Nature Deficit Disorder refers to a hypothesis by Richard Louv in his 2005 book ‘Last Child in the Woods’ – that human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors resulting in a wide range of behavioural problems.
I was told twenty seven years ago when I was first diagnosed with secondary cancer to get back as close as I could to nature if I wanted to heal. The theory was that the further people get away from the way nature intended humans to live – the more at dis-ease people would become.
This advice included eating the way that nature intended – S L O W – season, local, organic and whole. The more times food is processed – the further away from nature it becomes. Our bodies just aren’t evolved enough to process all this ‘processed food’. If fact, I hesitate ever calling it food because most products in the supermarket now are not really food – they are stomach fillers – just look at the labels to see how many chemicals, colours and additives are included. Many manufactures have no idea about nutrition and their bottom line is profits – not your health. It is not their fault that we get sick from eating this substance – we live in a free country – we have choices – but I believe it gets back to awareness and self responsibility on our part to make healthy choices and respect our bodies.
Over the years I have seen people protest about the terrible conditions that ‘battery hens’ and other animals are forced to live – and I agree with them. Under artificial lights, pumped with antibiotics, never getting to scratch the ground, stressed and starting to attack each other – is this sounding familiar to the stressed and sterile life we also live? Living under artificial lights, synthetic carpet on the floor, furniture which off-gasses chemicals into our homes – never getting our hands dirty – using anti-bacterial sprays and gels to kill the germs – what about our immune system?
Also, there is so much fear of the sun these days that people prefer to stay ‘locked up’ inside instead of enjoying our beautiful climate. Many people now have a deficiency in vitamin D3, which is essential to many processes of our body – but don’t worry - there is a pill to fix this up! What about the sun – it gives us life and people throughout time have worshipped the sun for its powerful light and fertility. The Greeks, Egyptians, Mayans, Aztecs, and modern day Christians have all considered the sun sacred in one way or another – but now we are all conditioned to live in fear of it. Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying to go outside and get your skin burnt – there are sensible limits we all need to live by to survive.
Our bodies and mind were not intended to be bombarded by noise and electrical equipment and stimulus all the time. How many people now cannot sit in their car or home without turning the TV or Radio on? We are on sensory overload and our bodies are trying to tell us something!
Years ago, I was very fortunate to assist Drs Ian and Ruth Gawler with their Meditation in the Desert Retreat – 1 ½ hours out from Alice Springs. (Read more about this in Chapter 13 of My Answer to Cancer.) What I realised for me was that this was a time when I could ‘reset my master switch’ – by getting back in touch with life – the way nature intended. There is a button on your mobile phone – when you have interfered with all the settings and it doesn’t work properly – you simply press the ‘reset’ button and the phone reverts back to the factory settings. This retreat helped me get back to my omni-potential (my factory settings).
We were sleeping in swags – on the ground (on an ancient riverbed) and under the stars – wow! This was a first for me and I’m sorry it took my so long to have this experience. In a book called Earthing, authors Clinton Ober, Martin Zucker and Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra put forth a bold proposal that body-to-earth contact has the power to directly impact our health. At the heart of their theory is a central physics-based relationship. “Since the advent of shoes, houses, flooring, and elevated beds, we’ve lost our contact with the earth and its inherent electrical field. In discarding (or minimizing) this physical connection, we’re forgoing natural healing benefits that previously played a significant role in our physiological functioning. The body, when grounded in the earth, returns to its natural electrical homeostasis as part of the living electrical matrix.” It’s an intriguing theory with, as yet, little attention.
We ate organic vegan food for ten days – clean food prepared lovingly by the cook and his volunteers. We meditated several hours a day in silence – listening to nature – the wind, birds and buzz of the flies. We talked around a campfire at night, listening to stories and sharing with like-minded people – fabulous. And on the last two and a half days were privileged to sit with the local indigenous elders who shared with us their ways of living. Their ancestors had survived in this part of the country for 60,000 years and looked after the land. I could not help but reflect on what has been done to our beautiful country with chemicals and imported animals in the last 200 years.
I know we are called the Human Race – but what are we racing for? Why don’t we take time to slow down? Slow down and smell the roses – in the sunshine, the wind blowing on our faces sharing our time on this earth with the people we love. Remembering and re-connecting to ourselves and living our lives in harmony with the Laws of Nature.
