Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma

by Rochelle Calvert PhD, Mark Coleman (Foreword by)

Overview

Reconnect with Your Body and Nature to Heal from Trauma

As psychologist and mindfulness teacher Rochelle Calvert explores in this powerful book, one of the greatest sources of healing from trauma is all around us — nature. Dr. Calvert shows how to relate to and connect with nature through the practice of mindfulness to calm and relax the nervous system, tune in to the somatic wisdom of the body to face lingering trauma and rewire it, and work with painful experiences to transform them in ways that heal the individual and contribute to healing the wider world. Healing with Nature pioneers a path not just to recovery but to lifelong healing and resilience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608687367
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	06/08/2021
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rochelle Calvert, PhD, is a psychologist and somatic experiencing practitioner who is certified in a variety of mindfulness, meditation, and trauma-healing practices. She is the founder and clinical director of New Mindful Life.

newmindfullife.com

Table of Contents

Foreword Mark Coleman xi

Introduction 1

Part 1 Awakening in Nature 17

Chapter 1 Breath Awareness 21

Chapter 2 Sensory Awareness 33

Chapter 3 Body Awareness 45

Chapter 4 Element Awareness 63

Part 2 Somatic Knowing in Nature 81

Chapter 5 Moving toward the Trauma 85

Chapter 6 Finding the Healing Currents 101

Chapter 7 Noticing Barriers in the Inner Landscape 117

Chapter 8 Awakening to New Impulses 131

Part 3 Living into Your Aliveness with Nature 145

Chapter 9 Healing, Health, and Living 147

Chapter 10 Reexperiencing Relationships and Yourself 163

Chapter 11 The Rhythms of Nature 179

Chapter 12 Experiencing Insights of Healing 193

Part 4 Healing Nature 211

Chapter 13 Healing to Heal Connections 213

Chapter 14 Living with Integrity 225

Chapter 15 Healing the Earth 235

Chapter 16 Trusting the Mystery 247

Acknowledgments 259

Notes 261

Resources 265

Index 269

About the Author 275

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“When faced with trauma, where do we look for support or healing? Rochelle Calvert has provided us with an accessible pathway to recovery in Healing with Nature. She draws on the inspiration of the natural world and shares exercises to help us connect more fully to our mind and body. The meditations and practices are a treasure of steps for living a fuller, happier life.”
— Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness and Real Change

“Healing with Nature is a wonderful book that invites us to reconnect with our hearts and minds through our senses and the natural world, affirming that we are part of the universe and not separate from it.”
— Bob Stahl, PhD, coauthor of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook (1st and 2nd editions), Living with Your Heart Wide Open, Calming the Rush of Panic, A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety, and MBSR Every Day

“Combining mindfulness, somatic awareness, and the inspiration of nature, Healing with Nature offers a unique contribution that can aid in healing from traumatic events. Get yourself a copy, lean against your favorite tree, and let the healing begin.”
— Frank Ostaseski, founder of the Metta Institute and author of The Five Invitations

“In Healing with Nature, Rochelle Calvert gently and patiently guides the reader to a deeply wise understanding of what trauma is and what health is, and to an appreciation of the power of nature to help us heal from one to the other. I especially appreciate the compassionate attention to the challenges inherent in moving toward and moving through the many layers of any trauma, and the inspiration to skillfully explore new possibilities in more spacious ways of living. The many mindful and somatic practices are easily accessible and reliably transformative. They provide a trustworthy path of healing into genuine aliveness, wholeness, and integrity in one’s own being and in connection with all beings.”
— Linda Graham, MFT, author of Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster

“So many of us live in a de-natured condition, lost in the abstractions of a noisy mind. Healing with Nature shows us a path out of our hurt and into our heart, integrating the inner resources of mindful awareness with the outer resources of the natural world through Rochelle Calvert’s wise, clear writing.”
— Martin Aylward, author of Awake Where You Are: The Art of Embodied Awareness

“Rochelle Calvert is a warmhearted and direct guide to the healing that is possible through mindfulness and somatic practices combined with immersion in the natural world. Healing with Nature is full of practical and spiritual guidance for healing from trauma through what is already present — the wisdom of our own bodies and the embrace of nature and the outdoors. Her instructions are clear, thorough, and also radical: she turns us gently toward experiencing suffering while taking care to also nourish the capacity to turn toward safety. And she skillfully links our inner healing to the planet’s suffering, showing a way to help cope with the heartbreak of our ongoing climate crisis.”
— Melissa Myozen Blacker, Zen teacher, abbot of Boundless Way Zen, and former director of professional training at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School