We are wired to seek harmony with nature. It’s part of us. It’s part of who we are. In this session, we dive into Nature and You–A Foundational Piece of Wellbeing.
Video Transcript:
Dr. A: All right, everybody. Welcome to the Conscious Forum. This is the 1st of July, 2025. The summer is well on its way now. We are now in the summer equinox, the longest days of the year, starting on the 21st. And that’s kind of appropriate because we’re going to talk a lot today about nature, your relationship with nature, how important it is for our consciousness, and how important it is for us to truly, truly become connected and aware.
So with that, the topic today is: Nature and You. This is a foundational piece of wellbeing. It’s so critical, so important, and so many times we disregard it. You know, we treat ourselves sometimes to a sunset or the stars at night, but for most of us, most of our lives, we’re kind of on the run. We’re in this race, you know, and it’s almost like when we were really little, someone whispered in our ear: success. And that was the main thing, success. And the reality is, what’s really more important is the health that comes from being fulfilled, being happy, being connected, sensing that every day that you’re fully engaged in something that creates fulfillment for yourself. That you have great relational health. Obviously, as a leader in the health field, I’m very much into physical health, but our mental health is what this forum is all about. And I think so many of us are really at a point in our lives where we need to kind of stop and proverbially smell the roses.
So today we’re going to talk about that nature and—you’ve seen sunsets and we remark on them to the people we’re with and we may spend a brief moment looking and say, “Wow, isn’t that beautiful?” And there’s a sense of something that happens inside of us when we see this. But most of the time, we acknowledge it, say, “Wow, isn’t that beautiful?” And then boom, then we’re back to our life, to this search, or I don’t know, process of creating success. And what we really want to do is really be in the state of being, a state of presence. And so what I’d like to do is start off today, and this may seem a little “woo-woo” to some of you. And if it is, then that means that you really need this more than I do. And that is this sense of presence. And so what I’d love us all to do is kind of take a big deep centering breath and kind of feel ourselves. Most of you are sitting presently. If you’re in your car, don’t do this, but close your eyes and kind of feel your feet on the floor and kind of feel a grounding. And take a couple, I’m going to do it myself as well. Take a couple of really deep centering breaths.
And as you exhale, kind of feel the release of that tension, that energy. That… [Dr. A takes a deep breath], with each breath. And it’s so important. We spend so little time, and it’s so easy to do. We can do this all day long and we can do it, you know, if you come out of a stressful meeting, something happens in your life that creates that “icky sauce.” You can always spend a moment and kind of release it because even though our breath is part of our autonomic nervous system and we breathe automatically, is we can take back control and when we take control of our breathing and we kind of sense our presence in the space we’re in and we feel ourselves grounded—this is really important by the way, when you go outside in nature and walk to your car and just spend a moment, and just feel that connection, that ground, the gravitational pull of the earth grounding us back to the present moment.
So, why does nature matter so much for our wellbeing? Well, just as I’ve been talking about, basically, nature reduces the stress hormones like cortisol. You felt that release, that almost like you can feel it’s all this canned up inside. It’s almost like a tea kettle that’s about ready to whistle. There’s all this pressure inside of us. And when we release like that, and especially when we connect with nature, we’re going to talk a lot about this. I’m going to probably talk about a few things that you’re not familiar with, which you can incorporate into your life, which I think are so important. But it improves our blood pressure, our heart rate variability, and our mood. It changes our mood. Even images of nature improve cognitive performance and reduce fatigue.
So if you’re at a point, that’s why it’s great to have on your screensaver, have a beautiful picture of nature, and just look at it during your day. If you’re at work and you’re everything’s crazy around you, and you’re in search, in pursuit of success, so to speak. Bottom line is, you can stop and have a beautiful picture. Digitally—we have it on our phone. I have wonderful pictures I’ve gone out sailing in the islands. And actually, I decided to do this talk while I was out on my boat in the middle of the Exumas, the lower Exumas, an area where there are no people. And people say, “Well, what do you do down there?” “What do I do?” I celebrate nature. I see incredible wildlife in the water. We snorkel. We watch these incredible colors of the aquamarine water, highlighted, changing throughout the day, beautiful sunsets, and incredible stars. And you know, what’s interesting is we used to play a game, one point for a plane, three points for a satellite, and five points for a falling star, you know, or a meteor. We’ve had to downgrade a satellite to just two points because there are so many. The sky, the night sky, is full of the garbage, the stuff which makes life easier for us, but certainly kind of clutters up the beauty of nature, but actually, in essence, they’re kind of fun to watch. So, bottom line, all these things are so important and we spend so little time, and they are free. You can look up at the sky any night.