I was told twenty seven years ago when I was first diagnosed with secondary cancer to get back as close as I could to nature if I wanted to heal. The theory was that the further people get away from the way nature intended humans to live – the more at dis-ease people would become.
This advice included eating the way that nature intended – S L O W – season, local, organic and whole. The more times food is processed – the further away from nature it becomes. Our bodies just aren’t evolved enough to process all this ‘processed food’. If fact, I hesitate ever calling it food because most products in the supermarket now are not really food – they are stomach fillers – just look at the labels to see how many chemicals, colours and additives are included. Many manufactures have no idea about nutrition and their bottom line is profits – not your health. It is not their fault that we get sick from eating this substance – we live in a free country – we have choices – but I believe it gets back to awareness and self responsibility on our part to make healthy choices and respect our bodies.
Over the years I have seen people protest about the terrible conditions that ‘battery hens’ and other animals are forced to live – and I agree with them. Under artificial lights, pumped with antibiotics, never getting to scratch the ground, stressed and starting to attack each other – is this sounding familiar to the stressed and sterile life we also live? Living under artificial lights, synthetic carpet on the floor, furniture which off-gasses chemicals into our homes – never getting our hands dirty – using anti-bacterial sprays and gels to kill the germs – what about our immune system?
Also, there is so much fear of the sun these days that people prefer to stay ‘locked up’ inside instead of enjoying our beautiful climate. Many people now have a deficiency in vitamin D3, which is essential to many processes of our body – but don’t worry - there is a pill to fix this up! What about the sun – it gives us life and people throughout time have worshipped the sun for its powerful light and fertility. The Greeks, Egyptians, Mayans, Aztecs, and modern day Christians have all considered the sun sacred in one way or another – but now we are all conditioned to live in fear of it. Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying to go outside and get your skin burnt – there are sensible limits we all need to live by to survive.
Our bodies and mind were not intended to be bombarded by noise and electrical equipment and stimulus all the time. How many people now cannot sit in their car or home without turning the TV or Radio on? We are on sensory overload and our bodies are trying to tell us something!
Years ago, I was very fortunate to assist Drs Ian and Ruth Gawler with their Meditation in the Desert Retreat – 1 ½ hours out from Alice Springs. (Read more about this in Chapter 13 of My Answer to Cancer.) What I realised for me was that this was a time when I could ‘reset my master switch’ – by getting back in touch with life – the way nature intended. There is a button on your mobile phone – when you have interfered with all the settings and it doesn’t work properly – you simply press the ‘reset’ button and the phone reverts back to the factory settings. This retreat helped me get back to my omni-potential (my factory settings).
We were sleeping in swags – on the ground (on an ancient riverbed) and under the stars – wow! This was a first for me and I’m sorry it took my so long to have this experience. In a book called Earthing, authors Clinton Ober, Martin Zucker and Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra put forth a bold proposal that body-to-earth contact has the power to directly impact our health. At the heart of their theory is a central physics-based relationship. “Since the advent of shoes, houses, flooring, and elevated beds, we’ve lost our contact with the earth and its inherent electrical field. In discarding (or minimizing) this physical connection, we’re forgoing natural healing benefits that previously played a significant role in our physiological functioning. The body, when grounded in the earth, returns to its natural electrical homeostasis as part of the living electrical matrix.” It’s an intriguing theory with, as yet, little attention.
We ate organic vegan food for ten days – clean food prepared lovingly by the cook and his volunteers. We meditated several hours a day in silence – listening to nature – the wind, birds and buzz of the flies. We talked around a campfire at night, listening to stories and sharing with like-minded people – fabulous. And on the last two and a half days were privileged to sit with the local indigenous elders who shared with us their ways of living. Their ancestors had survived in this part of the country for 60,000 years and looked after the land. I could not help but reflect on what has been done to our beautiful country with chemicals and imported animals in the last 200 years.
I know we are called the Human Race – but what are we racing for? Why don’t we take time to slow down? Slow down and smell the roses – in the sunshine, the wind blowing on our faces sharing our time on this earth with the people we love. Remembering and re-connecting to ourselves and living our lives in harmony with the Laws of Nature.