A world nourished by nature
Nature Therapy CIC
  • Home
  • Free Activities
  • Courses
  • Older people
  • Adults
  • Families
  • Children
  • Store
  • Nature Therapy blog
  • Intranet
  • Product
  • Drum Medicine Course
  • Order form Senior Sense Box

Hearts and Minds Nourished by Nature

Dr Kim Brown, Founder Director of Nature Therapy CIC

PLEASE NOTE - A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WRITE ESSAYS FOR A LIVING ARE COPYING ITEMS FROM THIS BLOG. THIS IS KNOWN AS PLAGARIASM. IF YOU ARE FOUND TO HAVE USED ANY OF THIS INFORMATION WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT THEN YOUR UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OR COLLEGE WILL BE INFORMED.

Home

Open letter to my fellow Sensitives

10/4/2020

6 Comments

 
Picture
Today is day 30ish of my isolation and the world outside according to media reality is all death, despair, fear, loneliness, pestilence and suffering. A common theme faced for many a year in one way or another.  People are beginning to turn on each other and conspiracy theories leak from every pore and orifice because we know intuitively something is not quite right.

In another self absorbed reality, I woke early to a stunning dawn. Where, instead of paying homage to the Lord of Time, I simply rested back on my pillow and snuggled my dogs. Whilst so luxuriating I went through a mental list of today's to do's.  Then this wonderful; thought wafted over me. I didn't have to do anything. 

After a while I rose to do some of my house and garden to do's. All those things I thought I should do but never did because the Lord of Time constantly shoved me from behind with a broom.  I fully admit I never achieved not even one of those to do's today because I just was. I simply existed in my own time and space fulfilling an almost lost dream of Being. 

Sat in the garden I was lost. I could feel the warming sun and a gentle tickling breeze caressing every cell of my earth suit. I watched a small bee and imagined the tiny heart beating inside her. I could see the magnetic pulse she created which connected her to me and everything else on this planet. Our collective consciousness.  I wondered how many of those miniscule beating hearts it would take to fill mine and was amazed to feel my heart expanding to accommodate just a few more beating bee hearts,

The birds sang and I hard listened. To their lilt, frequencies, accents and tones. A heavenly choir of angels with wings. The Pidgeon in the tree seemed to be in a meditative just being mood too. Was I picking up on him, or him on me.....

I centred my focus on the old twisted willow tree. It was a delight to find myself breathing with her - O2 in CO2 out - CO2 in O2 out. A synchronised dance that spun us round the garden in the grandest of waltzes. Our sacred space within the confines of trees, hedges and rickety falling fences. I sensed her roots spread out under my feet and I asked her to spare the drains.

The breeze came back full of whispers. She had been busy collecting the gossip. She bought with her soothing, comforting messages that sparkled with violet light beams. She told me everything is going to be alright. This Earth loves us my fellow Sensitives. Just stay in your truth and do not go into fear. The Sea Dragons have finally hatched. 
Picture
6 Comments

Nature Therapy at the Intersection

7/8/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Really love my work because of the beautiful people it attracts who  intuitively know nature is in our souls. We are part of nature and it is part of us - we are not separate.

In the same way our mental health is not separate from our bodies or our spiritual well being.

The construction of modern day medicine means we see mental health as completely separated from body and spirit. It has us believing that something as simple as nature can not possibly provide us with a sense of connection, enhance our mood, or soothe our anxieties.

Nature Therapy exists at the intersection between current mental health  provision and  a past where the spiritual took precedence. Nature is the past and the future of medicine.

Nature links us our authentic and creative selves. To what it means to be truly human.

As our 2020 courses and programme of work go on line - I am very much looking forward to making yet more contact with beautiful souls next year. 

Kindest

​Kim 

0 Comments

Meditating with Wolves

22/7/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture

He was loping towards me. Weaving through trees on a well-trodden path known more by instinct than vision. He came nearer then froze. His yellow eyes locked into mine. He held his gaze and I held mine. It was like playing that childhood game of who blinks first.

