As I am yet to complete my studies at the University of the Highlands & Islands this description of my ecotherapeutic practice will continue to evolve and become updated. I hope for now to give a taste of what it might involve and how it all came about. The following is edited from the various self-reflexive thinking projects I have contemplated over the past couple of years of my studies.
For many years I turned my back on the mountains and immersed myself in the urban culture of London. When I finally returned to the hills later in life, I purposefully set out to become a “proper mountaineer”, whatever that means. I threw myself at the mountains and embraced notions of conquering, and overcoming fear, but have gradually realised that this does not match my values. I identify as somewhat askew with many of the values espoused by the “outdoor industry”, but does that matter? I scribbled something in my reflective notepad: “why would anyone want to chase fear? I have to face my anxieties every-day: I’d rather find ways to ease them rather than increase them”. I can leave behind these deeply rooted western cultural concepts of vanquishing (colonising), defeating the mountain (planting the flag) and accept my new identity as a mountain leader, one shaped by a relationship with the environment, and nature. This is in alignment with my personal values, the empathy I feel towards the “more-than-human-world” and which I seek to place at the centre of my therapeutic practice.
“Losing track of nature” and finding a way back.
When I consider perceptions of my professional self-identity as a Mountain Leader I struggle to overcome a neglect of the role of nature within the outdoor industry. In my studies I became overly focused on the interplay between practitioner and client in the therapeutic moment… This is not surprising as my background is not in therapy, and I was already aware that I struggle to contextualise the therapeutic and find empathy problematic. As I understand it, it is cognitive empathy that I struggle with. In contrast I can be overwhelmed by affective, emotional empathy. This I attribute to my recently suspected autistic traits.
Autistic individuals can struggle with reciprocity and this is often manifested in how they experience empathy. This can lead to difficulties “initiating interactions”, “feigning interest”, following the “back and forth flow of interactions”, and “building a conversation that feels reciprocal” (Henderson et al., 2023 pp34-37). Later, more critical contemplation allowed me to conceptualise these issues, move beyond my prejudices and start to examine reflexively how I might introduce my potential affective and empathic “super-power” in my practice if I was to struggle with reciprocity in a talker/listener dynamic.
During a long early morning walk alone through the forest of Glenmore in the Cairngorms, I felt myself reconnecting in a very visceral, direct and immediate way with my surroundings. The flow of the Alt na Fèithe-Duibhe (burn of the black bog) down through the glimmering of a new dawn, the call of the first black bird and the leaping of the fish. This was a very powerful emotive state which I decided to place at the centre of my ensuing reflective practice and focus further reading looking for ways I may theorise for this.
“The Spell of the Sensuous” (Abram 1996), “Creatura” (Bateson 1979) and “Imaginal” (Corbin 1964).
I had already been drawn towards and entranced with the work of David Abram (Abram, 1996 & 2010). His “Spell of the Sensuous” outlines a need to immerse oneself in the natural, in all its biological and non-biological forms: not to treat it as wild and chaotic, but rather to embrace the “more than human world” of nature, environment and culture”. We need to become “animal, entirely a part of the animate world whose life swells within and unfolds all around us” whilst remaining conscious of our own ecological function and influence within the greater scheme of things (Abram 2010 p.3). As I found myself being asked to reflect on my beliefs regarding mental health, I produced a diagrammatic depiction heavily influenced by Abram’s work.
As I am yet to complete my studies at the University of the Highlands & Islands this description of my ecotherapeutic practice will continue to evolve and become updated. I hope for now to give a taste of what it might involve and how it all came about. The following is edited from the various self-reflexive thinking projects I have contemplated over the past couple of years of my studies.
For many years I turned my back on the mountains and immersed myself in the urban culture of London. When I finally returned to the hills later in life, I purposefully set out to become a “proper mountaineer”, whatever that means. I threw myself at the mountains and embraced notions of conquering, and overcoming fear, but have gradually realised that this does not match my values. I identify as somewhat askew with many of the values espoused by the “outdoor industry”, but does that matter? I scribbled something in my reflective notepad: “why would anyone want to chase fear? I have to face my anxieties every-day: I’d rather find ways to ease them rather than increase them”. I can leave behind these deeply rooted western cultural concepts of vanquishing (colonising), defeating the mountain (planting the flag) and accept my new identity as a mountain leader, one shaped by a relationship with the environment, and nature. This is in alignment with my personal values, the empathy I feel towards the “more-than-human-world” and which I seek to place at the centre of my therapeutic practice.
