Natural Highs: The Science

of Nature Connection
How to recharge your attention, breathe away stress
and reconnect with the creative forces of nature.
 What You Will Learn:
Here is what is covered in this presentation:

1. About Awecology
2. Natural Highs Vs Artificial Highs
3. 10 Powerful Natural Highs
4. The Power of Nature Connection To Heal
5. 3 Pillars of Eco-Mindfulness Training
 About Awecology
Since 2016, we have hosted ecopsychology workshops, nature retreats
and online programs that teach experiential meditation practices to
facilitate immersive meditative experiences of deep presence,
embodiment and interconnectedness with nature.

Read Our Story

 The Great Disconnection
The average person today in a highly-developed country:

1. Spends 95% of their time indoors sitting.

2. Stares 10+ hours a day at a screen.
3. Can identify 1000s of corporate logos yet only a few local 🌿🌲🍄
4. Goes months at a time without their bare feet touching the Earth.
5. Is educated by a system rooted in a hyper-materialist worldview that
emphasizes abstractions, reductionism, competition and separation.
Natural Highs Vs
Artificial Highs
 What Are Natural Highs?
Natural highs are sustainable behaviors that improve your health and
vitality while leaving you with a feeling of happiness and fulfillment.

To understand the key distinction between natural highs and artificial

highs, let’s look at how our modern environment shapes our behavior.
Pleasure vs Happiness
Modern advertising is designed to conflate
and confuse two of our most powerful
emotions pleasure and happiness.

There’s a crucial distinction between

pleasures sold to us that create an addictive
cycle of craving and aversion, and natural
highs that flow from healthy habits and
produce a state of clarity and happiness.

Pleasure = This feels good, I want more.

Happiness = This feels good, I don’t want or

need anymore.
The Modern Paradox
The paradox of modern life is we enjoy
endless possibilities to live a creative and
meaningful life but our environment is often
disconnected from nature and filled with
advertising designed to hook us on the instant
gratification of artificial highs.

This makes it easy to develop bad habits. We

are bombarded daily with 1000s of ads for
addictive foods, drugs, technologies and
pseudo-relationships, which corporations use
to hook us on their artificial highs.
 Habit Design
Why are today’s digital products on our
smartphones such as Facebook and
Instagram so addictive? Because they use the
psychology of behavior design to hook us.

Fortunately, we can also employ habit design

principles to break free from bad habits and
replace them with good habits that produce
natural highs and consistent energy.

Let’s explore 10 eco-mindfulness habits that

can produce a natural high and make it easier
to resist the lure of instant gratification.
10 Powerful
Nature Highs
 1. Pranayama
The most ancient meditation practices
from the Vedic tradition that teach how
to control your physical and mental
states through breathing.

Pranayama involves training your

physiology with rhythmic breathing and
breath holds to improve oxygen
efficiently [1]. This increases the vital
power of the mitochondria in our cells
that produce 95% of our cellular energy.
2. Qigong
The ancient Chinese practice of Qigong
is an excellent form of embodied
moving meditation that helps to create
harmony between your mind and body
[2].

Qigong helps you quiet the mind and

feel the aliveness in your body and
environment by syncing the breath
with a conscious flow of movement.
 3. Nature
Immersion
One of the best things for our health [3]
in this day and age is to dedicate one day
per week to completely unplug from
screens and spend quality time with
close friends and family in nature.

Make it a weekly eco-sabbath ritual and

spend the day learning in the forest
practicing mindfulness to boost your
mood and feelings of connectedness [4].
 4. Earthing
When was the last time your feet
touched the Earth? Most people today
go weeks or even months without
touching the Earth. Yet, earthing is
becoming a foundational practice of
environmental medicine [5].

Barefoot walking meditation is a great

way to ground yourself to the Earth and
activate all the sensitive nerves and
energy channels that run up from the
bottom of your feet.
5. Adaptogens
Plant and fungi adaptogens are a
proven way to boost your energy,
immune system and resilience [6].

If you live in a northern climate, a

medicinal mushroom blend can
increase your energy and immunity in
the winter. Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps,
Maitake and Lion's Mane are excellent.

Good plant adaptogens are Siberian

Ginseng, Ashwagandha and Rhodiola.
6. Foraging
Foraging for edible and medicinal plants
and mushrooms is a great way to learn
the ecology of your local land [7].

In each season, nature provides

powerful medicines for our bodies that
can be easily foraged or cultivated at
home. Medicinal mushrooms, in
particular, are easy to grow yourself
indoors or on a log in your backyard.
7. Flow States
When you bring your full attention to
highly challenging and meaningful
activities you can trigger a potent
neurochemical release that is referred
to as a “flow state”. Flow follows focus,
so unplugging from all distractions and
notifications is vital to achieve flow [8].

