Nature ZEN

24/12/2025

🎄 Merry Christmas to all from Nature Zen ✨

We thank you for your continued support throughout the year and wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday season wherever you are spending it 💚

11/12/2025

🌿 Nature isn’t just “nice to have” — it’s a proven wellbeing intervention.

A new University of Melbourne & headspace study shows that when young people spend just two hours a week in guided nature-based activities, their wellbeing measurably improves — even starting from well below the national average.

After only six weeks, participants experienced:
✨ Higher wellbeing scores
✨ Reduced psychological distress
✨ Significantly less loneliness
✨ A stronger sense of community connection

And the real magic?
It wasn’t just the activities — it was the shared outdoor experience that made participants feel seen, supported, and part of something bigger. 🌱

This research confirms what many of us already feel:

🌿 Nature is medicine.
🤝 Connection is therapy.
💚 Small, curated sessions can create meaningful, lasting change.

If your organisation wants to bring evidence-based, nature-supported wellbeing into your programs next year…

👉 Get in touch with Nature Zen for our 2026 Nature Prescriptions.

Creating calmer communities, one green moment at a time. 🌿💚

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/Nature-prescriptions-deliver-mental-health-benefits-worth-more-than-four-times-their-cost?utm_content=story&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQKNjYyODU2ODM3OQABHn6TZLfSzOziy57paElvYcaLmY0OfLUERUOKiECdTT5i3XLhz7OKZIrEONdW_aem_Fn6MHecqXp4gvVzUO2Xi8g

A new University of Melbourne trial has found nature-based prescribing generated wellbeing benefits for young Australians worth more than four times their cost

22/11/2025

Preps are underway for this incredible retreat next weekend! I cannot wait to share in this special event with Mate-ship
(Little birdie tells me two tickets have become available so get in touch asap if you are keen & available)

20/10/2025

✨ FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING 🌿 Recap - What an incredible weekend of growth, healing, and connection at the Veterans Retreat for our Growth & Renewal Women’s Wellness Retreat.

Through our Planting Seeds of Growth program, we explored post-traumatic growth, mindfulness, breathwork, yin yoga, and creative arts therapy — all woven together in a space of safety, sisterhood, and strength. 💚

Together, we shifted the conversation from simply surviving what we’ve been through…
to thriving — to rediscovering our values, passions and purpose and most importantly how we can move forward to create our best lives!

As a facilitator, I’m beyond proud of every participant who showed up with courage, openness, and heart. You inspired me deeply. 🌱

A heartfelt thank you to Veterans Retreat for the opportunity, and to my training partners Monique True Balance Mind Body and the incredible talent Kath the Psychic Clairvoyant for their wisdom, warmth, and support in making this experience so special.

Here’s to planting seeds of growth — and watching them bloom. 🌸

10/10/2025

🌍 International Mental Health Day 💚 Nurturing Your Own Self with Compassion

Our mental wellbeing is the foundation of everything we do — it shapes how we think, feel, connect, and show up in the world. When our minds are clear, we’re better able to face challenges, nurture relationships, and live with intention and purpose.

Yet, in the busyness of life, mental health is often the first thing we put aside. We keep giving to others, pushing through exhaustion, until stress or burnout remind us to stop & nurture ourselves.

This World Mental Health Day, pause to turn that same care inward 👉 Self-compassion isn’t self-indulgence — it’s self-support. But what are some ways we can do this? Try one or two of these small acts today:

🌿 How to Practice Self-Compassion

✨ Speak to yourself as you would to a dear friend.
✨ Notice your inner critic and replace judgment with understanding.
✨ Take mindful moments outdoors — breathe, move slowly, and feel the ground beneath your feet.
✨ Give yourself permission to rest without guilt.

🖊️ Journalling for Clarity

This simple journaling prompt creates space for reflection and self-kindness — and discover help seeking ways to care for yourself with compassion.

Take 5 minutes to write freely on the prompt:
“One thing I can do to nurture my mental wellbeing this week is…”

💚 Remember: caring for your mental wellbeing is not a luxury — it’s essential.

09/10/2025

Keep Your Humanness 🌿 I am posting a photograph of two gorgeous kookaburras sitting in a tree that I observed last week to show you something real. I am tired of my social feeds overflowing with AI-generated everything — words, faces, images and videos evidently created by AI : perfectly polished, eerily similar, and quite frankly — it’s getting boring. I wouldn’t be on social media if it wasn’t for my business. Scrolling through it doesn’t make me more connected to anyone; it just pulls me away from what is REAL. Real relationships, real experiences, and real life.

