Nature and Us - How Everything Is Connected

Over the past 100 years, artificial lights, electronic devices, processed and refined foods and artificial noise have isolated us from the natural rhythm of Nature.

When living indoors, it’s easy to forget that our bodies have been intimately linked with nature and it's cycles since the beginning of time.

So it's no wonder that when we lose the connection to Nature, we also feel lost within and it gets harder to hear the signals of our bodies.

In this post, I'll talk about how everything is connected and how to get back in sync with nature.

Why To Get In Sync With Nature

The natural cycles of sun and moon have a significant effect in our hormones - especially melatonin and prolactin which help us sleep. Besides that, the disconnection from Nature impacts our health in many different ways: increased stress, nutrient deficiencies, depression and poor cellular health.

When we work out of touch with Nature and against its natural rhythms, we expose ourselves to various physical, mental and spiritual imbalances.

By living in harmony with nature, we're able to notice these signals of imbalance before they have manifest into a physical disease.

Once we start realizing the connection between Nature and our wellbeing even deeper, we eventually stop identifying only with our physical body and mind and start feeling like a part of something bigger - we start lifting the illusion of separation.

We slowly start also waking up to the fact that not just everything within our bodies is connected, but in the whole universe.

We Are All One

Our wellbeing is completely dependant of Nature. Every single breath that you take in comes from the plants that produce oxygen for us, and every single healthy source of food that your cells are built from comes from Nature.

We lose so much fluids and dead cells every day that part of us today could literally be a flower next month!

Over 60% of our bodies is made of water that has been in this planet on one form or another for millions of years.

We are not something separate from nature - we ARE nature. We are all energy that is in constant transformation...

To start understanding the connection between everything is easiest when we first start looking at things from the individual perspective.

Mind-Body-Spirit

Our mind, body, and spirit - are all connected. This is what the yoga tradition has taught for thousands of years.

Ancient yogis understood that by controlling our breath, we can control our mind and our body as well. Once we calm down our mind and nervous system with our breath, our natural relaxation response gets activated and healing can occur.

It also works the other way around - If we never calm down, our mind is scattered, and we stay in a constant stress.

According to Ayurveda, we are made from 5 layers of consciousness, called Koshas that all affect each other.

Five Koshas - The Five Layers Of The Body

1. Annamaya Kosha (Physical body)

2. Paranamaya Kosha (Energy body)

3. Manomaya Kosha (Mental/Emotional body)

4. Vijananamaya Kosha (Wisdom/Intuitive body)

5. Anandamaya Kosha (Bliss/Spiritual body)

Source: https://fitsri.com/yoga/koshas

Ultimately all of these layers are still made from the same: Consciousness that vibrates in different frequencies that creates the different areas of the multidimensional human being.

Yes, you heard right - we are multidimensional. Most of us might be only familiar with the physical and mental body, but once you start diving a bit deeper I’m sure everyone has had experiences with their energy and intuitive bodies as well.

Maybe you have instantly been drawn to or repulsed by someone without even talking to them? Or just knew something was about to happen intuitively?

We all have an energy field, aura, that is surrounding us. It needs to be taken care of just like our physical body, because most diseases start from the imbalances or blocks in the energy body.

Understanding these different layers will help us to understand healing better as well. Once we learn to work with our energies, we're able to prevent imbalances from manifesting into our physical body.

How To Get In Sync With Nature

It's a no-brainer: Just spend more time in nature! But since many of us live in cities and trapped indoors we often need some extra help to get grounded:

1. Yoga balances all of these koshas as long as you incorporate breathing exercises and deep meditation into your asana practise. It helps to connect within, which makes you hear the signals of your body better.

2. Follow the the cycles of nature. Wake up with sunrise and start slowing down the day during sunset will get you back in sync with the natural rhythm and balances your hormones. Follow seasonal eating to benefit from microbes that improve your immunity, increase digestive strength, and create the perfect seasonal microbiome for you to thrive. You can also try this ayurvedic seasonal calendar combined with the foods that are in season at your location:

3. Maximize natural light and minimize artificial light. Exposure to blue light is extremely harmful for us as it disrupts our hormones, causes hypoxia (low oxygen levels) in our cells and promotes inflammation. In one study, as little as 2 hours of exposure to blue light at night slowed or stopped release of the sleep hormone melatonin. If you can't avoid spending time around a screen, get blue light blocking glasses. On the other hand, exposure to natural sunlight is vital for optimal health. From sun we get serotonin, vitamin D, and proper support for our cellular health.

4. Try earthing blankets and walk barefoot in the nature. Earthing (also known as grounding) refers to contact with the Earth's surface electrons. Emerging research supports the concept that the Earth's electrons induce multiple health benefits, including reduced pain, better sleep, and a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic nervous system. Best way to be in touch with these electrons is just to walk outside barefoot, but there's also technology that you can use to get the same effect.

5. If you live in the city and find it hard to access nature, just working with the elements of nature such as water, fire, air, ether and earth is helpful. You can burn candles or light up a fireplace, take a nice bath with minerals and essential oils, get more plants inside your apartment and keep the windows open the let the fresh air in.

6. Changing your diet to natural food sources is essential for your health and can help you get you more in sync with nature. Obviously, growing your own food is the ideal but that's not available for everyone. So adding more organic fruits and vegetables into your diet and making sure you know where you food comes from is already a good start.

Wrapping Up

Once we become aware how everything is connected, we are able to know when we need to rest, when and what to eat, when to move, and simply, - learn how to live in harmony.

After we learn the impact that our actions have in our bodies, we start understanding more profoundly the impact that we have in the whole planet.

As the inner - so the outer. When we heal ourselves, we heal the whole planet.

See also: Meditation - Different Techniques & How to Get Started