So, this is one of the words I wanted to introduce. This is called biophilia. It’s basically an inborn connection. You know, we are wired to seek harmony with nature. It’s part of us. It’s part of who we are. That’s why, you know, people will do heroic things and risk their life to save a dog or a wounded animal. There’s this connection. And once, 10,000 years ago, 100,000 years ago, we were so connected in harmony. You know, most of us have seen movies about the American Indians and their connection and you know, when they would kill a deer, you know, taking their heart and taking a bite and then thanking and gracing for giving them, you know, the nutrients that come from that, and that connection is something that we’re all attuned to. You know, a couple thousand years ago, there wasn’t technology, there wasn’t electricity, there certainly weren’t any of the internet devices and phones and computers. And so, we were much more connected. And there’s a resonance that occurs there. There is a sense of calm that occurs there and a harmony that’s so, so important.
So biophilia, that love of life so to speak—and Aristotle talked about it back over a couple thousand years ago, but there’s this connection, love of life, and the tendency—and I can tell you, while I was in the islands and even where I live on the ocean is by my choice. I mean it’s my favorite thing. I love water. I love being around nature and I can tell you that I use it all day long and it’s something—you don’t have to live by the water to enjoy the senses of nature, and even if you live in a city like New York City, you can go to Central Park. I mean, most cities have parks you can go to and walk through. But that connection, kind of emergence of ourselves into nature, is so, so important. And yet I would say, if I tested people on biophilia, what that actually means, most people wouldn’t know because it’s a lost art, and it’s an art we really need to resume.
You know, our mental illness is at an all-time high. Our use of AI, the internet, and our phones. I mean the connection. People are certainly addicted to the electronic leash, and they’re connected to it. But bottom line is being able to come out into nature, and that reconnection is so critical. So, “Nature is a teacher”. I like to think of it this way, and I love to sail. Many of you know I’m a sailor and sail in the ocean for a week at a time out in the middle of nowhere, 1200, 1500 miles through the ocean. But nature doesn’t rush. Yet everything gets done. And trees don’t cling to the last season’s leaves. Rivers don’t resist the flow. So ask yourself, what is nature trying to teach you right now? And you know, as I look out, right before I got on this Zoom, I went outside for a minute. I was going to I was trying to take a picture of the pelicans. We have a dance where the pelicans fly by–sore by my house. And I was hoping to get one, I want to get one instantly because it’s one of my favorite drills. And I become so attuned to watching them and that connection to them. And sometimes I even sense the term synchronicity, where things are happening for a reason. We’ll talk a little bit more about that. But basically, ask yourself during the day, am I connected to nature? And what is nature teaching me? What can it teach me?
So, one of the things I haven’t talked about before but is in our consciousness, is “rewilding” our consciousness. Modern life overstimulates and detaches us from all their rhythms. Our circadian rhythm. Most 80 million Americans don’t sleep well. Why? They’ve lost their circadian rhythm. They are up with electronic devices, blue light, TV, internet, on shows, and just totally disconnected from nature itself. To reconnect with natural light and grounding practices. You know, one thing I did in my house is I put an automated system in that at 8:00 at night, right after sunset, everything in my house goes to very, very low ambient light. There are no bright lights. And I’m reconnecting that. Yes, I live in a house and yeah, I’m really happy I have air conditioning so I can keep it cool in Florida in the summertime, but I also want to do the things that reconnect with nature.
[00:10:39] So basically dropping the light, getting natural light and then in the morning, it is so important to get out. One of the key things, if we look at how our brain works, is in the pineal gland, and basically morning sunlight, just looking outside, getting up, opening your drapes and really reconnecting. It creates this alertness, and it creates the reticular activating system to fully become alert, and by doing that, and abruptly seeing that light, it allows us to go into a wake state. And the other things are, when I’m home, I never have, I don’t allow shoes in my house. Basically, I’m barefoot, and one of the other things they talk about is walking around in nature barefoot. Walking on the beach, walking out in your yard and making sure you’re—obviously, if they’ve just put insecticide down, don’t do that. But if you’re in a natural state, the other thing is nature fast, where people, many people now, are assuming a new ritual of going 3 days—going in nature and not eating and fasting to reconnect themselves.