“Losing track of nature” and finding a way back.
When I consider perceptions of my professional self-identity as a Mountain Leader I struggle to overcome a neglect of the role of nature within the outdoor industry. In my studies I became overly focused on the interplay between practitioner and client in the therapeutic moment… This is not surprising as my background is not in therapy, and I was already aware that I struggle to contextualise the therapeutic and find empathy problematic. As I understand it, it is cognitive empathy that I struggle with. In contrast I can be overwhelmed by affective, emotional empathy. This I attribute to my recently suspected autistic traits.
Autistic individuals can struggle with reciprocity and this is often manifested in how they experience empathy. This can lead to difficulties “initiating interactions”, “feigning interest”, following the “back and forth flow of interactions”, and “building a conversation that feels reciprocal” (Henderson et al., 2023 pp34-37). Later, more critical contemplation allowed me to conceptualise these issues, move beyond my prejudices and start to examine reflexively how I might introduce my potential affective and empathic “super-power” in my practice if I was to struggle with reciprocity in a talker/listener dynamic.
During a long early morning walk alone through the forest of Glenmore in the Cairngorms, I felt myself reconnecting in a very visceral, direct and immediate way with my surroundings. The flow of the Alt na Fèithe-Duibhe (burn of the black bog) down through the glimmering of a new dawn, the call of the first black bird and the leaping of the fish. This was a very powerful emotive state which I decided to place at the centre of my ensuing reflective practice and focus further reading looking for ways I may theorise for this.
“The Spell of the Sensuous” (Abram 1996), “Creatura” (Bateson 1979) and “Imaginal” (Corbin 1964).
I had already been drawn towards and entranced with the work of David Abram (Abram, 1996 & 2010). His “Spell of the Sensuous” outlines a need to immerse oneself in the natural, in all its biological and non-biological forms: not to treat it as wild and chaotic, but rather to embrace the “more than human world” of nature, environment and culture”. We need to become “animal, entirely a part of the animate world whose life swells within and unfolds all around us” whilst remaining conscious of our own ecological function and influence within the greater scheme of things (Abram 2010 p.3). As I found myself being asked to reflect on my beliefs regarding mental health, I produced a diagrammatic depiction heavily influenced by Abram’s work.
I suggested our mental health results from the relationship between our body, our mind and the environment. I explicitly placed mind firmly in a sphere of influence extending beyond the body into the environment where it can interact with other bodies/minds within the “more-than-human-world”. I dissolved the boundary of nature “flowing in and out of therapy in more explicit ways” (Marshall, p.131) so that, as I put it “the birds can fly through it, the light shift and the full dynamism of the natural space can pass through it.” Nature is unpredictable, messy and as Duncan summarises Bateson, is only in part “’governed… by forces and impacts’ and direct physical causation.” (Duncan, 2018 p.29) This is Bateson’s “pleroma”, the material substance that fills space, and governed by our “logical conceptual language and thinking.” The predictable billiard balls of Newtonian physics. In contrast “Creatura” is the description of living systems, “biological evolution, ecology, thought, love etc”, “complex organic systems such as nature and the human psyche”. It is constantly changing and shifting and cannot be conceptually defined. Its grammar is the language of poetry, is non-verbal, metaphorical and contextual (Duncan, 2018 pp.29-30). It can only be accessed by opening ourselves up to “the spell of the sensuous”. There is an allied concept in Corbin’s “imaginal”: “active imagination” which also cannot be described adequately through concepts or verbal language. Corbin goes further and suggests it cannot be observed directly or experienced by the senses. It therefore “lies hidden in plain sight and is accessed through a language that is understood by artists and musicians” (Duncan, 2018 p.33).