The best parts of life cannot be automated by computer systems. In the next couple of years with the explosion of digital automations, I think people are going to yearn for human experiences again. We didn’t come here to live life through virtual / fake realities. The only people who want this for us are the computer companies who are profiting from us buying their stuff. I am asking you all to be discerning and to remind you of the simple pleasures that can be found for free in nature…

The sound of the kookaburras laugh… the warmth of sunlight on your skin… the smell of rain on the earth - all of which allow us to connect with our humanness.

So, step away from the screen.
Go outside.
Let nature recalibrate your senses and remind you that you’re gloriously alive 💫

✨ Stay grounded. Stay real. Stay human.

01/10/2025

🌿 Exciting Opportunity Awaits! 🌊

I’m thrilled to be joining Mateship and Kate Chisholm for the Anchor and Awaken Retreat — a 2-day immersive wellness experience on 29–30 Nov at the QLD Recreation Precinct (Currimundi, Sunshine Coast).

First day on land, second day out on the water. Accommodation & meals included.

Open to Veterans, Emergency Services, carers, and immediate family.

Can’t wait to be part of this beautiful weekend of grounding, growth, and community. 💚 Get your tickets now! On the link below ⬇️

** 50% Of tickets now sold for this**

Tickets for our 2-day Immersive Wellness Retreat "Anchor and Awaken" are live now, and will only be on sale until 14 Oct
If you have any questions, please reach out on here, or email skipper@mate-ship.org
Grab your tickets on the link below
https://www.mate-ship.org/event-details/anchor-and-awaken-2-day-immersive-retreat-2
2 of the amazing facilitators below
Nature ZEN
Kate Chisholm

26/09/2025

🌿 This week I had the privilege of joining fellow members at the Queensland Nature-Based Health Committee board meeting.

The committee serves as a unified voice, advocating for the integration of nature-based solutions into Queensland's health and mental health systems.

Together, we explored how Queenslanders can become the healthiest people in Australia by embracing the abundant natural environments that surround us — from our five World Heritage listed areas to the green spaces in our local areas and our own backyards!

It’s inspiring to be part of a team shaping strategies that recognise nature as a powerful pathway to health and wellbeing.

I’m looking forward to our future meetings, where we’ll continue building momentum towards a healthier, more thriving Queensland. 🌱✨

21/09/2025

We’re proud to share our refreshed branding for Nature Zen Wellbeing Workshops 🌿 it’s more than a design, it’s a symbol of freedom, joy and mindfulness.

Our logo embodies our mission:

🌱 Leaf = Growth and healing

🛡️ Shield = Strength and protection

🌳 Forest Green Colour = Calm, balance, and renewal

Nature Zen delivers evidence-based wellbeing workshops and guided experiences that support stress regulation, resilience, and wellbeing for workplaces, community and individuals.

We look forward to continuing to grow partnerships that help communities thrive.

Do you like our logo?

04/09/2025

🌿 Nature Therapy & Dementia 🌿

Today was a truly special day. 💚 I spent time with an elderly lady 90yrs living with dementia, and we stepped outside into the garden together. When we began, she was feeling distressed and disconnected… but as we wandered into nature’s calm embrace something beautiful unfolded.

🍃 We touched the leaves, noticing their different colours, textures, and shapes.

🐦 We listened to the bird song drifting through the trees.

☀️ We basked in the sunshine, letting its warmth replace the heaviness of four walls.

🌸 She picked a flower and tucked it into her hair.

Within a few minutes, her clarity returned. She recalled facts about plants, named a few species, and even shared memories from her childhood. Her eyes lit up as the natural world brought pieces of herself back to the surface.

This is the therapeutic power of nature. 🌿✨

Moments like these remind me why I do what I do — helping people reconnect with themselves, with their memories, and with the simple, grounding beauty of the world around us.

21/08/2025

It is important to us at Nature Zen that we represent cultural safety and honour the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies where we walk and gather. May we listen, learn, and walk gently together on Country.

31/07/2025

Sky Art 🎨☁️ the original artist Nature, painted the sky with soft brushstrokes of awe this afternoon in Brisbane. Each ripple of cloud, a reminder to pause. To notice. And appreciate 🙏 To marvel and wonder how / why / who could create such a masterpiece!? 💙