Direct stares are challenges and he was challenging me to accept the magic. It seemed I had no choice. After a short time that familiar hypnagogic state wrapped me in a soft dreamy blanket.  I had entered that state many indigenous people refer to as Still Hunting.  My wolf had merged with his wolf.

Picture

​It must have looked kind of odd. An ageing lady in a squashed panama hat sat upright on a bench in front of a wolf enclosure.  Eyes closed, head drooped, and immobile.  Many walked by and barely noticed me. Although I knew them. I was now in wolf mode
. 

In wolf mode I did not see any of the people passing as individuals because they merged. Much like those images you see on television where time slows down for the individual in the centre but everyone else speeds up to create a blur.  It seems the need for instant gratification has blinded us. Can’t immediately see the wolves? Then move on to something more entertaining. Many never stopped and those that did easily became uninterested.

Like the wolves I didn’t see them passing, I sensed them. I knew they were coming before they arrived because I could smell them. Oh my days could I smell them.   To put it simply humans smell rank. The nauseous wafts of human odour consist of a combination of chemicals such as perfumes, hairspray, deodorants, suntan lotion and body sprays mixed together with un-foods such as baby milk, crisps and sweet-smelling canned drinks. All this alongside nauseating cigarette smoke and sickly vapes.

There were occasional respites where I could smell trees, grass, wallabies and yes even freedom, but they were brief. 

Picture

​Whilst there was at least minimal respite from the smell of passing humans, there was no break from the continual disturbing noise. Shrieking, laughing, screaming, endless yabber, phones ringing, shouting, camera clicks, squealing, crying, chain saws, and machinery.  The range of human noise is deafening.

When did our species learn to fill every molecule of air with polluting noise? Put us back in a forest now and the children’s screams of ‘I want’ would make us prime prey.

Experiencing reality through the super senses of the wolf is not to be undertaken lightly. This pack, like others in captivity, have become somewhat desensitized to their environment. Just like us. Yet, meditating with wolves can still be an overwhelming experience.

We are an egocentric species because there is a tendency to believe that everything experiences reality in the same way we do. The fact is no two human beings experience the same reality, even identical twins.
​

Our unique reality is created through our own individual senses and they differ from person to person - let alone species to species. Using our senses to connect with other humans and other species will help us build a more compassionate future for this planet. 
 
Copyright Dr Kim Brown July 2019 
Picture
2 Comments

Detox your Toadstool

28/5/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Recently we started gently introducing Shadow Work into our groups and workshops. 
 
The reason for this is twofold.  The first is for participants to better understand the behaviours of others, thus avoiding some of the pain of taking things personally. The second reason is to give insight into our own inner landscapes through which we  step in to our own power.
 
If you spend any time in Facebook land you will witness projected anger, bile and generally unpleasantness.  People picking online fights because the other person is seen by them as less than human. Especially if they hold a differing opinion or represent something that is despised by the responder. All their bile and hatred of self then comes pouring out on screen.
 
Just this week I witnessed a prime example of this. One kind and caring young lady was concerned because she had picked up an injured rabbit. She posted online to a community group asking what to do with it.
 
Within seconds she was subjected to name calling such as snowflake, derision, laughter and hateful comments. She deleted her post. Yet, someone took it on board to put up another post about her claiming she was all things wrong with the world. 
 
Seems not many people these days understand that adage – when you open your mouth (or type on the keyboard) - you say far more about yourself than others.

She was obviously considered a prime target by a spiteful bully because she demonstrated something they could not – kindness and compassion. Like a pack of hyenas baying for blood, others of a similar ilk jumped in.
 
This begs the question of why they are demonstrating these sorts of behaviours.  Feelings of disconnect can lead to aggressive outbursts and picking fights. Ironically the basis to this is often a yearning for closeness. If you cant get close physically or emotionally then trying to trigger others will at least make you feel dysfunctionally close for a brief time. 
 
As people turn in droves to substances, yoga, meditation, mindfulness and a whole host of other distraction techniques, some are finding that fundamentally nothing quite hits the spot.
 