So that reflection is so important. You know, when do you feel most connected to nature? What works for you? We’re all in different places. Some of us do live in cities, and maybe it may require you to get out of the city on the weekends, to get into a space, but all of us have access to the evening skylight. And basically, what part of your life is asking to return to something simpler? And that goes with what we were talking about last month was this idea of getting back into flow. You know, removing a lot of that thought and the cognitive dissonance that occurs. All the cognitive-emotive loops of worrying. Not being fully present and getting back to something simpler. And can you, in your life, get back to, you know—I have to tell you, my most fun thing isn’t going to a major city or to a metropolis. It’s actually my trips that I go out on the boat to the Exumas and basically hang out with family and friends. I mean that really connects me and that’s actually what, as I mentioned earlier, why I wanted to do this talk, because I think so many of us are leaving that part out, and it’s such a grounding effect to start getting us back into a healthy mental state and consciousness.
So what’s our legacy? You know, nature is our original blueprint. Way before we had technology, way before you had all these other things that you now identify with, we were basically based in nature, just like every other organism. And if you look at many simple societies, they don’t look at themselves as being humans separate from nature. They actually look at them as being part of this incredible process which is the nature’s cycle, this interaction that occurs, this dynamic ecosystem that they’re part of, and they contribute to, and you know when you’re in that state, you don’t pollute. You make sure you take just what you need. You have abundance mentality and you do the things that connect you because you don’t want to ruin those resources and the more we can return to it, the more we return to ourselves. So again, the breath is a great way to kind of remind you to reconnect and kind of connect back to your connection with nature.
So synchronicity. Synchronicities. Next time you see a sunset or you’re watching the skyline or the sky at night, even if you’re in a major city or in Arizona and you’re looking down from the foothills and you’re looking at the lights twinkle and stuff, the synchronicity isn’t by accident. Our connection to nature, our connection to so many things—I was snorkeling and came around a corner and there was about a 5-ft barracuda, and it’s funny because the idea, much like a response to a snake or something is a degree of caution and certainly I respect, but there was a curiosity from both of us and we just kind of looked at each other. I didn’t move, he didn’t move or she didn’t move, and we just kind of looked at each other and just for like two minutes, and there was just this sense of connection that occurred. Now, I didn’t go spearfishing in front of her, do something stupid where I could have created a dangerous situation, but there was a connection, and there are so many times that’s available to us. And by connecting with nature, with a bird that lands on your balcony, seeing a wild deer in nature, whatever it is, just that opportunity to reconnect is so important to remind us.
So, basically, open your awareness to the lessons of nature. And this is kind of my favorite drill. I love this at night. I’ve got a big kind of a sofa and I love to sit outside, and you know, it’s beautiful in the morning, it’s beautiful in the afternoon, and then obviously at night with the stars. It’s incredible. Many times I’ll sleep out there, and just, the connection is incredible. But, if you don’t live on the beach—you know, basically, this is what the Japanese do. They have a—I think it’s called Shinrin-Yoku, which means forest bathing. And simply, you can find a natural environment like a forest or a park, and you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the forest. And you engage your senses listening to the sounds, smelling the air, touching the natural elements, observing the scenery, and breathing deeply and being present and mindful. And forest bathing is a beautiful way to connect you. It helps, again, simple as the other things we talked about, it lowers our autonomic nervous system, lowers our blood pressure, lowers our cortisol, and puts us in the environment, and they say even the smell and the inhaling of the forest, the environment, the scent coming off the trees, that all of it can be hypnotic and very soothing. And we all have access to some—through a park or through the local woods where you can go do this. So important. And plus, go for a good walk and get your steps in as well
So when you embrace nature, life starts flowing. Again, going back, this is another example of creating internal stability, when you are calm, you know, one of the things in college and medical school, I was a lifeguard on the west coast of Florida and I noticed in the morning, I would get there at at 10:00, and people would come with their blankets and their kids and their chairs, their cooler, and the first hour would be chaos, you know, yelling at the kids, changing them, putting the sunscreen on, and it was this state of high tension. And by the end of the afternoon, the parents would usually be sleeping, the kids would be playing in the sand, and there was a sense of calm that occurs. And that’s an example of biophilia. It’s this connection to nature, the sense of the water, the sense of being out in nature. That’s so important to create internal stability, which allows us then to be more in equilibrium with our surroundings and with the people in our lives. So with that, let’s open this up for questions, Rach.
Rachel: All right. First up, we have April.
Dr. A: Hey, April.
April: Hi, Dr. A. I’ve—getting back to grounding. I have read a lot about it and right now I’m currently waiting to have hip replacement surgery, so I haven’t really been able to go down to the beach and walk like I normally would. So, what is your opinion of grounding mats and grounding sheets?
