Nature Spirit: Exploring Spirituality In The Wilderness

Posted by Elise Mitchell, BS, RYT, Health and Wellness Coordinator at Entrada on July 26, 2016

I’ve been asked… repeatedly… to write more specifically about spirituality. It’s been a daunting request for me because spirituality is a nebulous and highly personal subject. It’s both transcendent and human, sublime and mundane. In the scientific literature regarding spirituality’s role (often muddled with religion) in mental health, a consensus on its help or hindrance is yet to be found. While religious guilt seems to have an adverse effect on mental health, feeling connected to something greater than ourselves seems to help mitigate stress and depression.¹

To be clear, I am not writing about religion. While religion is a set of beliefs and values agreed upon and elaborated upon by a group of people, spirituality is an innate, though often hidden or complicated relationship with the self, the greater community, and any concept of the divine to which we subscribe. I could write about the awesome experiences I’ve witnessed in the field when someone sings Kiddush during Shabbat or the look on a client’s face when they receive their adored religious amulet or religious text from home. However, I am choosing to write about something less concrete and less defined than that.

In the words of Anthony Douglas Williams from the book, Inside the Divine Pattern, “Spirituality doesn’t come from religion. It comes from our soul.” So how then, do I write about such a topic…

Ironically, I see spirituality in action every time I’m in the field. I witness it when a participant finds comfort in sleeping under the stars or the smell of the earth after rain. I see it when they hold a group about a vulnerability they hide and find support when they expected ridicule. I see it in the facial and bodily expressions of peace and relaxation that immerge after a Loving-Kindness Meditation. I see it encouraged when a group takes on the task of cleaning up part of the wilderness or holds a Higher Power discussion where everyone can hash out their definition of The Divine.

I saw spirituality in its most profound expression just the other day as I was leading a group to a sacred spot in our field area – our Prayer Tree. Located at the Oasis, this tree holds a growing number of personal prayer flags that are tied to its branches. Written on these flags are mantras, wishes for others, notes to loved ones passed on, or issues that were ceremoniously let go of into the wind. One client, who had been at the program a year prior and had just returned due to a relapse, walked slowly toward the tree as if entranced. He touched a single, sun-bleached frayed flag like it was the most precious silk scarf on earth. He continued to stand there admiring the flag while the rest of us settled in for a meditation practice. When he joined the group, he checked in about seeing the prayer flag he had placed there over a year ago. His words poured forth evoking tears from his eyes. “I remember where I was emotionally, mentally, spiritually when I wrote that… here I am back (after a scary relapse of drugs and living on the streets) and it’s like I thought I lost myself and yet… here is this reminder staring at me, calling me back. I haven’t actually lost myself because I can feel it when I look at what I wrote on that prayer flag.”

At that moment, I could sense the energy of the group had shifted. Through silent empathetic tears and the hot summer breeze, there drifted a silent hope or recognition that we can all find our way back to who we truly are. I watched someone who had come back into the program defeated, scattered and disheveled from heavy drug use, barely cognizant of his first session with his therapist, re-connect to a place within himself that was healthy, secure, and full of life.

So how do I define spirituality as it shows up in the field? Connection. Connection to others, nature, a Higher Power, personal ceremony and ritual, and most importantly, connection to our True Self. Infinite roads lead to this sense of connection; there exists no perfect road nor the ‘right’ road to such a destination. In fact, I don’t know that one can even call it a destination. Instead, I see it as a meandering path dotted with experiences that drive us deeper into our search for connection. In these moments we might find our most authentic Self. And when that part of us shows up… we are staring straight into The Divine.

Resources:
1. Loewenthal, Kate M. and Lewis, Christopher, Mental health, religion and culture. The Psychologist. April 2011, Vol.24 (pp.256-259)

Elise Mitchell is the Health and Wellness Coordinator for Evoke at Entrada. To learn more about Evoke Therapy Programs, contact one of our admissions counselors.