Ecotherapy in Exeter

29/10/2025

🌿 I’m thrilled to share this!

Charlene Spretnak — author of nine books and a pioneer of the eco-spirituality movement — has long been one of my inspirations. Her book 'The Resurgence of the Real' (on my own bookshelf!) was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the “Best Books of 1997.” In 2006, the UK Department of the Environment named her one of the “100 Eco-Heroes of All Time,” and in 2012 she received the Demeter Award for lifetime achievement as “one of the premier visionary feminist thinkers of our time.” 🌎✨

I recently sent Charlene a copy of my new book, and she responded with this wonderful endorsement:

“Increasingly, screen-saturated people who feel drained and disconnected are told they will feel better if they get out into nature. What is really needed is a sensuous and aware immersion in nature. Nature Connection shows us how to achieve that with simple practices, each leading to a deeper sense of our constitutional embeddedness in nature and a recovery of our full, vital selves. This book — so gentle, wise, and encouraging — is urgently needed in our hypermodern world.”

I’m deeply honored and touched by her words. 💚

16/10/2025

It may be autumn in Devon, but it’s definitely *springtime for nature connection! 🌱

Last month, I went to a 'Transpersonal Psychology Conference' on 'Sacred Unity: Transpersonal Dialogues with Nature, Earth and Self.' Then, just last week, I joined the very first conference on coaching with nature. Both events were so inspiring — and I’m still nurturing those seedlings of insight and inspiration. 🌿✨

In a recent episode of 'What’s Up Docs?', Dr. Chris and Xand van Tulleken spoke with Baroness Kathy Willis, Professor of Biodiversity at Oxford University, about how nature affects our health and wellbeing. Professor Willis shared a fascinating fact:

-> “90 seconds of looking at a screen with trees on it versus one showing a cityscape will lower your blood pressure.”

🎧 You can listen to the episode here: [BBC – What’s Up Docs?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0m6zyqx)

This morning I also read a thoughtful new article called 'Healing With Nature: How the Outdoors Can Support Mental Health.' More evidence that connecting with nature truly heals. 💚
--> https://statesofmind.com/healing-nature-outdoors-mental-health/

Meanwhile, Psychedelics for Climate Action are piloting a new experience called 'Nature Reconnection for Inspired Action' — designed to help people deepen their connection with the living world and spark meaningful climate action. 🌏

All of this beautiful work — from science to Transpersonal Psychology, coaching, mental health, and environmental activism — shows how *interconnected* it all is. Perhaps **nature connection** is the most transdisciplinary field there is! Because, after all, **we are nature.** 🌺

That’s also why the second part of the title of my new book is 'Remembering Wholeness.' 🌼

In the 'Coming Home' chapter, I write:
“For centuries, we’ve looked for ways to show how humans are different from other animals. But this is entirely wrong-headed. What makes us human is not our differences, but our ecological belonging. As a human being, you are a member of a wider community of species and ecosystems. You belong here.” 🌳💫

🌸 I’d love to hear from you: how do *you* connect with nature in your daily life? Is it through time outdoors, mindfulness, creativity, or something else?

From forest bathing to mindful photography, experts say connection with nature can improve mental health and wellbeing.

13/10/2025

My book just got its first Amazon review, and I'm delighted, as they describe the book I aimed to write:
"An inspiring and practical book to support us to connect deeper to nature. I love how it is filled with lots of clear and practical exercises. Really recommend this for all people - no matter how connected to nature you feel we always can go deeper. It’s small and light enough to take out with you on foot for inspiration too".
Thank you, E. Parker!

10/10/2025

It's World Mental Health Day, a perfect moment to remind you that nature heals.

Chris and Xand look a little deeper into the relationship between nature and our health.

25/09/2025

12/09/2025

My new book, 'Nature Connection: Remembering Wholeness', is now available on Amazon. In this book you'll discover the Three Keys to Nature Connection: slow down, get curious, and use all your senses.

This unique book includes:
• over 60 exercises;
• links to video and audio guides;
• tie-in with the Embodied Pathways podcast.

There's an Kindle and a paperback edition, and both are at a special launch price for the rest of September: £2.99 for the Kindle, and £4.99 for the paperback. Reviews are very welcome!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1919179518/

19/08/2025

How can we deepen our connection with nature? Miles Richardson and his colleagues applied psychology research to develop Five Pathways to nature connection:
- Contact
- Beauty
- Meaning
- Emotion
- Compassion

It’s a brilliant framework, but when I’m working with people outdoors, I’ve found it’s not always easy to remember or apply in the moment.