Dr. A: Well, you know, my personal opinion is that you don’t need any of that stuff. I honestly—I mean, there’s a commercial application. When there’s a commercial application, people find many reasons why you need it. You know, I’m not saying it’s good or bad. I think if you’re using it in the way–what we’ve just been talking about, I think it’s fine. I don’t think it’s necessary. I think the good old ground is really what you want. Now, the other part is like, if you’re not able—as mobile as you’d like to be until you get this fixed. By the way, you’re a great example. I’m looking behind you, is that real or is that synthetic?
April: Those? Oh, it’s totally fake.
Dr. A: Okay. That’s okay though. Well, I can tell you by looking at you in that surrounding and seeing all those plants. Okay. Plants are part biophilia, right? Surrounding yourself with plants. I mean, I have a tendency when I go to the store and go grocery shopping, I always go over and get flowers. I always have flowers in my house. I mean, I absolutely love them and they’re totally—It’s totally a luxury. It’s totally not—there’s no “quote” value from the standpoint of, you know, what do they do? But they do a lot for me. They bring color, they bring life, they bring—I love it. And so I think anything you do, standing, feeling the ground underneath you… you know, I actually added something to my life a couple months ago. I’m going to do it in a future talk, but I’m now using a cooling mattress on my bed. The other side of this is when you’re not present, when you’re sleeping, is so critical that we get eight hours of high-quality sleep, which sets you up to be much more present in the day.
[00:20:21] When you don’t sleep well and you’re tired your senses kind of have a dull edge on them. And so to truly appreciate nature and all the things it’s great to get a good night’s sleep. And so I basically in that case, I use it to keep my body cooler because when our body’s cool, we naturally release melatonin. And so melatonin, that’s why I always suggest to people an hour before they go to bed, build a sleep ritual. You know, that twilight hour, where you’re taking a hot bath and then you’re cooling off, making sure your room is dark, quiet, and cool, right? Because that cools you off. And when your core temperature goes down, you release, naturally, melatonin. Well, I actually added that, and that’s certainly a gimmick, if you want to say a gimmick, but what it does is it creates coolness so that I don’t overheat, and it dramatically improves my sleep and I monitor, I use a device, a wrist device that monitors, and actually this particular mattress actually monitors your sleep as well and it cools or warms depending on how you’re sleeping. So I find it incredibly helpful. But as far as those, I don’t know anything about grounding mats. I just know that it’s really what you’re doing here that allows you to—I mean, obviously the reason why I’m mentioning a cooling bed is you’re actually physically changing the temperature, which helps your body stay cool and the when your core temperature is lower, you don’t wake up, because I have a tendency, because I happen to be hyper energetic so to speak, I get hot at night and then then it wakes me up and so now, I’m not—it’s not waking me up and so I find that helpful, but I think anything that works for you, awesome. Cool?
April: So, just one other thing is, as far as just being in nature and walking, is it your belief that it’s either dirt or grass, not sidewalk, that is going to be beneficial for the grounding part?
Dr. A: Well, I mean I think anytime you get back to the natural organic state of nature, that’s going to be better for you.
April: Okay.
Dr. A: But, I’m not—there are two different things. One is physical activity. If you live in the city, get out and walk, right? Get out and walk. And also, if you’re in a place where you’re near a highway, make sure you’re safe and so you’re on—you know, one of the things when I was in Copenhagen doing the documentary, one of the beautiful things, “health by design,” was that they actually have raised bike paths. They’re not just a line painted on the road, right, where someone can still whack you. They actually are elevated, you know, like a curb, and they have their own special place. So that gives you a safe place to physically be active. So yeah, but as far as, yeah, getting into nature, getting back to the natural—and when I say synchronicity, that’s what I mean. Man-made structures, the urban environment, is not conducive to being in nature. And that’s why one of the fathers of New York City was smart enough to—because, you know, that real estate is obviously at a premium—to be smart enough to designate Central Park as a place for all the people of New York City. And I’m just picking that as an example. Even in an urban environment, you can find areas to get out in nature and truly be with nature.
April: Well, okay, one last question. So, since you mentioned the documentary, when will your primer be available?
Dr. A: Very soon. Very soon. It’s literally in review right now, and it should be very soon.
April: Okay. Thank you so much.
Dr. A: You’re welcome. Awesome. Who’s next, Rach?
Rachel: All right. Next up, we have Barb.
Dr. A: Hey, Barb. You’re muted, so I cannot hear you.
Barb: There!