These three allied concepts can be tools that lead us into a way of experiencing nature, but more importantly becoming nature once again: by becoming empathic with it. I’d like to call this the “imaginal becoming known”, as that part of the more-than-human-world that is not the pleroma. (It’s interesting to note how many words are required to name that which is not amenable to logical language: it is a process, not a thing. For brevity I will now abbreviate it to “IBK”). I feel with nature much in the same way as I feel with a piece of music, and this can be extremely emotionally intense and long lasting. The relationship between music and empathy is much studied and could provide a theoretical basis for an understanding of how we can engage with the IBK and allow nature in as our therapist (Juslin, 2019). I have been moved to revise my drawing of our relations between the more-than-human-world and the talker/listener dynamic, now dissolved into one as facilitator with the IBK as principal therapist.
These three allied concepts can be tools that lead us into a way of experiencing nature, but more importantly becoming nature once again: by becoming empathic with it. I’d like to call this the “imaginal becoming known”, as that part of the more-than-human-world that is not the pleroma. (It’s interesting to note how many words are required to name that which is not amenable to logical language: it is a process, not a thing. For brevity I will now abbreviate it to “IBK”). I feel with nature much in the same way as I feel with a piece of music, and this can be extremely emotionally intense and long lasting. The relationship between music and empathy is much studied and could provide a theoretical basis for an understanding of how we can engage with the IBK and allow nature in as our therapist (Juslin, 2019). I have been moved to revise my drawing of our relations between the more-than-human-world and the talker/listener dynamic, now dissolved into one as facilitator with the IBK as principal therapist.
Duncan (2018 pp.41- 53) in his chapter “Into the Woods” provides a series of theoretical tools from his own practice through which I can formulate a synthesis as I introduce “IBK” into my own practice: Biophilia (Wilson, 1984). We are evolutionarily predisposed to function more effectively in a more-than-human environment. Embodied experience (Steiner, 2000), touch and movement, that is knowing the world through our senses. Attention restoration theory (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989) and psychophysiological stress recovery theory (Ulrich, 1983), involuntary fascination with elements of IBK leading to stress reduction and restoration of the mind and body.
Reciprocity in healing: nature/mind dynamics.
In the 1990s Duncan had been involved in creating a “sustainable, therapeutic, educational, woodland management plan” with a forestry authority and local wildlife trust (Duncan, 2018 pp.41-43). This involved engaging clients through woodland conservation. There has been research into the value of participating in ecological conservation projects (Haller 2021, & Barbett et al., 2020), and the benefits align closely with those attributed to horticultural therapy (Jordan, 2015 pp.36-37). As a volunteer ranger with the Cairngorms National Park I am fortunate to have participated in ecological conservation around Glenmore, much of this is in collaboration with Cairngorms Connect who operate at the landscape level (https://cairngormsconnect.org.uk/ (accessed 27/11/2024). In November 2024 I was planting downy birch in upper Strath Nethy, tiny trees I had helped raise from locally collected seed in the nursery down the valley: this gave me plenty of time alone high up on the slopes of Bynack More for reflection whilst in the field.
I was practicing what has now come together as my theory of becoming aware of the IBK and caring for it through practical ecological conservation work. In essence, I became intensely aware of what I now call IBK, my interactions with it, and felt just in my actions. As I was tending to and repairing the health of the more-than-human-world at my fingertips, I felt genuine gratefulness for how this was being reciprocated through the IBK and my relationship with it. I felt it healing my mind. This was being achieved without “using” or “taking advantage” of nature. Indeed, it was more than leave-no-trace, it was leaving it in a better state than we found it. As well as leaving feeling better in mind, I was also adding memories. Memories of place, which like seeds we not only carry with us, but we also leave them planted behind, to grow in the more-than-human-world, ready to be revisited whenever we return (Berger, 2006, & Harper et al., 2012). Place, and my knowledge of it, is important to my practice: I feel it gives it authenticity.
A path forward.
