Nature Archives | Continuum Healing

Seasonal Transitions

Guest Post, Mindfulness, Nature, SeasonsNo comments

Ah, ‘tis the season for corn mazes, apple cider, and yes…pumpkin spice-flavored everything. Fall is nature’s way of easing us out of warm and welcoming summer days and into the harsher winter. During this transition, it is so easy to focus on how much we’re craving just one more beach day or how shoveling a path to your car in the midst of a blizzard seems like the last thing on earth you want to do. If we aren’t careful, we’ll slip between the cracks of the transition and miss out on an opportunity for growth. Without making the choice to be present this season, winter will be here in the blink of an eye, and we’ll have failed to take advantage of its abundance.

We’ve all read plenty of motivational quotes about how to “be here now” and “live in the moment,” but what does that actually mean? …

Paying Attention to Plant Messages

Kara McNabb, Medicinal Herbs and Food, NatureNo commentsflower essence, Herbalism, plant magic, plant medicine, violet

I was floating in a cloud of energetic bliss after a session with Erica. It’s a lovely feeling to be in that space. Afterward, sometimes I need to rest, sometimes I need to process and journal, other times I need to just go outside.

On this particular day, I grabbed my jacket and welcomed the fresh air onto my skin and into my lungs. My feet carried the rest of me down the sidewalk, heading nowhere in particular. As I moseyed along, the scent of spring’s blooms swirled into my nose grabbing my attention.…

7 Ways a Consistent Nature Practice Can Improve Your Life

Guest Post, NatureNo comments

At some point in our lives we have experienced the joys of being outside. Whether it be an outside BBQ or a brisk hike in the woods, spending time outside leaves us feeling better in a number of ways. As a person who spends most of his life outside, I have seen and experienced Nature improving my life daily. Here is a (very) brief list of some specific benefits I have noticed.

1. Your ego drops away.

Bills, drama, worries, anxiety, self doubt, you know all that normal brain activity, it tends to revolve around one person: YOU. This ego based thinking keeps US at the center of the universe. Everything we do and see in life is based on ME.

However, when we develop a relationship with the wild things, we realize that we are not the center of the universe. That no matter what we do or what we think, Nature continues on. Long before we got here and long after we will be gone, Nature will continue to be.

This concept might make you feel uneasy. That’s ok. That’s just your ego being upset. This shift from an EGO-centric viewpoint to an ECO-centric viewpoint allows us to …

Chakra Guide to Snow Color

Food, Geoff Lamden, Mind Body and Spirit, NatureNo commentsChakras, Color Therapy, Snow

I enjoy a snowy winter and all the subtle changes in the snow and ice and the way they reflect the sunlight (when it is out, that is). Living in Michigan for most of my life, though, I’ve heard many complaints of the drabness, a lack of color with only white, gray and black to choose from.

That’s why I suggest coloring a rainbow on snow that is everywhere. …

The Grab: A Simple Exercise in Self-Awareness

Kara McNabb, Medicinal Herbs and Food, Mind Body and Spirit, Nature, NaturopathyNo commentsmindfulness, self awareness

It had been 90 minutes since my neighbor shared her criticism about the way I choose to live, when suddenly it clicked. This squabble would have been the perfect opportunity to practice bringing myself back into center after the intimidating situation sent my body swirling into a frenzy of fight, flight or freeze mode.

Earlier, I’d spent the day in self-awareness mode with the Life 2.0 program, where I experienced “The Grab,” a practice that emerged from Aikido and, more specifically, Richard Strozzi Heckler’s Strozzi Institute.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this exercise named with a word that carries a generally negative connotation. Michael Jackson was all that came to mind. But it turned out to be pretty innocent. I was to spend a moment centering myself, speak my commitment statement, then wait for my partner to touch my shoulder while saying “Kara.” After “the grab,” I was to re-center and again speak my commitment statement.

Simple. But I was in awe at what I discovered with my reaction. …

Treat Your Feet to the Earth

Geoff Lamden, Natural Health, NatureNo commentsEarthing, Feet, Natural Health

We wake up, take a breath, do a little stretch and stand up for the day. Taking those amazing feet for granted. We wrap them in socks, trap them in shoes, put petroleum-based sandals under them so they can’t touch this precious Earth we call home. The Agony of Da Feet.…

ReWilding: Getting Back to Your Roots

Guest Post, Mind Body and Spirit, NatureNo commentsEarthing, luke mclaughlin, Nature, rewilding, survivalist

Congratulations! You just inherited a zoo from your now deceased, long-lost uncle Frank. It is now your job to take care of the most popular animal at the zoo: the monkeys. “I don’t know anything about taking care of monkeys!” you say to yourself. “I don’t know anything about what they should eat, how they live, and what keeps them healthy!” …

ReWild Your Child

Angela McElroy, Children, NatureNo comments

“A child found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as though it was unable to go any further.

The child decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily, but its body was swollen and wings were shriveled.

The child continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body. Neither happened. In face, the butterfly spend the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly.

What the child, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from its body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight. It was the struggle that the child tried to free the butterfly of that ensured its life. “ ~origins unknown

I first heard of this story during an herb class with Jim McDonald teaching …

Category: Nature