.
00:36:03
Speaker
It's difficult if you don't live in a place, you know, but like when I've talked to people who like live on the land, like our friend Leif has got property and I sat with him once and he was talking about as he's witnessed certain like vines overtake a certain tree, you know, and or certain times a year that this kind of animal comes in here.
00:36:21
Speaker
It's kind of what you witness when you watch the show My Octopus Teacher.
00:36:25
Speaker
There's a difference between a snapshot of nature that you walk through and a cycle or cycles of nature.
00:36:31
Speaker
And there's massive learning that you can do that.
00:36:35
Speaker
And you can do that in your own garden if you don't have access to live on land.
00:36:41
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:36:42
Speaker
Yes.
00:36:42
Speaker
I'll share a little inspirational trick that I do sometimes if I need a little nature, but I can't get out into nature.
00:36:52
Speaker
So instead of turning a show on or trying to just zone out by watching some
00:36:58
Speaker
I don't know, some series or whatever, turning on 4K imagery of either the forest or clouds or waves.
00:37:08
Speaker
We have this really big, beautiful TV screen that's a really high quality monitor.
00:37:13
Speaker
And they make these incredible videos, 4K and even better, of waves.
00:37:20
Speaker
And watching waves just makes my whole system just relax and zone out.
00:37:26
Speaker
It's really amazing.
00:37:28
Speaker
I'm not getting the negative ions, but it's still doing something.
00:37:31
Speaker
Yeah, there's that reminds me of, um,
00:37:35
Speaker
not going to get it right but there's this study like you're you viewing something there's something that happens in your brain that that causes a physiological response that it's not quite the full experience but you are getting you actually do get something out of viewing um something like your body's responding to it so yeah yeah you're not getting the negative ions but the other benefits that you might benefit from from being out in nature
00:38:01
Speaker
you could theoretically get just by viewing or hearing um you know something like that so like hearing like hearing birds out in nature or something i think your body does respond to that a little bit so um so actually actually putting something on the television um it's not a bad idea um just even if you're only like somewhat present and aware aware to it uh speaking to the gardening aspect
00:38:26
Speaker
Um, there's a lot of, you know, a lot, a lot of us have had an experience of having a, you know, bringing a plant home and then it just, we immediately kill it for overwatering or not watering enough.
00:38:36
Speaker
So that could, that could be kind of depressive, but there's a whole list of plants that are like super hardy that we can get that are good for us that are good, like for cleaning the air in our place.
00:38:46
Speaker
So get something that, you know, is hard to kill, so to speak, and, um, try that on.
00:38:52
Speaker
And one thing that actually is somewhat in my experience, hard to kill our,
00:38:56
Speaker
our herbs to bring those added benefit that we can cook with those as well.
00:39:02
Speaker
I've killed a lot of herbs.
00:39:06
Speaker
As have I, but I recently brought a basil plant home about a month ago, and it's thriving.
00:39:13
Speaker
I just added it to a meal the other day.
00:39:15
Speaker
There's something super satisfying about eating something that you've been growing or at least nurturing as well.
00:39:28
Speaker
I've had a good experience with rosemary and herb and sage as well.
00:39:32
Speaker
It works for me at least.
00:39:35
Speaker
Great, I love that.
00:39:38
Speaker
Well, there's just so much about nature that can continue to inspire us and we are gonna close it up with some sparks.
Commitment to Environmental Stewardship
00:39:47
Speaker
So I think I'll just actually start off with this closing spark if you guys are okay with that.
00:39:51
Speaker
Sure, please.
00:39:52
Speaker
So one of the things that has really been fueling a lot of my inspiration to give back to nature is to donate to these organizations that are planting trees around the world.
00:40:04
Speaker
It makes me feel so good to know that there are organizations out there that are getting their hands in the dirt and planting and reforesting.
00:40:14
Speaker
And so the project that I work on, the Power Affirmation Journal and groups, we contribute to planting trees around the world.
00:40:22
Speaker
And so that is just a wonderful way to just give back and stay inspired.
00:40:29
Speaker
So that's my closing spark.
00:40:32
Speaker
Thanks.
00:40:32
Speaker
How about you guys?
00:40:33
Speaker
I wanted to close with a quote that I read by John Muir about hiking, because sometimes I'm resistant to hiking, but this changed the way I looked at it.
00:40:45
Speaker
It says, hiking.
00:40:47
Speaker
I don't like either the word or the thing.
00:40:49
Speaker
People ought to saunter in the mountains, not hike.
00:40:52
Speaker
Do you know the origin of the word saunter?
00:40:54
Speaker
It's a beautiful word.
00:40:56
Speaker
Back in the Middle Ages, people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
00:40:59
Speaker
And when the people in the villages went through them, they passed, they asked where they were going.
00:41:03
Speaker
And they would say, a la santertiere, or to the Holy Land.
00:41:07
Speaker
And so they became known as santerteriers, or saunterers.
00:41:11
Speaker
Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not hike through them.
00:41:20
Speaker
I love that.
