natureforwellbeing

Concrete Cows

A few years ago I heard about Providence Youth Club in Battersea, London, welcoming a group of farm animals from The Shallowford Trust’s Dartmoor farm to a local city carpark for a week. Londoners could come to see the calves, lambs and pigs in the straw in pens just across the street from shops andContinue reading “Concrete Cows”

Earthbound?

In a basket where I keep cards and letters, I recently found a greetings card sent in 2009, with a very striking image. It’s entitled “Trees Amid The Waters Near Taponas, Rhone, France” and it is an aerial photograph taken by Yann Arthus Bertrand during the floods of March 2001. Seeing this image made meContinue reading “Earthbound?”

Art Meets Nature

Have you heard of the Singing, Ringing Tree? It is an outdoor sculpture on the Wayside Art Trail, on moorland high over Burnley in Lancashire. Hearing about it recently for the first time, the Tree really captured my imagination. What a unique way to draw together art, nature and music in one structure. The steelContinue reading “Art Meets Nature”

Restore

What an irony it is that at a time when we are turning to nature more and more to boost wellbeing, nature’s own predicament is itself contributing to many people’s anxiety and depression. It’s an irony which mirrors this year’s World Environment Day theme. World Environment Day falls on 5 June each year, run byContinue reading “Restore”

Nature’s Remedy

At last spring is here, and as I’ve just heard that April is National Stress Awareness Month, this seems an opportunity to highlight how nature can ease the stresses which have become so common in everyday life. No, nature won’t remove these stresses, but it might help rein them in or create a sense ofContinue reading “Nature’s Remedy”

Observe and Experience

So far Medley’s blog has focused on music and art, but nature is also integral to Medley’s aims. Mirroring art and music’s impacts, there are also many ways in which connecting with the natural world can help health and wellbeing. Striking reflections on connecting with nature come from well-known people and writers in different circumstances:Continue reading “Observe and Experience”