Nature, Outdoors, & Pillars of Play
Nature is one of the Pillars of Play that I base my coaching work on. But why is it so important? Nature & spending time outside actually integrates all of the other pillars (physical activity, nourishing foods, social connection, creativity & exploration, intellectual IQ, and emotional IQ), and even when we don’t feel like doing much of anything else, just even sitting outdoors for a bit can greatly improve our overall wellness and how we feel in our bodies.
By spending time in nature, we’re stacking at least one other wellness focus on top of it, so it really is a win-win. And the bonus is that spending time in nature and the outdoors is one healthy behavior that you can start doing with absolutely no financial investment.
Let’s look at what I mean:
- Physical Activity: Walking in nature brings a different movement experience to the body beyond the general benefits that we think of. When we walk in nature, especially on trails and hilly terrain, we’re allowing our bodies to access things that get overlooked when using gym equipment or moving on paved paths. Walking on uneven terrain activates our proprioceptors, which helps with balance and injury prevention. It strengthens our hips, core, and ankles. It improves mobility in our lower joints. Natural ups and downs bring an interval training element to our movement to improve cardiovascular performance. All of these benefits in one movement sessions without needing to add on corrective exercises, or fiddle with settings on equipment.
- Nourishing Foods: Being outdoors stimulates our bodies to produce Vitamin D, which is an essential vitamin for our bodies and one that most people are deficient in. We need Vitamin D to absorb certain mineral from our diets that support our bone health. Vitamin D also supports our immune system, making it less likely that we’ll get sick. Finally, Vitamin D also supports our mental health, decreasing anxiety and depression.
- Social Connection: Depending on where and how you’re moving, being outdoors is a natural way to connect with others, even for the most introverted person. You may choose to join a walking or hiking group where this social element is built in, but even if you don’t, there’s a good chance that you’ll pass by someone during your time outside. Even being in proximity to another person supports our overall health. A quick hello or brief moment of eye contact is more beneficial that spending time indoors making connections with influencers online.
- Creativity & Exploration: When you take a walk outside, especially if you are able to do so in a park or open space, you’re going to be inspired in some way. I’ve started walking without music so that I can truly take in what I’m experiencing. Being outdoors and moving get the brain juices flowing, and inspire ideas for stories, poems, songs, sketches, photos, crafts, inventions, and more. You don’t have to consider yourself a creative person to experience this inspiration. Outdoors also leads to exploration, be it a hidden nook or cave, or simply wondering where a side trail leads to. Maybe you explore a prairie dog colony like I do — following the holes to see how far they go and where the connecting tunnels may be.
- Intellectual Stimulation: This is similar to creativity and exploration, but more like the next step. Being in nature and allowing yourself to absorb what you’re witnessing and experiencing can lead to questions. These questions often lead to wanting to learn more about what you’re seeing. Maybe it’s wondering why a tree only has leaves on one side. Maybe you see a plant or flower that you snap and picture of and then engage in research to identify it and learn more about it. Maybe you see a pile of white fur on the trail and look for the additional cues to find out why it’s there. Is it fur from some other animal’s midnight snack, or did someone simply throw the fur from their dog into the field? If the latter, what would they do that? Sometimes the stimulation is simply something you observe that connects to a problem you’ve been thinking about for work, and that connection leads to a solution that you can run with. Something that is outside of the box, but discovered simply because you stumbled upon a new structure created by the insects that were near you. Who knows??
- Emotional Intelligence: I mentioned how spending time in nature supports mental health, and I think one of the biggest benefits of this is the space that it gives us to think. Just sitting in nature is a form of meditation — even if you’re not doing so in the traditional sense. It allows us to take a break from our lives, sit with our thoughts, and start connecting to what we’re feeling and why. Adding movement to our time in nature enhances this connection by allowing those struggles to bubble up. We literally move through the emotions and begin to make the connections to why we’re feeling a certain way, and what we need to find resolution. Walking meditations are a wonderful way to deal with stress that comes from more emotional conflict and bring clarity to the next steps and coping tools for future experiences. It can sometimes also enhance empathy by giving you the space to see the source of conflict from another’s perspective, and shining light in places that you hadn’t considered. I personally love to find a place to sit and journal outdoors. I feel like the words come easier, my thoughts are a bit clearer, and I am better able to sort through my feelings when I am outside than when I am sitting at home.
According to Ginny Yurich, founder of 1000 Hours Outside, we spend about 1200 hours inside and in front of screens. We can do better. Ideally, everyone, adults, and children, should aim for 3–4 hours per day of time outdoors to benefit their health. This isn’t always doable, but I think most of us can find at least an hour a day, even broken down into 5–10 minute chunks, to get outside. Maybe it’s a daily walk. Maybe it’s afterschool snacks outside instead of in front of the television. Make dinner a picnic in the back yard. Find the time to get outside — you, your kids, your entire family. Try to add a few more hours on the weekend if you can. My parents once did a reverse grounding where they locked me out of the house to force me to go out with friends. Maybe do this to your teens — kick them out for an hour. Take their phones and lock the door. It sounds cruel, but even if they just it on the front steps and pout, they’ve actually gotten a few of the benefits on being outdoors. You may not see it, and you may hear all of the complaining, but I can guarantee that there was a shift and that a piece of them will be opening to willingly get outside to be in the future.
