The Healing Role of Nature

Photograph by Patrick Bigelow on Unsplash

Just this spring, I learned about a Canadian nature-based prescription program called PaRx (which is the short form for Park Prescriptions). I'm so pleased to have the opportunity to share some of the details with you.

"PaRx, a BC Parks Foundation initiative, helps nearly 20,000 registered healthcare providers across Canada prescribe time in nature to support physical and mental health."

One of the PaRx partners that was featured in the Foundation's spring newsletter is the Victoria Butterfly Gardens, located in British Columbia, on the traditional territories of the

Tsawout and Tsartlip First Nations.

"For Travis, Lead Horticulturalist at Victoria Butterfly Gardens, the healing impact of the Gardens is deeply personal. Navigating a personal journey with clinical depression, Travis describes nature as an essential companion to holistic care.

'Nature has a way of pulling you back to ground level,' Travis says. 'It reminds you that change is constant, that growth doesn’t follow rigid rules, and that it often happens quietly, over time.'"

I remember having a similar experience of the healing role of nature, early in the spring of 2009. My father had died the previous summer and this was my first springtime without him. I was feeling a deep sense of sadness that day and an aching in my heart.

Every year at this exact time, my father would spend hours tending to his garden at the very first sign of spring. Yet this year, it would be different. His favourite gardening bench sat empty and his wheelbarrow rested against the wall, in the same way that he had carefully positioned it, year after year.

I felt in my heart that I needed to continue with his gardening, in the same way that he would have done. It was my way of honouring a place where he had always loved to be.

Within moments of me beginning to tend to the garden, something beautiful emerged. The small, tender petals of a tiny crocus, just about to blossom.

Day by day, slowly and gently, my heartache began to soften and my tears began to flow. The first tears were of sadness and a time for letting go.

Followed by a sense of peace and joy, that the flowers had returned again. To the land that he had loved.

Wherever you find yourself in the year ahead, whether it be here in Canada or across the world, may you find the inspiration to begin your journey, to be surrounded by nature, one day, one moment, one step at a time.

Author's note: The above quotations were shared with permission from the BC Parks Foundation and the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. To learn more about BC Parks Foundation, please visit: https://bcparksfoundation.ca. To learn more about Victoria Butterfly Gardens, please visit: https://butterflygardens.com.

Photograph of the Bow River in Canmore, Alberta by Michael Chupik on Unsplash

Photograph of Pemberton, British Columbia by Michael Chupik on Unsplash

Photograph of the Highlands of Scotland by Maxwell Andrews on Unsplash