The phrase “nature connection” is now a widely used term in the health and wellbeing, tourism, recreation, corporate and advertising sectors. So, what exactly is nature connection, what are the benefits and how do you do it? We will explore these questions over a three-part series of blogs.

Some years ago I was sitting in one of the large walk through aviaries at the Alice Springs Desert Park. The longer I sat, the more animals I saw, including birds, reptiles and insects. As I sat there a family(I am guessing city based) with 2 children entered the aviary and began to slowly walk through. Their eyes were darting from the ground to the roof of the aviary looking for the animals that were sign posted to be there along the track. The children commented “this is boring, there is nothing here, let’s go dad” after a minute or so and they continued on their way. A few minutes latera group of 3 Indigenous teenage boys entered the aviary and immediately began seeing animals….not just some but lots. Despite having been there for around 20 minutes the boys were excitedly pointing out to each other birds, reptiles and insects within a few meters of me that I had not even seen, but I could clearly see them now.

This experience and our differences in observational skills fascinates me and through the last decade of researching and practicing nature connection the answer has become apparent……many of us have lost these observational skills due to lack of practice and socio-cultural norms. The observational skills required to identify a cryptically camouflaged bird or reptile or insect are extremely fine-tuned and advanced….testament to the fact that the animal has used cryptic camouflage for evolutionary survival. Could it be that over the last few thousand years that Homo sapiens have had to rely less and less on these fine-tuned sensory skills to survive and we are simply ‘out of sensory shape’. If we were training for a marathon we would embark on a mental and physical program using specific gym equipment and guidance to prepare targeted muscles and specific mental exercises for our mind to complete the run. So too, if we are to be able be connected with nature we need to fine tune our observational skills, our senses of smell, touch, taste and auditory skills using the right equipment in the right environment …. and with the right coach.

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