(official name TBD...)
Welcome!
This is the kick-off post for my blog, a place to share my knowledge, thoughts, and reflections about the amazing relationships that exists between health (primarily human health) and the natural world in which we live.
Anyone that knows me knows that this is my main area of interest. My passion, the thing I love to talk about. (If you don’t know me that well, you can read more about me here, and my work in this field here and here.)
It is my intention to use this space to share ideas and start conversations about a number of topics related to the Human/Nature/Health relationship, including:
Ways that Nature benefits your health and the health of your family/community
Activities and techniques for being healthy outside in Nature
Recent research studies, including how they are relevant to your life
Programs and policies that promote Health and Nature relationships
Personal nature-based experiences I’ve had, and reflections they bring up
This blog can also provide a forum for discussion about these topics, and ways that you can be involved by asking your own questions or sharing your own thoughts or experiences about these exciting topics. You can do that by posting in the COMMENTS section, below.
There are an unlimited number of ways that these topics can be addressed and applied. I’ve been cultivating and curating the academic research literature in this area since 2004, and am continually excited by the amount of new material that becomes available. Many very smart people work on developing these topics (I know a bunch of them!), and I’m looking forward to sharing their work (and probably some of my own) with you.
Just some of the topic areas that I foresee covering with this blog include:
Psychology
Environmental Psychology
Psychological Restoration
Ecopsychology
Evolutionary Psychology
Connectedness to Nature and Nature Relatedness
Mental Health & Built Environment
Place-Attachment, Sense of Place, and Topophila
Solastalgia & Psychoterratica
Well-Being and Quality of Life
Happiness, Awe, and Eudaimonia
Pro-Environmental Behavior & Attitudes
Land ethic & Ecological Conscience (Leopold)
Nidotherapy
Mind-Body
Evolutionary Psychophysiology
Parasympathetic Activation and Vagal Stimulation
Psychoneuroimmunology and Psychoneuroendocrinology
Sensori-perceptual Neurobiology
Stress & Stress Reduction
Urban Stress
Mindfulness in Nature
Health & Medicine
Morbidity and Mortality
Light pollution (Outdoor and Indoor)
Screen-Time
Environmental Toxins
Entheogens and Sacred Plant Medicines
Nature & Ecology
Ecosystem Services
Climate Change & Human Health
Deep Ecology & Transpersonal Ecology
Spirituality in Nature
Practices & Applications
Nature Cure
Shinrin-yoku (aka “Forest Bathing”)
Earthing
Optimal Healing Environments
Aesthetics and Design
Parks & Parks Prescriptions
Urban Planning, Urban Greening, Urban Health
Therapeutic Landscapes
Ecotherapy and Nature-Based Interventions
Wilderness/Adventure Therapy
Gardens & Therapeutic Horticulture
Biomarkers & Psychometrics
Virtual Natural Environments & Digital Nature
Theory & Concepts
Biophilia
Vitamin N and Nature-Deficit Disorder
Salutogenesis
Social Ecology
Sustainability
Gaia Hypothesis
Resilience (Psychological, Biological, and Ecological)
Planetary Health & Ecological Medicine
Public Health, Environmental Health, & Health Promotion
Healthy Places/Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities
Epistemology, Paradigms, and World View
Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Systems Theory, Holism, Interconnection, and Complex Adaptive Systems
If any of these (or other) areas are of particular interest to you, please let me know in the COMMENTS section below. I love talking about these things, and love it even more when other people like to talk about them too. If some of these terms seem interesting and also confusing, let me know and I’ll explain them in an upcoming post. Let me know what you are thinking!
Also, remember to Subscribe using the link below to stay up-to-date with all the latest blog posts. And feel free to check out the rest of my website and social media pages (DrKurtBeil on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for information about other forms of holistic (naturopathic and Chinese) medicine.
This is all a work-in-progress, so we’ll see where it goes. Looking forward to sharing this space and this information with everyone.
In health,
Dr. Kurt
Left: Me enjoying the Healing Power of Nature. Right: Me talking about it
(I do both as often as I can…)