Dr. A: There you go!
Barb: Got it. Sorry. Yeah. So, I am curious about building a habit around connecting with nature because my first thought is, oh, I’d love to go connect with nature, but I’m so busy. I’m so this, I’m so that, you know? So I need to maybe build a solid schedule or something. I don’t know. I just wonder.
Dr. A: No. Yeah. Exactly. Well, you know, and there are other parts. There are many parts of this. I’m not an exercise enthusiast, but I stay, I heliski, I do lots of sports and stuff. I actually build into my day, activity. I build—I have a mindset that, for instance, like right now, I’m sitting at my desk for this hour, and then I’ll get up, and I live in a three-story. I’ll go up and down the stairs. I’ll go do something specifically down in the basement. I mean, I will make sure tha,t intentionally in terms of activity, in terms of my consciousness, that I spend time doing that. So it doesn’t have to be a designated hour where you go do something. It can be—like let’s say you work in an office building, you can take a walk to the water cooler or bring your own lunch, go outside, walk outside into the park or for a walk at lunchtime. If you live at home, just put a timer on your phone and spend five minutes. You know, I go for a walk on the beach. I basically will just walk outside on the balcony and spend 15 minutes. I think it’s important that we build that into almost this sense when—and then I think a really good thing, which we started with when I was talking about presence, is take a deep breath and as you release, do I have tension? And most of us will say yes, and we’re breathing from our upper chest rather than deep centering breaths from our diaphragm, where we fully feel our belly, come out, and that’s a great way to do it.
Put your hand on your chest and your belly, and feel do you feel your belly come out when you deep breathe. If you don’t, you’re breathing up here. And what you want to do is you want to reenter your breath and breathe from your belly because when your diaphragm expands it, your autonomic nervous system, you have the vagus nerve which stimulates the diaphragm. And that nerve is part of the autonomic nervous system, which is part of the system that’s the calm system. And you’re reconnecting your vagus to you and to that calm state. And even just doing that and then sensing that. But I think a deep breath is a good sense like when you do that, say, “You know what? I need to walk outside.” You know, we as a whole, we’re finding more things such as vitamin D. You know, vitamin D naturally, we get vitamin D when we’re exposed to sunlight naturally through our skin, and so many people have a relative deficiency. I mean, I’m not giving medical advice here. I’m just simply saying that getting out in nature for a few moments, you know, you’re not going to get sunburn in five minutes, but you will absorb the energy from the sun. And if you do get burns, then put some sunscreen on. But the point is, getting connected more during our day. It’s a centering practice. It allows us to, what April was talking about, this grounding that occurs. So important for us because if we’re running on that proverbial success track, we’re going to miss life.
Barb: Yeah.
Dr. A: We’re going to miss life.
Barb: Yep. That makes total sense. Yeah. I just need to remember to walk.
Dr. A: Use your phone. Use your phone.
Barb: Yeah. Right. Set a reminder.
Dr. A: Use your phone. And then what’ll happen is it’ll become a habit. I know. I know during the day. I mean, I get up several times. I mean, I don’t sit at my desk for never more than—this is about as long as I’ll sit at my desk at a time. But I get up, I move around, I basically walk outside. I sense that in the morning when I get up. I specifically designed this house so it’s all glass. I have the full view of the ocean with the sunrise in the morning. It’s kind of like I feel that connection. And I can’t overemphasize how important it is because when you feel connected spiritually, you know, whatever your religion or your spiritual thoughts and your faith and things, that connection is so critical for us and we just seem to come—we kind of, it’s like sleep. It’s like sleep. We kind of put it on the back burner like it’s a luxury and it’s really not. Our connection to nature is so critical for our wellbeing.
Barb: Makes sense. All right. Going to do it.
Dr. A: All right. Good. All right. Rach, who we got?
Rachel: All right, next up we have Becky. Hey, Becky.
Dr. A: Hey, Becky.
Becky: Hi, Dr. A. How are you?
Dr. A: I am fantastic.
