Health & Healing

Finding Calm in Nature Scenes

Spending time in nature is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to support mental and emotional well-being. You do not need special skills, equipment, or a particular mindset to benefit. Even brief, everyday contact with natural elements – light, air, plants, water, or outdoor sounds – can help the nervous system settle and the mind slow down. Disclaimer: 3rd party videos for educational purposes only. May contain ads. See their website for their privacy policies.

Contact with Nature

For many people, modern life involves long periods indoors, high levels of stimulation, and constant demands on attention. Contact with nature offers a different kind of environment: one that tends to be rhythmic rather than urgent, varied rather than overwhelming, and steady rather than demanding. This shift alone can be supportive.

How Nature Supports Mental Health

Research shows that time in natural settings is associated with reduced stress, improved mood, and better attention. From a nervous system perspective, nature often provides cues of safety: predictable patterns, softer sounds, slower movement, and sensory input that does not require constant decision-making.

Nature can help by:

  • Lowering physical stress responses (such as muscle tension or shallow breathing)
  • Supporting emotional regulation and calm
  • Improving focus and mental clarity
  • Offering a sense of perspective or grounding
  • Reducing feelings of mental fatigue

You don’t have to feel relaxed right away for these benefits to occur. Simply being present with natural elements is often enough.

Nature & Cognitive Functioning

Learn about research being conducted to understand how time in nature can enhance cognitive functioning.

What “Contact with Nature” Can Look Like

Contact with nature does not require hiking in remote areas or spending hours outdoors. It can be brief, local, and flexible.

Examples include:

  • Sitting near a window and noticing daylight or weather
  • Walking in a park, neighborhood, or green space
  • Spending time near water (a river, lake, ocean, or fountain)
  • Gardening or caring for plants
  • Sitting in your car and focusing on the plants, animals, or other natural scenery around you.
  • Listening to natural sounds, such as rain, wind, or birds
  • Watching clouds, trees, or moving water
  • Using nature videos or images when outdoor access is limited

Even small moments – one or two minutes of intentional noticing – can have an effect.

A Practice, Not a Performance

You do not need to feel calm, focused, or peaceful for time in nature to be supportive. There is no requirement to clear your mind, have a meaningful insight, or feel emotionally better afterward. You can be distracted, bored, emotionally neutral, or upset and still benefit.

You can turn to nature when you are stressed, grieving, angry, or overwhelmed. In those moments, nature won’t “fix” how you feel. However, the exposure to natural light, open space, rhythmic sounds, or organic movement can offer your nervous system a different kind of input. Sometimes emotions soften; other times they remain present but feel more tolerable or less consuming.

Contact with nature works quietly and indirectly. The benefit is not about changing your mood on demand, but about giving your body and mind a setting that supports regulation, perspective, and recovery over time—even when difficult feelings are present.

If focusing feels difficult, try orienting gently:

  • Notice one natural color
  • Notice one sound coming from outside
  • Feel the temperature of the air on your skin
  • Notice movement (leaves, clouds, water)

These brief sensory anchors can support grounding without requiring sustained attention.

When Nature Brings Up Mixed Feelings

For some people, being in nature can bring up unexpected emotions – sadness, restlessness, or even discomfort. This can happen if nature feels unfamiliar, unsafe, or associated with past experiences. If that happens, it does not mean you are doing anything wrong.

You get to control whether and how you engages in this practice.  If you experience discomfort or mixed feelings, you might want to try:

  • Choosing more controlled environments (a garden, balcony, or window view instead of a trail in woods)
  • Initially limiting how long you engage and then increasing that tim as you become more comfortable 
  • Keeping a familiar object nearby
  • Focusing on neutral elements (light, color, texture) rather than wide open spaces
  • Using nature images or videos instead of being outdoors

Nature and Other Healthy Practices

Contact with nature often works well alongside other practices:

  • Walking outdoors can support gentle movement
  • Noticing natural sounds can support mindfulness
  • Being outside can make breathing practices feel more natural
  • Nature can provide a reflective space without requiring active effort

It can also stand alone. You do not need to pair it with meditation or intentional exercises for it to be beneficial.

Making It Part of Daily Life

Rather than treating nature as something separate or special, many people find it helpful to weave small moments into their routines:

  • Step outside briefly between tasks
  • Eat a meal near a window
  • Take phone calls while walking outdoors
  • Pause to notice the sky when transitioning between activities

These small practices can add up over time.

A Flexible and Accessible Support

Contact with nature is not a cure and does not replace professional care when that is needed. It is one option among many – available to be used when it feels supportive and set aside when it does not.

You do not need to feel connected, spiritual, or calm for this practice to be helpful. Simply allowing yourself moments of contact with the natural world can support balance, regulation, and well-being in quiet, cumulative ways.

 

Learn More

You may want to explore the following, whether to facilitate meditation or relaxation or to help transform your office or other potentially stressful setting:

Pre-Recorded Nature Scenes

Live-Cams (may be re-plays during some hours)

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