How might a nature experience be purpose-built for healing?
The Bloedel Reserve is a botanical garden with a very unusual design choice - no signage! There are no plant identification labels and (almost) no navigation signage. It’s a space not meant for learning about nature, it’s meant for learning about yourself. At the Blodel, the point is to slow down, focus on the moment, experience your body within nature, and to heal.
Recently, a new and incredibly successful program - Strolls for Well-Being - has made this design intention come alive in new ways through a site specific program inspired by forest bathing. In the episode you’ll hear about the purpose, intention and impact from the program’s manager Robin Gaphni, who also leads one of the program cohorts focused on grief.
From Ed Moydell, Blodel’s Executive Director you’ll hear about the unique purpose, history and planning of their 150 acres in the 1970s by psychology, environmental and landscape experts who designed The Bloedel Reserve as a nature-based environment for human healing.
Links to Guests
Reach Robin Gaphni: rgaphni AT bloedelreserve.org to discuss developing a Strolls for Well-Being Program at your institution
Links to resources discussed in episode
Charles Lewis - ‘father of horticultural therapy’
Video: History of Strolls for Well Being Program
Webpage: Strolls for Well Being Program at Bloedel Reserve
Medical Study on Forest Bathing (Shinrin Yoku) and Phytoncides
Article: Canadian Physicians can now Prescribe Nature to Patients
Rachel and Stephen Kaplan’s pioneering Attention Restoration Theory
Environmental psychologist, Jay Appleton - published his Prospect Refuge Theory in 1975
Morikami Japanese Garden, Florida - Strolls For Well-Being program
Sally Schauman, Prof Emeritus, Landscape Architecture University of Washington
Strolls at Home Program from Bloedel Reserve - use in your backyard or local park
Book: Nature Rx
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