Becky: Good. So, this resonates, this whole subject with me very, very, very strongly because I’m a big believer in—and I guess it’s called grounding. When you just touch grass, is what they say, you know. And I went to the backyard. We are getting a little bit of a rain right now, but yes, I do it quite a bit. Every morning I have my coffee and I go out there and I stand in my grass. My nice soft grass, without any ‘stickers’ in it, with my coffee and just barefoot, and sometimes I even lay down in it, and just lay down and just be still because I believe there’s power in the planet from God that heals us and just connects us. And I also wanted to say about this one time, I work at a church camp, and I was just there last week, or the week before, and it’s by a river and there’s hot rocks because the sun’s beating down on that and I work in the kitchen during that camp, right? And I’m so achy from the bad beds and the concrete that I’m on, you know, I go out to that river and I lay down on those hot rocks, and I started doing that years ago and it’s so helpful. It hurts. I mean, everywhere where it was hurting, I’ll put a hot rock and because, you know, they do that at expensive spots. I said, I’m getting this for free, you know, and it’s just wonderful. And so, I just wanted to share about that. I didn’t really have a question, but those are my experiences with grounding. Anytime I can. I was just at Arlington Cemetery, Sunday. We had traveled to, I had a conference for the DAR, in Washington, DC, and so I didn’t want it to be disrespectful or anything like it, but that grass is so wonderful. I got my flip-flops off, and I stepped in the grass and just stood in it. And so anytime anybody finds really soft grass or even in your own backyard like I can even show you my little backyard area if I can flip it. I don’t know if I can flip it. Can I flip it?
Dr. A: Sure!
Becky: Yeah. See that little?
Dr. A: Awesome. Yeah, that’s awesome grass.
Becky: That’s right. Oh, my husband worked very hard to keep it awesome for us. And now I can’t flip it back to my face.
Dr. A: No, that’s awesome. And you know, that brought a smile to my face. As a kid, my grandmother used to take me up to Pennsylvania up in, up near Dushore, a little town in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, like the Wilkes-Barre area, and I remember one of my favorite things used to be to hop along the rocks and the riverbed, right? And just hang out, be with nature, watching the water, watching the little insects on the water, the kind that stay on the top. Their surface area is so little that they dance on top and feeling—sitting down, like getting in the cold water and then laying on those warm rocks like that. And think about how that makes you feel. And we have this search—this and going back to just for a moment, what you’re saying, success and this need to—you achieve all these material things but the real things that really matter are the simple things. There are the things like that, and just like looking at your grass, right? I can just tell, it’s great and brings back memories of being a kid and going out in the grass in the lawn in the evening and catching lightning bugs, right? Fireflies, right?
And just the simple, that connection both to our youth and to ourselves and to nature. When we’re kids, you know, I mean, I remember my father was in the Air Force and we lived on a base in Savannah, Georgia, and because for the aircraft, for the runways, there was a huge fence system so no one was allowed in, and so, but being on the base, I could take my bike when I was like 8 years old and go to the swamp and observe nature all day and just the beauty of that and doing that. And you know, kids today, they end up unfortunately on their phones or on the TV or, you know, and they’re losing all that connection. We become an indoor species. And it’s so critical as adults that we get our kids out, and we’re moms and dads that are spending time out in nature because that connection is so critical. So, thanks for sharing. That’s awesome. And I love, I saw somebody put up there—sitting on their porch in the rain, right? As the rain comes down and just sensing that. The sound and the dampness from that. It’s pretty cool. So.
Becky: Yeah, I was going to go ahead and lay down in the grass, but it’s kind of wet. So I could show you how to do it if you needed to [crosstalk 00:34:00] And river water and oceans, I put my feet in them every time I get to them. And I just think if we just start doing that because I watched a documentary on Amazon or something like that about grounding, and they were talking about how in this time period we’re always wearing shoes. We’re never touching nature, and so just, on purpose, and my husband always wears closed-toed shoes and socks and I tell him take those things off and put your bare feet on the grass.
Dr. A: Exactly. Exactly. No, that is so cool [crosstalk 00:34:33].
Becky: Yeah. And so if everybody will just do that anytime they want to and you’ll feel the power of it. I don’t know if it’s electric—what’s in the magnetism or what it is, but it’s something about—it doesn’t matter, you feel it and when we open to it—but you have to be open to it. You have to be present, and a great way to start, especially if you’re, you know, if you’re spending most of your time inside, is your breathing. Your breathing starts to reconnect you to that. So it’s great. So, well, thank you so much for sharing that was awesome.
Becky: You bet. I’ll talk to you later.
Dr. A: Okay, Rachel.
Rachel: All right. Next up, we have Mary. Hey, Mary.
Dr. A: Hi, Mary.
Mary: Hey! Hi. It’s wonderful to meet you. I want to thank you. I think that if Optavia didn’t exist, I would be in much worse straits than I’m in. And so I’ve been confined to a nursing home waiting for surgery on my leg fracture for quite a long time and I was just wondering, I’ve changed Zumba so I could do it in the bed and I’ve come up with a lot of other things so that I could still do them in the bed, you know, and I am wondering how can I reconnect to nature stuck in here? I mean, I look at magazines and I watch travel videos and I do those things, but I don’t feel the same thing that I would feel if I were standing out in the rain or if I were barefoot, etc.
