Come and meet one of the authors of ‘Being in Nature’ at a special evening event at Kemptown Bookshop in Brighton on 12 January.
James will be conducting a unique nature connection ‘experiment’ live with the audience. He will also be reading from the book, and answering questions about the importance of nature in our lives.
It promises to be a fun, engaging and interesting evening, and James will sign copies of ‘Being in Nature’.
To register, please follow this link or use the form below.
Our book ‘Being in Nature’ contains two mindful practices that are great to try out this season. Autumn in the northern hemisphere is a time of change, when nature stores up energy for the winter ahead, and the trees create a riot of colour across our landscapes.
Our practices point out the scientific benefits of getting out amongst the falling leaves. One of those is to experience the natural scent of damp soil – known as ‘petrichor’ – which helps us feel calmer and more relaxed.
‘Being in Nature’ makes a great Christmas gift, and you can buy it directly from us here in paperback or ebook – or from Amazon as a Kindle book.
Thank you for reading ‘Being in Nature’. We are getting great reviews, and hope you are enjoying the benefits of connecting with the natural world.
We can help you build on the benefits of ‘being in nature’, so you can continue your journey towards health, wellbeing and environmental action.
If you would like personal support to be at your best, you may like to explore our professional coaching services with The Natural Coaching Company. We work in partnership with you, and the natural world, to help you feel clearer, calmer and more confident. Enabling you to do even more for yourself, your organisation and the planet. In short, we help you grow.
Get in touch for a free coaching exploration now.
Meanwhile our consultancy The Human Nature Partnership helps organisations create life enhancing places, for people and wildlife. We offer strategy, staff engagement, training, design and installations. Helping your organisation make a meaningful contribution to wellbeing and wildlife.
I put together a collage of all the images from ‘Being in Nature’ on a single page. It really creates an impressive wall of colour and nature!
Let us know if you’d like a poster for your office or bedroom wall!
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Thanks to Biodiversity Heritage Library for the original illustrations and inspiration. Design by Lucid Design.
You can now buy ‘Being in Nature’ on Amazon Kindle for the first time.
Depending on your e-reader, the book’s colour illustrations will still be viewable, as well as our 20 simple practices to help you feel more connected to the natural world.
Ideal for the beach this summer!
Yesterday I experienced the magic of bluebells in a Sussex woodland.
There were so many bluebells in this particular wood, that they formed a delicate blue cloud which seemed to float above the ground, undulating with the rise and fall of the landscape. The scent was striking – an almost heady, oily mixture of fresh watermelon and hyacinth.
Depending where you live in the UK, you’re probably not far from a bluebell wood right now (a ‘wild hyacnith’ wood if you’re Scottish!). A place which can connect you strongly to the past.
Look for an old woodland, especially one containing oak trees, and watch for the delicate ‘native’ bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) rather than the taller and more upright and robust ‘Spanish’ hybrid (Hyacinthoides hispanica) that is popular with gardeners.
Bluebells are one of number of indicators that a woodland is ‘ancient’ – at least 420 years old. Consider who else may have trodden the same path as you over this time – Victorians, Medieval peasants, hunters.
Your wood can also connect us to the future. Researchers are finding that bluebells have some interesting properties in the fight against parasites that cause sleeping sickness and Chagas disease, and is the subject of anti-cancer and HIV research.
A finally, consider the present. A moment of quiet reflection in a bluebell wood is made all the more poignant by how fleeting the experience is, and also because the native bluebell is so rare. Half the world’s population grows in the UK, and is at risk from hybridisation with garden varieties and commercial collection. Furthermore, they take 5 years to come to flower, and spread at the very slow rate of 0.3m per year.
I sat for a while, with the ‘Spring forward’ practice from the book ‘Being in Nature’. I felt inspired to do what I can to make a home for nature in my own life, and to spend as much time with bluebell spring before it fades for another year.
James Farrell, co-author of ‘Being in Nature – 20 practices to help you flourish in a busy world’, says one of his all time favourite jobs was warden of a Shetland isle. However, it wasn’t without its challenges.
Noss National Nature Reserve, as the isle is called, lies off Shetland – some 500km from either Scotland or Norway. Noss is home to over 100,000 seabirds including gannets, puffins and arctic terns…as well as two wardens who monitor the wildlife and pick up visitors in a speedboat.
At times the work was overwhelming and lonely. Extreme weather sometimes prevented the wardens from getting across to the mainland, or even venturing outside. There were periods when the only contact was the daily radio call to the coastguard. And living in such close proximity to one other colleague required tolerance that James didn’t have initially.
James says “Living an isolated island life was a big test. I needed to learn to be kind, and balance self-sufficiency with close reliance on another human being. Living so closely with the natural world was a real privilege. I began to appreciate the freedom that comes from feeling small in the face of nature. I felt calmer and in company whenever I sat still and observed wildlife. Noss helped me get to know myself, improve my relationships with others, and really deepened my appreciation for nature connection.”
During James’ time there, Noss was visited by famous birder Bill Oddie, who was filming for a TV programme. Bill’s producer then was naturalist and author Stephen Moss, who was kind enough to offer an admirably succinct review of ‘Being in Nature’.
‘A great book – useful and inspiring!’
Stephen Moss
James says “You don’t have to live on a remote island to develop a deep connection with nature. Wherever you live there is likely to be trees or birds outside the window, or in a nearby park. Noticing and reflecting on everyday nature is a gift available to everyone – and it starts with stopping and observing.”
Spring is a great time to get outside amongst the natural world. You can buy ‘Being in Nature’ here, as a companion on your journey to a deeper connection with nature.
Dr Pippa Grange was kind enough to review ‘Being in Nature’ recently. She has the ebook and the book, and wrote:
‘A wonderful book – so necessary at this time to reconnect people to the ground they stand on and the air they breathe’
Dr Pippa Grange
Pippa is the author of ‘Fear Less, how to win at life without losing yourself‘. She is well known for her former role as Head of People at the Football Association, where she coached the England men’s team and improved their penalty taking! Pippa is also passionate about connecting people and nature.
Read about Pippa in the words of Brené Brown here.
We recently sent a copy of ‘Being in Nature’ to Sir David Attenborough. We were thrilled to get a letter back. It is very, very exciting just knowing one of our heroes has a copy of our little book on his shelf!
Let’s see if we get a reply from His Holiness The Dalai Llama!
We are thrilled to have a review of ‘Being in Nature’ from Professor Harini Nagendra.
Harini is a Director of Research Center at Azim Premji University, a unique institution in Karnataka with the vision to contribute to the realisation of a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. She leads the University’s Center for Climate Change and Sustainability, and is the author of ‘Nature in the City’, and the more recent ‘Cities and canopies – Trees in Indian cities.‘
“Being In Nature is a real antidote to urban stress, offering a restorative set of activities that you can do any time to reconnect with nature, and heal yourself from within. Each of the twenty mindful practices the book suggests is grounded in scientific evidence. Perfect to dip into during a short break, or take on a long rambling hike – one thing is for sure, you won’t regret having picked this one up.“
Harini Nagendra – writer, ecologist, and Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University
You can follow Harini here – and purchase ‘Being in Nature’ here.
