Ecopsychology is a relatively new field of study that connects psychology and ecology. The basic concept is that human beings are evolved from and connected intrinsically to the natural world. As we allow ourselves to be disconnected from our natural world by immersion in the concrete jungle, we suffer consequences of depression, anxiety, stress, and loss of self-esteem.
In recent years, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Landscape and Human Health Laboratory report their research suggests that a connection to nature is vital to our psychological and physical health because it helps recharge our brains. Spending time outdoors allows us to better cope with the stresses of life.
Studies conducted by the University of Essex examined how being outdoors affected people with mental health problems. The researchers asked their experimental subjects to take part in two different kinds of walks; one in a country park, which included woodlands, grasslands, and lakes; and one in an indoor shopping mall. Their goal was to test the impact of these experiences on self-esteem, mood and enjoyment.
This is what they found:
- 90 percent said their self-esteem increased after the country walk.
- 44 percent reported decreased self-esteem after window-shopping in the shopping mall.
- 88 percent of people reported improved mood after the green walk.
- 44.5 percent reported feeling in a worse mood after the shopping centre walk.
- 71 percent reported decreased levels of depression after the green walk.
- 22 percent felt their depression increased after walking through an indoor shopping mall.
- 71 percent said they felt less tense after the green walk.
- 50 percent said they felt more tense after the shopping mall walk.
David King is a living example of ecopsycology at work.
David grew up in Kansas, and as a child had wonderful experiences gardening with his grandfather. As a child, David didn’t feel like he got along very well with people. He got along with plants. If he didn’t have any friends to play with, he could always go out and pick strawberries or plant corn. That is, until he was 16.
“When I was 16, I quit gardening with my grandfather because it wasn’t hip, slick or cool, and I was desperately trying to connect with my peer group. I got very much involved with music, playing guitar. I left behind being a gardener, and went off to become a rock and roll star.”
He came to L.A. and spent the next decade playing music, and trying to make a living in the music business.
“I realized at some point I was not talented enough to make it in music, at least then. At that time I was playing bars, in a band. It was just crazy. I wasn’t connecting. On top of that the drugs and alcohol had taken a real hit on me. I couldn’t go on living the way I was living. I got sober in August of ’85. But I just didn’t have a direction. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have a career. I had nothing going for me. I was afraid of music because I thought if I started playing again I’d start using. So for the next 10 years, I did not play any instruments. I didn’t write any music.”
One Friday morning in February, he was walking. It was raining. It was cold. He felt lost and bereft of any direction. A serendipitous turn sent him walking through Ocean View Farms, a community garden.
“That day I just walked through there, and I realized the plants knew me as much as I knew them.”
In that moment, he connected again with who he was, and what he should do. He found clarity in the garden.
He took a course at UCLA Extension in Gardening and Horticulture, began gardening at the Ocean View Farms, got some jobs writing about gardening, doing garden maintenance and pruning fruit trees. He was back among the living.
The Garden had more gifts for him.
David stayed with UCLA and worked with the UCLA Research Greenhouses for the next 15 years. He spent most of his day on a computer, and the rest of his day dealing with people, and their problems.
“I was not doing much work with plants. I was mostly resolving issues and I began to get depressed. There was conflict after conflict all the time, and there weren’t any plants where I was.
I was visiting Yakima, Washington, and I found the Yakima Arboretum. When you go to an Arboretum – arbor meaning tree – you expect to look up at the trees. But the Yakima Arboretum is a new arboretum and you look down at the trees because they are only waist high. I realized that these people were planting trees for generations to come. That day I realized that what I did at UCLA was never going to align with my purpose in life. Even telling the story to you, I get goose bumps, because when I saw those young trees it became clear.
I took an unpaid leave from UCLA and started turning up at the Learning Garden, a school garden project, every day. I did that for a couple of months. I turned a little shed there into an office for myself, and started showing up every day.
After about a month, Julie Mann, one of the garden’s founders says to me, ‘Gosh, you’re doing a great job, we’ll have to figure out how to pay you’. And so, from that depression, I was healed.
There’s a story in a book called ‘The Secret Garden’. The sick child said ‘it healed me…it came up out of the ground and it healed me’. And in my own life, in these stories that we’ve been talking about, I believe that it came up out of the ground and healed me.
Whenever I get too far away from the garden, my constitution is such that I get depressed. And that can be even in what I am doing now. If I get too far a field -caught up in my computer, writing the newsletter, planning the next event or whatever, I lose my footing. I apparently need interaction with plants to keep me focused and literally grounded.”
Scientists are catching up with what David King knows
According to the studies done by the University of Essex there are 4 main reasons that being in nature is beneficial for people:
- Natural and social connections: people enjoy watching wildlife, remembering happy times outdoors and experiencing spiritual connections.
- Sensory stimulation: colors, sounds, fresh air, and a contrasting environment to the urban landscape.
- Activity: doing manual work, walking or cycling is healthy, giving both exercise and purpose.
- Escape from modern life: time to reflect and get a fresh perspective.
When David is asked about his suggestions for others who want to change their lives, this is his advice:
“I would suggest that they spend some time in an area with plants. It can be any natural place – a park, a nature reserve, or somebody’s backyard. And I would look to plants. I would touch the plants. I would smell the plants. I would sit still with the plants. In the world that we have constructed around us things happen to us. Entertainment is provided for us. But in a quiet moment, in a garden, there is almost an interchange of energy. The world of deadlines gets stood on its head because plants don’t perform on a deadline. And if that resonates with anyone I would begin to learn about plants and gardens. Plants can get along well without us, but we could not survive without them. The air we breathe comes from plants.”
David King is the now Garden Master at The Learning Garden in Venice, California, which is one of the country’s largest and most successful school gardens. The agricultural plots are filled with organic food grown by the Venice High School students. Health-related classes such as tai chi, qigong, and natural food cooking are offered on its large stone patio. The garden has a large medicinal plant section for educational purposes, a pond with a water garden and waterfall, and a California native plant and cacti garden. A community garden is tended by local volunteers, and numerous groups and organizations use and support the garden.
David plays in a band now, writing and playing his own songs. His band is called ”Lost ‘n’ Found”. The garden gave him back his life, and his music.
More information about David King and Lost ‘n’ Found can be found at: www.beautifulfoodgarden.com and www.lagarden.blogspot.com
