Biophobia vs. Biophilia - Written By: Marilyn Laughlin, LCSW, RYT-500, Certified Nature Therapy Guide

Seriously, Biophobia (fear of nature) is a thing?  Yes, the more urban and indoor-oriented our lives have become, the more disconnected to nature we have become.  People express  fears of animals, “bugs”, and extreme weather events.  Allergies motivate people to keep doors and windows shut and live in climate controlled rooms and offices stimulated constantly by the artificial lights of multiple screens.  It is possible to never go outdoors for any length of time - moving from home to vehicle to workplace with all services and resources delivered.  Spending intentional time in nature tends to lose priority when so many other activities offer fascination and comfort.  And the less time spent in nature the more people view it as negative and not to be trusted.  It doesn’t feel safe to be vulnerable in a public park or out on trails.  Instead, nature represents something to be manipulated for resource extraction or controlled to make life more convenient for humans.  When we skip nature time, we lose a critical coping resource.  

Biophillia - We love nature because we are nature.

The naturalist Edward O. Wilson (1929–2021) first used the term ‘biophilia’ to describe ‘the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life’ (Wilson, 1984).  Because we share an evolutionary history with nature, we have developed an innate affinity for the natural world” (Wilson, 1984, 2013).  The more connected we feel to our natural environments, the more likely we are to care about protecting them.  

Research documents how time spent in nature lowers our blood pressure, reduces stress, improves mood, strengthens the immune system, and of course, provides physical exercise.  The benefits of using nature-based therapies for mental health issues like anxiety and depression include:  gaining a clear mind, letting go of worry,  problem solving, altering perspectives, and feeling more hopeful.   All of our senses engage in the beauty of a landscape, the scents of trees and plants, the sounds of birds, the wind, the rush of the streams, and the touch of our feet as we walk on a path or touch a tree.

Sustaining our connection to nature helps us associate with something other than the identity we establish in the material world and awareness of our connection to others in our social world arises as we remember we are part of nature or that we actually are nature.  Utilizing Nature-based Therapy for depression distracts and redirects our minds from the self-involvement that can dominate thoughts in depression.  Nature can realign mind and body to work with each other instead of reacting to each other.  Depression is not an identity, but a state.  

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/81c78d_f96559c2f5ae4671a432426825ccbfae/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Nature and lessons on adapting to change

While recovering from a stroke and accompanying depression, the American poet Walt Whitman relied on nature to help restore his functioning  by “connecting with the rhythms of the earth”.  And . . . "Nature remains; to bring out from their torpid recesses, the affinities of a man or woman with the open air, the trees, fields, the changes of seasons — the sun by day and the stars of heaven by night.”  Specimen Days 

A recent study on lab mice published in Current Biology found that when a group of captive mice who had never lived anywhere but a lab were released into a contained field, their measured anxiety plummeted and they adapted to the natural environment.  They also “showed no fear response or a much weaker response” to an environment they had never experienced before.  Like the mice, humans may benefit from adding new, natural experiences to their lives that build resilience and adaptability for coping with new, unexpected life experiences.

When I climbed the Manitou Incline last year one of my fellow climbers said ‘it’s you against yourself’.  I replied that I thought of it as more ‘you with you’.  It's a state of collaborating with yourself instead of fighting or chastising yourself for needing to take a break or feeling discouraged by how hard it can be at times.  Where else can we experience the beauty and unique identity that is us, other than in nature?  Sitting in nature calms us, allowing us to feel safe and not scared.  Touching the trees that we pass connects us to history, their scars and fallen branches remind us of impermanence and change as part of life.  Smelling the scents of the soil and the organisms that live in it, the hummus of dried leaves, and the phytoncides that trees release are  the scents of life. 

Take a walk today in a park, venture out to the woods, touch the trees, hear the birds, see the deer, and be awakened to the many different species who live with you in your location.  For whatever amount of time you will commit, immerse yourself in the mindful, grounding exercise of experiencing the environment.  Find those “numinous” moments (evoking a powerful sense of the divine, spiritual or supernatural - awe, mystery and wonder, fascinating)  that belong only to you even if you can’t document them with photos or words.  Discover your own “imaginative empathy” for nature and yourself and “the wonder of being alive”(quotes from Something in the Woods Loves You by Jarod Anderson).