By Karin Marcus

Throughout my life, going for solitary walks on the beach or in the woods has been the best therapy for whatever ailed me. Walking helps me process my emotions and clear my thoughts. Whether there is a challenging problem I need to think through, or a knee jerk reaction that I need to walk off, or a deeper emotional issue I need to resolve, walking prevents my thoughts and feelings from becoming stuck. It allows their energies to flow throughout my body, while maintaining a connection between my mind and heart.

More than just the walking, where I walk is also very powerful. I have come to realize that the landscapes of my youth have become imbedded in my psychic memory. They too are a part of my physical and emotional history. I have learned that walking in environments, similar to those that gave me joy in my childhood, helps restore my overall feeling of well being. I call these places my healing landscapes.

As a young child I remember running to the woods when I was upset. I would scramble onto a rock in the middle of the river behind our house, or sometimes I would climb up into a tree and perch myself in the arms of its comfortable branches. I would sit for hours, just watching and listening, only to return home when I felt all better. To this day I am still moved and comforted by trees and streams.

Both my parents are buried in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where our family had spent most of our summer vacations and where they eventually retired. Surrounding each of their funerals, I spent many hours walking the familiar beaches, allowing the wind and the waves to swallow my grief. At one point I shared with a friend how walking those beaches felt like home, almost like returning to the womb. Months later after clearing out my parent’s house and sorting through all their photographs, I found a picture of my mother sitting on that very beach, pregnant with me. The woods may be my healing landscape for day to day worries, but for the bigger issues in life, the beach is where I need to be.

Where are your healing landscapes? Think back to your childhood home, your summer vacations, or the most contented moments of your life. Was there a tree in your front yard, or a summer cabin on a lake, a mountain you climbed with a friend, or do you prefer a city landscape, with tall buildings and people going every which way?

Ask yourself, if you could be anywhere, where would you like to be? If nothing comes to mind, take a piece of paper and some crayons and draw a picture of a beautiful landscape. Let your drawing be childlike in its simplicity. Don’t plan or design it. Just let your drawing unfold. Does your drawing remind you of somewhere? What element of the drawing is the focal point?

Take some time to identify your healing landscapes. Perhaps visit a few this summer, by spending time alone in their surroundings. Once you have found the geographical elements that match your spirit, seek out similar locations near to where you live. Make it a habit to go walking there whenever you need to work through something. Know that these places are dear friends you can visit time and time again. Learn to turn to your healing landscapes for comfort and clarity.

Karin Marcus, Professional Certified Life Coach / Retreat Leader
“Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do” Rumi
Karin@Steppingoutcoaching.com 610-667-5247
http://www.SteppingOutCoaching.com
Copyright (c) 2010 Karin Marcus

Article Source:  Healing Landscapes


Related posts:

  1. Healing the Child Within By Angel Shadow Inside each and every one of us is an inner child. This child is either healthy, happy and adjusted or it’s unhealthy, frightened and in chaos. It should only take you a few moments to realize if your inner child is hiding, for it will manifest itself in your everyday adult [...]...
  2. Healing Our Emotions By Angel Shadow When people think of healing, most think of the physical body. But hiding behind the physical pain is usually an emotional issue that needs to be addressed. The mind and body work as one, each doing what the other dictates. We must heal our “inner” levels first, for the spiritual body [...]...
  3. Find Your Path To Healing And Empowerment By Understanding And Changing Your Subconscious Beliefs By Anne Claire Venemans The subconscious and what we believe The subconscious does two things that influence how we feel about ourselves, for instance if we feel empowered, and the world around us: (1) It stores our memories. All our memories ~ this means that sometimes we can ‘remember’ things that we haven’t actually experienced in our [...]...
  4. Healing Through Colour Perception By Sheila Moore It is said that if a group of people sat in a circle, and were encouraged to discuss the colour RED in depth, their speech would gradually speed up, they would get hotter and become agitated and tense. Change the subject to the colour Blue and speech slows down, breathing slows down, time [...]...
  5. Tune Up! With 7 Vibrational Self-Healing Course Videos from The Shift Doctors The Shift Doctors (Tracy Latz, M.D., Mh.D. & Marion Ross, Ph.D., Mh.D.) are pleased to offer a series of  7 videos that can be downloaded individually at a cost of under $8 per video, addressing each major energy center or chakra in the body. These videos are short (most under 10 minutes), concise, and packed with [...]...