After all, at the end of the day they still got to live with themselves. Living with someone you don’t really like is just a terrible strain - so no wonder something gives. 
 
The Shadow is a term conceived by the famous psychotherapist Carl Jung.  It refers to  aspects of our psyche – those parts we are not consciously aware of.  Wellwood describes this as all our undigested experiences.
 
Babies are not born with Shadows. However. very early on we learn certain parts of our psyche are ‘bad’. Anger, frustration, gluttony and greed are all examples of the natural lived human experience. Yet, these are often the qualities that get trodden down and squashed into our dark, damp and mouldy internal cellars.

When left unattended, our shadows thrive in that environment.  Kept in the moist darkness of our psyches, toadstools can build up a force of energy that bursts through with a blinding toxic brilliance. A brilliance that threatens to poison everything we see as positive in our lives.
 
That is what you witness in facebook land. Toadstools exploding and shedding toxic spores over unsuspecting punters.
 
We can stop our Toadstools developing a life of their own by going into those damp dark scary cellars and letting in light.  We can’t destroy the cellars, but we can at least learn to nurture a less destructive fungi.
 
If you are interested in shadow work, then keep an eye open for our upcoming workshop on Detox your Toadstool.
0 Comments

Drumming for Dementia

19/3/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture

Drums have been around for thousands of years and across all cultures,  so they are melded into our psyche. The first sound we hear in our mothers’ wombs is the sound of a drumming rhythmic heart beat. Put your hand over your heart and feel your own beating drum.

Feeling this type of beat recreated through a hoop drum can lead to a meditative state of mind, This is created through theta brain waves.  I was once part way through such a drumming session when an old man stopped me. His first words were  ‘look at your eyes you got to be on drugs’


​Drumming can help you meditate very quickly without the need for substances to alter the state of your mind. So drumming is particularly useful for those who have altered ways of being where the brain is affected. Conditions such as dementia. If the power of one drum can induce changes in brain wave patterns, just imagine what a group of drums could achieve.

A drum circle can involve anyone, literally anyone, even if they have never before picked up a drum. That is because drumming circles are about shared experiences. The focus is not on creating perfect music, but on having fun through making sounds that lifts the spirit.  

Circles are less about playing tunes and more about tuning in to our inner playfulness and need for social connection. No matter what age we reach, that inner child is always waiting patiently to be let loose.
​

The essence of what dementia teaches us is about being in the moment. There is no past and the future is uncertain so drumming together creates something meaningful. Something that  is fully present at that moment in time.

When playing a drum, or a percussion instrument in a circle – the music of all those playing enters the mind and body through sound and vibration. It resonates in every cell where it flows throughout the entire body to be released through the heart. Drumming is a whole-body experience.

Multiple people drumming together connects those individuals through coordinated beat and rhythm. This connection entwines into a vortex of energy that manifests as a collective consciousness.  Whilst one drummer is having a personal experience, they are also experiencing being part of something much bigger than self.  Loneliness and feelings of isolation can melt away as the group moves together with a common purpose building a shared energy. Thus, they enter into hive consciousness.

The role of the facilitator in a drum circle is to provide a welcoming environment, present activities that are fun and manageable, and maintain balance.  A drumming circle can take place anywhere – indoors or out. A beach, woodland, residential, home, hospitals, school., or community hall are all just examples.

 I have been part of drumming circles sat in trees, on a beach, by a river, on a mountain, within a herd of horses, by an ancient burial mound,  sat round a spitting bonfire, inside a medicine wheel and whilst walking a labyrinth.  

Anyone can take part whatever their level of ability or presumed challenges.

Drumming circles are all inclusive, They are  relatively easy to set up, they work well in larger numbers, they can take place anywhere and they provide open access to music making.

Drumming inspires creativity, self-expression and a sense of community. It is like being part of a flowing conversation with listening and giving back to create a common bond.


Drums truly are a gift to humanity.
​

0 Comments

The Black Dog Sensory Theatre

29/12/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
Re-wilding your Mangy Mutt
Monday 2nd to Friday 6th September 2019
Isle of Wight
(Venue to be confirmed)


You are the master of your destiny or so it seem.  That is until you are bitten by the Black Dog and then slowly but slowly everything becomes about this mutt.