00:41:21
Speaker
You want to go into sauntering sometime?
00:41:22
Speaker
Yes, let's go sauntering.
00:41:24
Speaker
It's called Saunter.
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:26
Speaker
I love that.
00:41:28
Speaker
So, um, yeah, sparks for me around what we're talking about.
00:41:32
Speaker
Um,
00:41:35
Speaker
For me, something that gets me outside on a regular basis, living in the city, is I've got a bunch of hummingbird feeders around.
00:41:46
Speaker
And so I'm feeding these hummingbirds just to straight up, you know, sugar and water concoction.
00:41:53
Speaker
But it's almost like there's like families of hummingbirds around.
00:41:57
Speaker
They recognize me when I come out.
00:41:58
Speaker
They kind of remind me when the feeder needs to be refilled.
00:42:01
Speaker
They'll come up and just chirp like right in my face and like zip up.
00:42:04
Speaker
and go, go, go to the empty feeder.
00:42:07
Speaker
I'm like, oh yeah, okay, all right, I'll be right back.
00:42:08
Speaker
And so, and that, it feels like a connection to nature with me, even though I'm like, you know, right deep in the heart of living in the city, I'm still getting this like nature, this, I had this connection.
00:42:22
Speaker
with nature that is being like nurtured and fostered like you know these animals are not my pets but they're part of the world around me and i am therefore i'm connected to them which connects me to the world around me as well um so that's one thing um find find a way to you're not feeding the birds tending tending to something outside of your home um you know whether that's gardening um bird feeding squirrel feeding i've done that before in places and uh that uh
00:42:50
Speaker
yeah, that allows me to foster that connection to nature.
00:42:53
Speaker
And so it's, it's, yeah, something that I find definitely worth doing.
00:42:58
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:42:59
Speaker
So thank you, you guys, for another enlightening show.
00:43:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:06
Speaker
Where can we find you in the world?
00:43:09
Speaker
Yes, absolutely.
00:43:10
Speaker
My...
00:43:14
Speaker
Offering to the world, as I mentioned before, is my nutritional supplement company called New World Nutritionals.
00:43:21
Speaker
We have a bunch of mushroom-based products, microdose products as well, that are designed to improve your focus, your clarity, your learning, helps improve and alleviate symptoms of ADHD, and
00:43:35
Speaker
OCD, PTSD, all sorts of like neurological like stuff that we that we are dealing with and by getting really good results with pretty much everybody who's like getting it like our reviews are great.
00:43:47
Speaker
And it's it's a product that I'm happy to be offering.
00:43:50
Speaker
So again, the company is New World Nutritionals spelled NU World Nutritionals.
00:43:56
Speaker
You can use the code sparks for the website to get 10% off of all of our products.
00:44:03
Speaker
So you're saying you can take nature and actually ingest it.
00:44:06
Speaker
Amazing.
00:44:08
Speaker
Pretty much nature and a pill, nature and a pill.
00:44:11
Speaker
Love it.
00:44:14
Speaker
You can find my, uh, sharings and streamings and offerings at johnstyn.com.
00:44:23
Speaker
J O H N S T Y N.com.
00:44:27
Speaker
Amazing.
00:44:29
Speaker
And I love helping people to connect to their nature of who they are through mind, body, spirit practices, massage therapy, energy work, intuitive coaching.
00:44:42
Speaker
I love doing in-person retreats and really just getting, you know, people set up in a way that helps them to connect to their authentic joy and happiness.
00:44:53
Speaker
So you can find me on my website, poweraffirmation.com, where you can learn more about the journal and about the audio affirmations that I put out in the world.
00:45:02
Speaker
And of course, you can follow me on all the socials, Betsy Who, and all the places.
00:45:08
Speaker
So feel free to reach out, love staying connected and expanding our beautiful community.
00:45:14
Speaker
So thanks for listening, you guys.
00:45:16
Speaker
So grateful.
00:45:17
Speaker
And in the spirit.
00:45:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's in the spirit of our stay sparked closing.
00:45:22
Speaker
You guys ready for our affirmation, please?
00:45:25
Speaker
Yes, please.
00:45:27
Speaker
All right.
00:45:28
Speaker
So we're going to use an affirmation for nature.
00:45:33
Speaker
So if you like, you can close your eyes and just take a nice deep breath.
00:45:39
Speaker
And internally or out loud, I am nature.
00:45:44
Speaker
I am nature.
00:45:46
Speaker
I am nature.
00:45:48
Speaker
I allow nature to nurture me.
00:45:51
Speaker
I allow nature to nurture me.
00:45:54
Speaker
I allow nature to nurture me.
00:45:57
Speaker
I am connected to all that is.
00:45:59
Speaker
I am connected to all that is.
00:46:02
Speaker
I am connected to all that is.
00:46:05
Speaker
And so it is.
00:46:07
Speaker
Stay sparked out there, people.
00:46:09
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening.
00:46:10
Speaker
Thanks, people.
00:46:12
Speaker
Stay sparked.