Nature Rx: Focused time outdoors can boost wellness

by Maddy Holman

Nature has a profound effect on well-being. Studies have shown that simply being outdoors can lower stress hormones, improve mood and even boost our immune system.

Local wellness practitioners Shannon Speaks and Kim Scott Sowinski also believe that connecting with the natural world is an essential part of any mindfulness practice, a type of meditation that involves being aware of your current sensations and feelings without judgment or interpretation. The two women are spreading healthy vibes by encouraging Clevelanders to reap the positive benefits that can occur when being intentional in your time outside.

Speaks, a Hudson-based licensed social worker and certified mindfulness and life coach, said she first discovered mindfulness from a high school math teacher and basketball coach. Today she helps others realize the fulfillment that the practice brings to her own life through seasonal “Mindful Hikes.”

In partnership with Friends of Hudson Parks, Speaks and a group of eight to 15 hikers of all ages meet at Cascade Park four times a year. The hikes often follow a theme, with previous events focused on shifting through the five senses over the course of the trail and an “Awe Walk,” which emphasized the evidenced-based benefits of experiencing awe.

The summer walk is scheduled to take place in August, with a specific date and theme to be announced soon. Those interested in attending can visit Friends of Hudson Parks’ website, friendsofhudsonparks.org.

Speaks said the walks are free, furthering her mission to bring mindfulness and time in nature to everyone.

“Any time that you can settle into a moment, you are performing mindfulness,” she said. “You can’t get mindfulness wrong.”

Sowinski of Independence is another dedicated champion for judgement- and competition-free movement in nature. She leads a practice that yogis from novice to experienced levels can enjoy, “Yoga Hikes” that take place in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The travelling yoga class is less intimidating, she said, and “integrates the best of being in nature and practicing yoga.”

The hikes are seasonal practices – the group focuses on “grounding” in winter, “cooling” in summer and “warming” in spring. They use trees and branches to deepen poses, steps and benches to increase movement, and the topography and vegetation of the earth around them to enhance awareness.

“It’s a great way to integrate the best of being in nature with practicing yoga, which is actually meant to be practiced outdoors,” Sowinski said.

Open to ages 14 and up, Sowinski hosts a maximum of 15 yogis per hike. Fees for the class are donated back to the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Beyond physical and mental perks like focused breathing and improved cardiovascular endurance, the yoga hikes encourage community members to come together and often leave hikers feeling connected with one another as well as with the land they inhabit, according to Sowinski. The class schedule can be found at cravenaturecleveland.com.

Both Speaks and Sowinski credit part of their mindfulness education to Dr. Joe Blanda, a retired orthopedic physician who serves on the board for the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He first introduced Sowinski to mindful hikes when she was in Florida and prompted her to lead yoga walks on Sanibel Island. Speaks subscribes to Blanda’s message that time in nature can be a crucial part of healing physical ailments. 

“Though pain may remain, suffering can sometimes dissolve, and present moment awareness can remind us to not get so attached to the stories we are telling ourselves about the pain,” Speaks said. “The stories that we tell ourselves about our pain are usually more painful on their own, and connectedness in nature helps us learn how to stay in our bodies and in the moment.” ∞