He walks alongside you by day and sleeps with you during the restless night. He feeds on your joy, passion, contentment and motivation. He gobbles down your sense of purpose and doesn’t have the decency to at least chew over your positive thinking before that too slides down his cavernous hole.

Black Dog dumbs down your senses.  You can hear things but not listen, see things but not in focus, touch things but not feel.  All sense of smell and taste is diminished as our options seem to fragment.

Eventually he leads you into the Shadowlands all the time projecting feelings of despair. He knows this place does not feed your soul but if he can keep you here, he will not only survive – he believes he will positively thrive.

This canine critter does not limit himself to any gender, age, race or social class. He is passive as long as he is fed and stroked. Happy to lay at your feet generating a choking stench, his whole purpose in life is to narrow your world.

We end up giving everything to this mangy mutt. Whilst he scratches away at fleas, we sink further into Shadowland fearing we will never return.

One of the biggest challenges we can face in life is to turn this smelly, parasitic canine into something beautiful. To render him once again to his former fragrant, sleek and shiny self. To spend time grooming, worming and befriending him so he can take his place once again as our best friend.

We can start this process through applying some Wolf Medicine.  Rewilding your Black Dog  involves nurturing him so he moves towards becoming the ultimate prime survivor – the Wolf.  Whilst he is busy licking his parts, he has absolutely no idea what an amazing creature he really is. No idea that deep inside that hairy exterior he is a powerful, loyal, prime strategist who looks out for each member of the pack.  Wolf Medicine helps your Black Dog move from mangy mutt to alpha leader through a process known as super sensing.

As we sink into depression so our sensory perception begins to shut down. Scientists call this neurogenesis. This is where the growth of new neurons in the brain are caused by a neurotropic factor however, in depression this does not happen. For example, it is well known that depression dulls the sense of smell. Research has shown that those with depression have smaller olfactory bulbs. Losing our sense of taste can be an early sign of depression and people with depression exhibit reduced brain responses to visual stimuli. 

As the world we experience though our senses shrinks away so does our ability to stand in our own power. The world looks and feels grey and dull. Yet all is not lost, we can change our neurochemistry and pimp up that black dog in the process.
 
The Black Dog Theatre

The Black Dog Theatre experience is geared towards offering you a chance to learn more about rewilding your mangy mutt. Wolves have super senses and it is those senses that make them extreme survivalists. As depression narrows our view of reality so our sensory experiences become more limited.

Through a series of five sensory portals, the Black Dog Theatre will help you explore how your senses can help you. You will learn a little more about how to super sense, thus gaining insights into how truly powerful you really are.

This is a hands on and fun taster session that will shine a little light into that tunnel of darkness. It will illuminate the path for your mangy mutt to move towards reclaiming its power. You will go away having created your own sensory toolkit.

Come and join us anytime during our week-long celebration of Wolf Medicine in 2019. The Black Dog Theatre will be open for taster sessions for visitors all that week.  Venue to be advertised shortly.

We look forward to welcoming you and if you find the theatre taster session meaningful then come and join one of our Wolf Medicine courses. Create your own wolf pack of social support.

Details are on our website www.naturetherapycic.com
 


2 Comments

Radio interview on Nature Therapy

7/5/2018

1 Comment

 
This months blog is bought to you courtesy of Vectis Radio and an interview about nature therapy with presenter Joan Ellis

http://www.vectisradio.com/latest-shows/joan-ellis-meets/


1 Comment

ADHD and Dowsing

30/8/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture

For someone with a Doctorate in Science, dowsing may seem a strange pastime.  I am often asked if there any real evidence as to its efficacy.

As a child, I cut willow wands and played about dowsing for water.  The idea being that willow was sensitive to water, even when cut from the tree, and would twitch with delightful anticipation of finding a life giving source in which to grow new roots.  

For some, this childhood game was on a par with Ouija boards sold as toys back then. Something a bit hocus pocus about it all.