Dr. A: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think the things you’re doing are good. We know this, the research supports that just looking at a picture of nature improves you, that there’s a connection that occurs there. So I think obviously while you’re not able to be mobile and you can’t get out of it, I think you’re doing the right things. I think the more you can do that—and spend time, you know, what was nice, the kind lady I was just talking to, bringing back the memories of things you did before and you could do, and you’ll be able to do again once you get your legs fixed. Is that connection? It brings back memories and the memories of those days out as a kid in nature. Looking at pictures of beautiful, like I have a—I got a book, it was actually given to me by my friends that I took with me on my sail trip and it’s a book about the islands and it’s just photos, but it’s photos of these incredible sunsets and reefs and fish and beautiful—of a shark in the the evening sunlight, and I was looking through, they gave it to me over the weekend and I was looking through it last night and so you can take magazines and if you have access to a computer and you can actually go—when I, you know, I actually, when I made this presentation, those pictures that I have here, I just put those together yesterday from nature, from going online and just said, “beautiful pictures of nature,” and they came up and they’re free. You don’t have to buy them, and you can just put those on your computer or on your phone and just look at them and visualize that connection.
I mean that state—remember, your mind is critical right now for your recovery. And you know, I love that you’re doing Zumba and you’re doing things to stay active while you’re even in bed rest, until you get your leg fixed because all those things are important, but the mental part of you being strong for yourself and not getting depressed or upset and really, fully focusing on this beautiful thing called life and your connection to it. You know, you’re connected to that, and I can see, when you’re smiling now, I mean, I can see your face change. The more you can do that, and so it’s a—this is an opportune talk I’m doing today because it’s an opportunity for you to really focus on that and to use that mental energy to help with your recovery as well. Cool?
Mary: I just got taken off the vitamin D, and I just really feel a difference in that, too. So, I will get some coffee table books and I will get busy.
Dr. A: Awesome. Awesome. Sounds great.
Mary: Thank you.
Dr. A: Good luck and good luck with your surgery.
Mary: Thank you.
Dr. A: All right, Rach?
Rachel: All right. Next up, we have Carrie.
Carrie: Right now, but I have a question. People put their gemstones, during the full moon cycle, to re-energize their gemstones and our vital force. The moon has a negative effect on me. The full moon has a negative effect on me, and I am restless and don’t sleep well. Any thoughts on changing that?
Dr. A: You kind of broke up. So just repeat what your question is again.
Carrie: My question is [Carrie’s audio is breaking up] their gemstones out during a full moon cycle, and just to re-energize that and their vital force. The full moon has a negative effect on me. I am very restless and don’t sleep well for like two or three days during that full moon cycle. Any suggestions on flipping that or changing that?
Dr. A: Well, just complete disclosure, I don’t know anything about stones and their life force. But I will say this, there are certainly people who are affected by the moon. The moon has a huge gravitational pull. It affects us, the light from the moon, I mean, obviously we’re connected through being a human to the moon and obviously the moon has its effect directly, has its effects on us, and so what I would say to anyone that isn’t sleeping well, make sure that obviously your room is totally dark or you have a sleep mask, number one. Make sure that the temperature is cool. It’s very important that—I think anywhere less than less than 70° but 65° to 68°, keeping your room cool, making sure your room is quiet, that there’s no sound in it. And then probably on the days, you know, if that seems to be directly correlated with when the moon is full, on those days, basically, if you don’t sleep well, don’t take a nap. Give yourself a chance to stay awake, even though you’re tired. And then the next night you’ll fall asleep. Use a bath. I mean, I think a bath or a hot shower, hot bath or hot shower, like an hour to half an hour before you go to bed. Those things should help you with that. And then, I mean, I don’t recommend this, except for when people travel, but there is the ability to use a supplement. Like a natural melatonin, you know, on those times. So, they’re all potentially helpful. I mean, I’m not recommending that, but you know, and obviously communicate that with your physician before you would do that. But those are all things you could do if it’s only those two or three days. But as far as—I can’t really comment on anything as far as re-energizing your gemstones. I’m just—that’s a little bit beyond science.
Carrie: Thank you.
Dr. A: Yep. You’re welcome. Okay. Is that everybody, Chris, or do you have a specific question?
Chris: It is. But I got a fun question for you.