Flow is the ultimate natural high and an

“autotelic” experience that increases
motivation [9] for continuous learning
and advancement to bigger challenges.
8. Spirit Quests
Spiritual quests and sacred pilgrimages
are important activities that have been
mostly forgotten in modern cultures.

Spending a weekend or extended

period of time walking a sacred
pilgrimage route or in the wilderness
away from screens and electric lights is
a powerful way to gain clarity and a
deeper sense of meaning in life [10].
9. Light Therapy
The key to having high energy and
consistent motivation each day is to
understand your circadian rhythm and
then create habits that improve the
quality of your sleep [11].

One of the most overlooked parts of

sleeping deeply each night is the need
to get more natural light in the day. It
also helps to reduce exposure to blue
light from screens after the sun goes
down.
10. Community
In rich countries, people generally
aren’t much happier than poorer ones
since most benefits of a higher standard
of living have been offset by a loss of
community and social connectedness.
Shared sense of identity, purpose and
belonging is crucial for health [12].

Make the habit of actively building your

“tribe” by spending time in nature with
friends and family, hosting potlucks and
participating in group sharing/learning.
The Power of Nature
Connection To Heal
 1. Lungs
Trees can be your meditation teachers.
They are rooted in stillness and they
clean the air through absorbing carbon
dioxide and producing oxygen.

Breathing in the forest, you will inhale

more pure oxygen and natural aromas
that trees produce called phytoncides,
which have been shown to help asthma,
reduce stress hormones, improve
concentration and boost the immune
system after only a 20-minute walk in
the forest [13].
2. Heart
Spending time walking in a park or
having contact with nature through
gardening positively impacts blood
pressure, cholesterol, lowers heart rate,
and reduces the stress hormone
cortisol [14].

Cultivating your love, appreciation and

gratitude toward the natural world can
reduce anxiety and depression [15].
 3. Brain
A wealth of research into what’s now
called attention restoration theory [16]
has found that people with ADHD have
much better concentration after
spending time in the forest.

It can work for anyone. Walking in a

forest provokes a sense of renewal that
boosts concentration and decreases
levels of stress, anxiety and aggression.
4. Mental Health
As little as five hours a month (two
40-minute nature walks per week) has
been shown to help prevent mild
depression [17].

Exposure to nature is also linked to

a decline in cortisol and reduced
activation of the sympathetic nervous
system (stress response) and an
increase in parasympathetic activity
(relaxation response) [18].
5. Physical Health
A wealth of research has found that
walking is one of the most effective ways
to lose weight, reduce fatigue and
improve cardiovascular health [19].

Walking in a forest boosts concentration,

improves sensory acuity and decreases
levels of stress, anxiety and aggression,
which means less inflammation in the
body [20].
6. Social Health
Community and a sense of belonging is
crucial for human happiness. A chronic
sense of loneliness has been found to be
as bad for long-health as obesity and
smoking 15 cigarettes a day [21].

Nature connection provides a great

way for family, friends and communities
to come together and share their
experiences and bond with each other
[22].
7. Compassion
Spending quality time each week in
nature helps grow a deeper sense of awe,
generosity, compassion and a stronger
desire to protect the natural world [23].

Being in nature has been shown to

reduce the nagging inner critic and
compulsive self-analysis. Exploring the
sense of awe and wonder in nature has
been shown to have prosocial effects
and reduce rumination and worry [24].
 3 Pillars of
Eco-Mindfulness Training
Learn how to put all these elements of felt unity experiences
together for a better life and improved well-being.
 1. Ecstasis
Ecstasis = Deep Presence: To go beyond oneself, a moment of insight, a
moment of total immersion in being.

Going beyond our normal waking consciousness and conceptual biases of

thinking, labeling and judging the world so we can see the world with fresh
eyes and a beginner’s mind.

Training flow states and 3 forms of mindfulness: focused attention, open

monitoring and nondual awareness.
 2. Catharsis
Catharsis = Embodiment: The process of deepening feeling and releasing, and
thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

Releasing, purifying and expressing our emotions so we can feel a deeper

sense of embodiment, safety and freedom in our bodies.

Training embodiment and a sense of gratitude, appreciation and loving

compassion for ourselves, other people and the natural world.
 3. Communitas
Communitas = Interconnectedness: An unstructured state in which all
members of a community are equal allowing them to share a common
experience, usually through a rite of passage.

Feeling ourselves an integral part of the living world, building our

community around our values and interests, and learn how to craft
powerful group flow experiences so we can be regenerative catalysts for
the great reconnection.

Training awe, inspiration and peak experiences in community.

Build The Habits of
Eco-Mindfulness
Watch The Video
About The Author
My name is Kyle Pearce.

I’m a learning experience designer

specialized in integrating the psychology of
learning, motivation and creativity and flow.

Our Online Community: Join The Facebook Group

Questions? Email me: kyle@awecology.eco