Through undertaking this series of reflections, I have learnt to value my own identity as a practitioner and move beyond restrictive labels. More importantly I have recognised that my own issues with mental health can be an asset. On the journey to improving my own mental health I have begun to deepen my understanding with how myself, my mind communicates with, and benefits from being in the more-than-human-world and what I now call the “imaginal becoming known.” As mountain leader and listener I’m like a guide to all that is becoming revealed through the more-than-human-world, which has become therapist. I am worried that if we make our therapeutic field overly bounded we might be throwing out the baby with the bath-water and missing out on the full potential the natural world can offer us. I recognise that this is problematic, but my journey is just beginning.
References.
Abram, D. (1996) The Spell of the Sensuous. Perception and language in a more-than-human world. New York: Vintage Press.
Abram, D. (2010) Becoming Animal. An Earthly Cosmology. New York: Random House.
Barbett, L. et al., (2020) ‘Measuring Actions for Nature - Development and Validation of a Pro-Nature Conservation Behaviour Scale.’ Sustainability 12 (4885) Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12124885
Bateson, G., (1979) Mind and nature: a necessary unity. London: Wildwood.
Corbin, H. (1964) ‘Mundus imaginalis ou l’imaginaire et l’imaginal’, Cahiers internationaux du symbolisme (6) pp. 3-26. Translated as Mundus Imaginalis or the Imaginary and the Imaginal. Available at: https://www.amiscorbin.com/bibliographie/mundus-imaginalis-or-the-imaginary-and-the-imaginal/ (accessed 26/11/2024).
Berger, R. (2006) ‘Using contact with nature, creativity and rituals as a therapeutic medium with children with learning difficulties: a case study’, Emotional and behavioural Difficulties 11 pp.135-146. Available at: https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1080/13632750600619430
Duncan, R. (2018) Nature in Mind. Systemic thinking and imagination in ecopsychology and mental health Abingdon, Oxon & New York: Routledge.
Harper, N., Carpenter, C., & Segal, D. (2012) ‘Self and place: journeys in the land’, Ecopsychology 4 (4)., pp.319-325.
Haller, R. (2021) ‘Garden and horticultural therapies’, in Harper, N., & Dobud, W., (eds) Outdoor therapies. An introduction to practices, possibilities and critical perspectives, New York & London: Routledge.
Henderson, D., Wayland, S., & White, Jamell (2023) Is this autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else. Abingdon, Oxon & New York: Routledge.
Jordan, M. (2015) Nature and Therapy. Understanding counselling and psychotherapy in outdoor spaces, Hove & New York: Routledge.
Juslin, P. (1019) Musical emotions explained. Unlocking the secrets of musical affect. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kaplan, R. and Kaplan, S. (1989) The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Marshall, H. (2020) ‘An elemental relationship – nature-based trauma therapy’ in Chesner, A., & Iykou, S., Trauma in the creative and embodied therapies. When words are not enough London: Routledge pp.128-140.
Steiner, R. (2000) Nature’s open secret: Introduction to Goethe’s scientific writings, New York: Anthroposophic Books.
Ulrich, R. (1983) ‘Aesthetic and affective response to natural environment’ in Atman, I. & Wohlhill (eds.), Human behaviour and the natural environment, New York: Plenum, pp.85-126.
Wilson, E., (1984) Biophilia: the human bond with other species, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Reciprocity in healing: nature/mind dynamics.
In the 1990s Duncan had been involved in creating a “sustainable, therapeutic, educational, woodland management plan” with a forestry authority and local wildlife trust (Duncan, 2018 pp.41-43). This involved engaging clients through woodland conservation. There has been research into the value of participating in ecological conservation projects (Haller 2021, & Barbett et al., 2020), and the benefits align closely with those attributed to horticultural therapy (Jordan, 2015 pp.36-37). As a volunteer ranger with the Cairngorms National Park I am fortunate to have participated in ecological conservation around Glenmore, much of this is in collaboration with Cairngorms Connect who operate at the landscape level (https://cairngormsconnect.org.uk/ (accessed 27/11/2024). In November 2024 I was planting downy birch in upper Strath Nethy, tiny trees I had helped raise from locally collected seed in the nursery down the valley: this gave me plenty of time alone high up on the slopes of Bynack More for reflection whilst in the field.