Years later, whilst undertaking research in the States, I once again found myself willingly picking up a set of dowsing rods. Alongside me was a stunningly beautiful Elder from the Crow who was also learning how to dowse the energy fields of horses.

Aside from my total delight that something magical seemed to happen with these rods, the scientist in me instantly questioned how this actually worked.  If the rods opened, the horse would allow me to approach it, if they crossed then I was not given ‘permission’ by the horse to approach.

The very practical part of me realised that, aside from anything else, dowsing was a superb risk management tool.  You didn’t have to fill people with terror about what could happen if you startled horses. You just gave someone a pair of dowsing rods and hey presto, they would approach carefully and meticulously. 

There was an added bonus that If they were fearful of the horse, it helped alleviate their anxiety. After all, moving into a large and seemingly unpredictable animal’s space can be pretty scary. Opened rods meant they were accepted. If the rods did not grant permission, they could save face by not going in close.

The evidence base for dowsing is scant. We know it has probably been used for thousands of years to search for water and indeed right across the hotter parts of Europe today, many remote villages have their own Dowser.  So, despite the lack of empirical evidence as to its efficacy, dowsing continues to be used.

Not only is dowsing used for searching for water, it is employed in a variety of other ways. Animal communication being just once such application. Finding lost items, buried archaeological artefacts and assessing health status are others.

If you ask a New Ager about dowsing you will be treated to a range of wonderful insights on vibrational frequencies, psychic communication, sacred geometry, energy fields, dimensions and ley lines. If you ask a quantum physicist the same question you may get more mind boggling discussions on the differing String Theories. A psychotherapist might talk about inherited memory and tapping into a source of universal knowledge.

Despite the lack of definitive answers, in Nature Therapy we continue to use dowsing.  We mainly use it as a safety tool around horses or wolves, but also to demonstrate how you can maintain your own personal boundaries.

More recently I went dowsing with a most delightful little boy who just happens to have a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder – my grandson. The reason I am teaching him to dowse is quite simple.

To be able to master this particular art form, you need to remain focused and very clear about what you want as an outcome from your activity. You need to unemotionally be able to visualise what you want in your mind,  and see consequences of your actions.

Each tip toe of dowsing needs to be broken down into smaller and smaller carefully focused steps. More than anything, it requires patience and perseverance when you are first learning. It can be quite demoralising when you don’t get what you want at the outset.

Dowsing is about dealing with your own expectations as quite frankly wandering around dowsing for an odd fifty pound note is just not going to happen. Dowsing is about putting things into perspective and keeping them real.

These are all valuable life lessons for any child, but these are also the very lessons that are the hardest to grasp when you have a mind wired to be active and easily distracted.

In the evidence based hierarchical reality we have created, science has replaced magic as king. Yet often the very things we seek in that academic world, like incontrovertible hard proof on how dowsing works, is just not attainable.  Without this, dowsing can be easily dismissed.

We need to look beyond this through developing an understanding of the life lessons dowsing can gift us with. Only then can we peel back the layers to reveal something meaningful to the human experience.


1 Comment

Legends of the Isle of Wight for Children

5/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
So long since I contributed to this blog. It seems time can just float away without us even noticing. Although to be fair, although I have been quiet in blog world, I have still been delighting in writing, just a different style of writing and for a different audience.  

The style of writing is for a book, rather than a blog or funding bid, and the audience is children. I have taken ten legendary people and adapted their stories into tales for children to get outdoors in nature and enjoy exploring the legend.   

After years of writing academically in such a way that stifles all creativity, I feel like I have been let out of a strict uptight school. A school where all the teachers wear mortar boards and capes and carry a bendy switch to terrify you into saying your nine times table backwards.  

Instead of sweating over what on earth algorithms mean and how to spell it, I have been busy running across fields, climbing trees and feeling the wind in my hair. Being out of school means I can once again find my inner child so we can write, create, play, laugh and enjoy together what writing should really be all about – having fun.  We must seem an odd couple roaming the forest, down land, and hanging off cliffs together. An over excitable pensioner with a dodgy hip pumped up on coffee, and a small gregarious grubby child running ahead screaming with delight.