After years of exploring ecotherapy, forest bathing, mindfulness, and environmental psychology, I distilled my own Three Keys to Nature Connection. These simple actions invite those five pathways to open:

1️⃣ Slow Down – Create the space to notice.
2️⃣ Get Curious – Wonder draws us into beauty and meaning.
3️⃣ Use All Your Senses – Fully embodied experience anchors the connection.

These two models share some similarities but also reveal a key difference in how they guide practice. The Three Keys are expressed as verbs, inviting direct, embodied action, while the Five Pathways are nouns that describe abstract qualities. This means that the Three Keys actively engage people in the moment, making them easier to apply in real-world settings, whereas the Five Pathways offer a theoretical framework for interpreting the experience. The real value of the Three Keys lies in how they translate abstract pathways into tangible practices that you can use right away.

The Three Keys and Five Pathways interlock in simple ways: slowing down enables contact.

- Curiosity opens beauty and meaning.
- Sensory engagement deepens emotion.
- And through this process, compassion often arises naturally.

These two models complement each other: The Three Keys are accessible and action-oriented, while the Five Pathways provide theoretical conceptual depth and structure.

I’ve unpacked the full comparison here:
🔗 Nature Connection: The Three Keys: https://adrianharris.org/blog/2025/08/12/nature-connection-the-three-keys/

Which Key will you experiment with on your next outdoor moment, and what do you hope to discover?

30/07/2025

I'm pleased to share that my book, "Nature Connection: Remembering Wholeness", will be released in early August.

As part of the lead-up, I’m sharing one of the full-page graphics featured in the book. The quote highlights one of the central principles:

“In evolutionary terms, urban life is brand new, but our need for nature is primal and hardwired.”

For 99.9% of human history, humans lived in close connection with the natural world. Our survival depended on it. We evolved with an innate bond to landscapes that reflect our ancestral environments—something modern urban life has distanced us from.

This book is an invitation to remember and reconnect with that essential relationship.

More updates to come as we approach the launch—thank you for your interest and support.

01/07/2025

Join me this Sunday, 6th July, for a free Nature connection workshop at the Exeter Green Phoenix Festival! We'll start at 11 am - meet on the front stairs of the Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre.
You'll learn simple ways to re-connect with nature that you can use anytime. All you need are the three keys to nature connection: slow down, get curious and use all your senses. See the full programme on the Exeter Phoenix website.

17/06/2025

My new book is close to completion! It sets out the three keys to nature connection; slow down, get curious and use all your senses. Chapters are short and almost half the book is made up of practical exercises. There are already several excellent books and courses for folks who love nature and want to take their nature awareness deeper, but not so much for those who have heard of nature connection or have a feeling for nature but aren't quite sure what to do about it. My aim is to help people get off the sofa and into the park! I'd LOVE comments on the working title:
"Nature Connection Made Simple: For anyone who's ever looked out the window and longed for more".
Bottom line: If you were the person I've described, would you buy it?

03/06/2025

🌿 I'm delighted to announce that my workshop, "Focusing in Nature: A Path to Embodied Belonging", has been accepted for presentation at the British Psychological Society Transpersonal Psychology Section Annual Conference. This is something I’ve been working toward for about a year—though the roots go deeper, with my paper on this topic published back in 2013. It’s deeply fulfilling to see this work coming into its time. This year’s theme, “Sacred Unity: transpersonal dialogues with nature, earth and self”, couldn’t be a more perfect container for this offering. If this resonates with you, I’d love to see you there.
Register here: https://register.oxfordabstracts.com/event/74972?preview=false

British Psychological Society

01/05/2025

Oxytocin is the love hormone; it deepens connection, enhances trust and reduces stress. Physical Intelligence Coaching teaches a simple way to boost oxytocin levels wherever you are, and I've been trying it in nature. It's a lovely practice that as opens up your connection to nature. I don't know of anyone whose done this before, so I'm keen to hear how you get on with it. Please do let me know!

Oxytocin is the love hormone, the cuddle chemical. It deepens , enhances trust and reduces . I show you a simple way to boost your oxytocin...