I was practicing what has now come together as my theory of becoming aware of the IBK and caring for it through practical ecological conservation work. In essence, I became intensely aware of what I now call IBK, my interactions with it, and felt just in my actions. As I was tending to and repairing the health of the more-than-human-world at my fingertips, I felt genuine gratefulness for how this was being reciprocated through the IBK and my relationship with it. I felt it healing my mind. This was being achieved without “using” or “taking advantage” of nature. Indeed, it was more than leave-no-trace, it was leaving it in a better state than we found it. As well as leaving feeling better in mind, I was also adding memories. Memories of place, which like seeds we not only carry with us, but we also leave them planted behind, to grow in the more-than-human-world, ready to be revisited whenever we return (Berger, 2006, & Harper et al., 2012). Place, and my knowledge of it, is important to my practice: I feel it gives it authenticity.
A path forward.
Through undertaking this series of reflections, I have learnt to value my own identity as a practitioner and move beyond restrictive labels. More importantly I have recognised that my own issues with mental health can be an asset. On the journey to improving my own mental health I have begun to deepen my understanding with how myself, my mind communicates with, and benefits from being in the more-than-human-world and what I now call the “imaginal becoming known.” As mountain leader and listener I’m like a guide to all that is becoming revealed through the more-than-human-world, which has become therapist. I am worried that if we make our therapeutic field overly bounded we might be throwing out the baby with the bath-water and missing out on the full potential the natural world can offer us. I recognise that this is problematic, but my journey is just beginning.
References.
Abram, D. (1996) The Spell of the Sensuous. Perception and language in a more-than-human world. New York: Vintage Press.
Abram, D. (2010) Becoming Animal. An Earthly Cosmology. New York: Random House.
Barbett, L. et al., (2020) ‘Measuring Actions for Nature - Development and Validation of a Pro-Nature Conservation Behaviour Scale.’ Sustainability 12 (4885) Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12124885
Bateson, G., (1979) Mind and nature: a necessary unity. London: Wildwood.
Corbin, H. (1964) ‘Mundus imaginalis ou l’imaginaire et l’imaginal’, Cahiers internationaux du symbolisme (6) pp. 3-26. Translated as Mundus Imaginalis or the Imaginary and the Imaginal. Available at: https://www.amiscorbin.com/bibliographie/mundus-imaginalis-or-the-imaginary-and-the-imaginal/ (accessed 26/11/2024).
Berger, R. (2006) ‘Using contact with nature, creativity and rituals as a therapeutic medium with children with learning difficulties: a case study’, Emotional and behavioural Difficulties 11 pp.135-146. Available at: https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1080/13632750600619430
Duncan, R. (2018) Nature in Mind. Systemic thinking and imagination in ecopsychology and mental health Abingdon, Oxon & New York: Routledge.
Harper, N., Carpenter, C., & Segal, D. (2012) ‘Self and place: journeys in the land’, Ecopsychology 4 (4)., pp.319-325.
Haller, R. (2021) ‘Garden and horticultural therapies’, in Harper, N., & Dobud, W., (eds) Outdoor therapies. An introduction to practices, possibilities and critical perspectives, New York & London: Routledge.
Henderson, D., Wayland, S., & White, Jamell (2023) Is this autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else. Abingdon, Oxon & New York: Routledge.
Jordan, M. (2015) Nature and Therapy. Understanding counselling and psychotherapy in outdoor spaces, Hove & New York: Routledge.
Juslin, P. (1019) Musical emotions explained. Unlocking the secrets of musical affect. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kaplan, R. and Kaplan, S. (1989) The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Marshall, H. (2020) ‘An elemental relationship – nature-based trauma therapy’ in Chesner, A., & Iykou, S., Trauma in the creative and embodied therapies. When words are not enough London: Routledge pp.128-140.
Steiner, R. (2000) Nature’s open secret: Introduction to Goethe’s scientific writings, New York: Anthroposophic Books.
Ulrich, R. (1983) ‘Aesthetic and affective response to natural environment’ in Atman, I. & Wohlhill (eds.), Human behaviour and the natural environment, New York: Plenum, pp.85-126.
Wilson, E., (1984) Biophilia: the human bond with other species, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.