The Heritage Lottery fund provided a grant for this book – but it’s not just any old book.  Oh no. it’s a community book.  What this means is although I have drafted the ten stories for the ten legends, it has now been passed to a group of wonderful volunteer families who are trying the stories out for size.  I am just the catalyst for this to happen and have been overwhelmed by the response to it, not least my own response.

Currently the volunteer families are roaming across the countryside visiting the sites where the legends took place to see what can be added to the stories to make fun filled and, most importantly, free days out. They are adding secret treasure, hiding fairy doors and doing all of this for other families who can’t afford expensive trips to theme parks or days out on the mainland.

The stories involve some of the most beautiful stunning locations the island has to offer. They also includes dragons, witches, kings, smugglers and superheroes. The island is alive with the most wonderful tales, some of which have survived for centuries.

However, there has been a down side.  I seem to have fallen a little in love with each of the legendary characters.  To be able to write their stories, I needed to be able to feel them so very deeply, as if they were part of my very being.

Perhaps they really are part of my being. They were legends I grew up with, told to me by my parents and grandparents over and over again.  They were, and still are, as real to my childhood imagination as my grand-daughter’s cuddly toy duck is to her.

This project has breathed life back into the legends again.  I just hope I have done them justice and that new generations of children will fall a little in love with their stories too.

0 Comments

Sixth Sense or Spiritual Sense?

24/9/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
The work of nature therapy is grounded in sensory experiences using nature as a tool.  However as a researcher I am always compelled to look more deeply into the realities that are presented to us through our senses. 

Plato, c429-347AD, is considered one of the most eminent philosophers in recorded history. He too was fascinated by sensory experiences and was the first to consider non physical realities.  Our work with adults at Nature Therapy CIC is about helping people reconnect with their inner selves through connecting with nature.  We promote enhancing our sensory experiences as part of this. Be that through mindfully walking and smelling the aromas that drift to us,  or through creating such masterpieces as soundscapes.

However,  I am also aware of the realities that exist outside of bodily experience. By confining our existence on this ball hurtling through space to just five physical senses, we are really doing ourselves an injustice.

It is a little known fact that our senses are actually socially constructed.  Don't be silly I am hearing you shout how do you socially construct smell?  Just think for a minute about how one smell is appealing to one culture whilst to another it is nauseating. The Chinese delight for one hundred years old eggs springs to mind or incredibly stinky rotten cheeses and fish for others.

In fact how we even define our senses is socially constructed. In western culture we generally accept  we have five senses whereas science currently confirms we actually have thirty two. In other cultures they may only define two senses as in past and present, or seven senses,  or even fifteen senses. All according to how they have constructed their unique social and cultural realities and language.

As science is evolving and beginning to confirm a lot of what the ancients knew to be truths,  it is becoming more and more apparent that we have a sense, or even senses, that exist outside of time and space. Indeed this sense system is so well known - even if it is not recognised in all fields of science yet -  that it has been affectionately termed our Sixth Sense.

Our work in Nature Therapy CIC, although focused on the five physical senses, fully acknowledges we have a higher self or a sixth sense that helps us in times of need. We call this our Spiritual Sense as it connects to a bigger picture. Our Spiritual Sense is fed by our physical senses and in turn our Spiritual Sense nourishes our bodies - but if we start to deep listen to the process -  then we can begin to trust our instincts more.

We do not advocate any specific religion as we believe each and every person has to find their own pathway on that journey. But, we do advocate people finding their Spiritual Sense, however they may express it, as a way of connecting wholly with themselves and others.
2 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Dr Kim Brown

    Archives

    April 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    May 2018
    August 2017
    May 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from HikingArtist.com, Schwarzwert Naturfotografie, bagsgroove, symphony of love, vastateparksstaff, Martin Pettitt, Vilmos.Vincze, Sam Droege, rs-foto, TAKUMA KIMURA, Sumana Khanom, Joybot, Mr. Frosty Man, VinothChandar