Dr. A: Okay.
Chris: You’ve known me for a few years now. You know, I live here in Arizona, where it’s currently the same temperature as the surface of the sun. And I don’t know if you noticed, I am incredibly white. I burn in about five minutes of sunlight. I can be outside with my kids for maybe 20 minutes before I am on fire. And so, how can you ensure you’re getting enough nature when it is so hot outside? You know, what are some other things that you can do to ensure you’re getting all of that?
Dr. A: Yeah. Well, that’s a great question and you know, I know Arizona is dramatically hot and they can say, “well, it’s dry heat,” but when it’s 120 degrees, that’s pretty hot. So, you know, the bottom line is there doesn’t have to be a direct relationship between being outside and sunlight. Sunlight is one of the benefits, but you know, there’s indoor—you know, a great—even in Key West, and I was there last month. There was an indoor, like a sanctuary, that was all butterflies, and you could go in it and it’s covered. There’s no sunlight getting in it, and it’s butterflies. It’s a like an arboretum but it has butterflies in it, and anything like that. You can go indoors. You can also go in the evening, by the way, once the sun is set. I mean, the Arizona skyline at night is incredible. You can be out when it’s that hot. I don’t recommend going out because you don’t want to raise your core temperature. But you can certainly use the evenings and go out and, you know, play the game with your kids, that I did with my kids, and you know, look for—you can sit outside, drive up to the foothills, and look at this beautiful panorama.
One of the most favorite things to do when I’m out in those climbs is that spectacular, at night, that skyline with all the lights twinkling in the distance, you know, and be up in nature and you can see the stars and see the lights of the city. I mean, I highly recommend in the summertime that you don’t go out in this, in the heat. And that includes, by the way, I see people all the time in Florida, we don’t have quite that level of heat, but it’s in the ’90s, but we have high humidity. And I’m watching people out, the sun is at its hottest between like uh 12 to 3. One to 2 is probably the hottest. You should avoid being out, certainly not exercising during that period. But exercise early morning or in the evening. So I would recommend in the summertime, like where you are now, enjoy the evenings and do any activities you do in the evenings or go to indoor facilities. I’m sure that town has probably a bird sanctuary, or you can go to zoos that have indoor facilities and do things. By the way, that’s something I didn’t mention, but a wonderful thing to do if you do live in the city is, go to the zoo. Go to the zoo, and connect with the animals in the zoo. I mean, that’s a great way to resume that. And the other part is, you know, one of the things, especially for kids, do you have a pet?
Chris: Yeah, we have two cats. Two indoor cats.
Dr. A: Two cats. Okay. Yeah. That’s having—and having your children, by the way, spend time and take care of a pet is a tremendous opportunity to nature and nurture, right? And a great way for young kids to start learning responsibility and connection with a different species than humans. So, those are all uh things you can do.
Chris: That’s cool.
Dr. A: Yeah.
Chris: That’s great. And then there was one question from someone in the chat. They were asking what do you do during winter? I don’t know what this word “winter” is because I live in Arizona, but apparently, there’s a changing of seasons when it gets cold outside.
Dr. A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, the bottom line is that’s one of the wonderful things with technology today, is you can get clothes relatively inexpensively that you can layer, and keep you—protect you against the elements and get out and do things. Obviously, you don’t want to go out and shovel snow if you’ve sat on the couch all year, because that’s a great way to test your cardiovascular system. But, bottom line is, I mean, I love the winter. I mean, I go specifically to the winter. I live in Florida, which doesn’t get cold either, but I go out to Colorado and ski and snowshoe and just love to go out and walk in nature. So, yeah, getting you outdoors in the wintertime is equally important. It’s because you can get cabin fever, and just getting outside, the fresh air, again, observing the stars at night. Those are all important ways to connect.
Chris: All right, awesome.
Dr. A: Cool.
Chris: Thanks, Dr. A.
Dr. A: Awesome! All right, if that’s everybody, we’ll end a little early today and hopefully this was helpful. I did this a little unusual most of the time. We’re talking about, you know, consciousness from the inside and how you’re thinking, your thoughts, your feelings. But I think it’s really important to expose ourselves, you know, forest bathing, getting out and watching the sunsets, watching the stars, making sure we’re connected daily to nature, interacting with the species other than ourselves are all important to assemble that reconnection, that synchronicity, that biofilia, which is so important that we’ve kind of lost in so many ways with our advanced technology. So, with that, I hope everybody’s enjoyed this. Have a great Fourth of July, and I’ll see you next month. Bye.
