Blog provided by Ash Florian, Image by Tara Bal
On this day, June 18th, we spent a second day with Malin connecting to nature. We started by walking through the giant oak forest in silence to open up our five
senses. We focused on the things we can see, feel, touch, hear, and taste while walking through the forest. This helped us connect to the forest as we walked through it. After we arrived at a spot in between the trees, we spent a few minutes focusing on something and the space between things. This exercise helped us connect with our curiosity and get out of the logical parts of our brains. This helps us connect because our brains often like to fill in spaces. After spending some time doing this and discussing it afterward, we then connected our walk again to a different section of the forest. This time, while walking, we were paired up with someone else and talked to each other about the connections and experiences we have in nature. Then once we arrived at another spot, near some large rocks overlooking a lake at the edge of the forest we all took some time to write a letter to nature. Lastly, we discussed the positive ways that nature can impact our emotions and the benefits of spending time in nature. At the end, we talked about our favorite things we learned from our nature experience with Malin. This was another amazing experience with Malin connecting us to nature, and I hope to use what I learned in the future.