The Ripple Effect of Nature Connectedness is a visual framework that illustrates how even the smallest moment of connection with nature, pausing to listen to birdsong, noticing the shape of a leaf, feeling grounded beneath a tree, can create far-reaching and transformative impact.

At the centre of the diagram is Nature Connectedness: a felt sense of belonging to the natural world. From this seed, the ripples flow outward, showing the layered benefits that emerge when children (and adults) slow down, pay attention, and build a relationship with nature.

Each ripple represents a stage of growth:

Emotional Wellbeing – nervous system regulation, calm, and grounding

Mental Health Benefits – reduced anxiety, stress relief, mood support

Vitality and Joy – increased energy, creativity, and sense of purpose

Pro-Social and Pro-Earth Behaviour – empathy, compassion, and environmental stewardship

Collective Healing – community care, sustainability, and a shift from ‘me’ to ‘we’

The diagram reminds us that nature isn’t a backdrop, it’s a co-regulator, a teacher, and a quiet healer.
It can be used as a reflective tool, a planning aid, or a conversation starter about how we embed nature connection into education, wellbeing, and everyday life.

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Nature connection doesn’t begin with big ideas. It begins with the senses.

This map is a gentle guide back to the body, to the raw, felt experience of being alive and part of the natural world. Rooted in the Five Pathways to Nature Connectedness, it highlights sensing as the essential first step in reconnecting with ourselves and the Earth.

Through what we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste, we come into presence. We soften our thinking minds and reawaken a quieter intelligence, one that doesn’t need to do, just notice.

In my work with sensitive, soulful adults navigating anxiety, burnout, and disconnection, this is where we often begin.
Not with solutions.
But with a leaf.
A birdsong.
A moment of breath between branches.

The Sensory Map of Nature Connection is a visual tool I use in mindful walks, workshops, and coaching to help people tune into their sensory experiences outdoors. It's deceptively simple, but powerful. It can:

Anchor the nervous system

Ease overthinking

Deepen awareness

Create space for beauty, meaning, and emotional healing

This map isn’t about doing nature ‘right’ - it’s about returning to your natural way of noticing. One sense at a time.

Long before science confirmed it, I felt this truth deep in my bones. After my own journey through trauma, anxiety, and burnout, nature gently helped me come home to myself - one mindful walk, one photograph, one quiet moment at a time.

Today, I hold space for sensitive, soulful people walking similar paths, those overwhelmed and disconnected yet longing to feel whole again. That’s why the 2025 study in Ecology & Society resonates so deeply with me. It confirms what I see in my work: guided, mindful experiences in nature don’t just soothe us, they reshape how we relate to the world and ourselves.

Participants in the study described forest bathing as a transformation - a shift from seeing nature as “out there” to experiencing it as a living relationship, something to be with, and ultimately, something to act for.

This mirrors the journey I witness daily in clients:

- From overwhelm to calm

- From numbness to sensory presence

- From disconnection to meaningful, caring action for the environment

As one participant said, “The forest became closer… a stronger love in some way.” (Giusti et al., 2025)

This is the ripple effect of nature connectedness — healing that starts within and flows outward. And it begins not by fixing, but by feeling.

You can read the full study here: https://lnkd.in/eWuE9q6r

A visual map of our emotional responses to ecological loss and climate distress

This circular diagram offers a compassionate framework for understanding the wide range of emotions we experience in response to environmental degradation, biodiversity collapse, and disconnection from nature.

At the centre is Eco-Connection — the deep, often unspoken bond we hold with the Earth. This connection is what makes us feel grief, rage, awe, and love when nature suffers.

Radiating out from the centre are primary eco-emotions like:

Grief for what’s been lost

Rage at injustice and destruction

Love for the beauty of the living world

Hope in imagining a different future

Shame, helplessness, and reverence — each valid, complex, and human

Surrounding each of these are more nuanced or secondary emotions, such as longing, betrayal, devotion, and paralysis — acknowledging that eco-emotional responses are never simple or singular.

This model is not designed to diagnose or fix, but to normalise, name, and give shape to what many people feel but struggle to articulate.

It’s particularly useful in eco-therapy, coaching, nature-based group work, and personal reflection.

Because once we name what we feel, we can begin to metabolise it — and gently move from overwhelm to agency, from despair to embodied care.

Nature alone is powerful, but how we facilitate nature-based experiences is what truly determines their effectiveness for mental health. Based on research by Bloomfield (2017), this diagram breaks down the essential ingredients that make nature-based interventions (NBIs) successful, particularly when used to support people experiencing anxiety, depression, stress, or emotional disconnection.

At the centre of the diagram is the shared outcome:
🌀 Improved Mental Health & Wellbeing - the result of thoughtful, inclusive, and responsive programme design.

Surrounding this are five core components represented as petals of a flower:

Accessibility – Interventions should be inclusive, welcoming, and physically or psychologically accessible to a diverse range of participants.

Meaningful Engagement – Activities must feel purposeful and participant-led, rather than passive or prescriptive.

Social Connection – A safe and supportive group environment enhances trust, belonging, and relational healing.

Skilled Facilitation – Trained, empathetic, and ideally trauma-aware facilitators are crucial to creating emotionally safe and effective spaces.

Flexibility & Responsiveness – Programmes must be able to adapt to group dynamics, individual needs, weather conditions, and emotional states in the moment.

Beyond these core components, the outer ring highlights four important contextual enablers that support long-term impact:

🏡 Community-Based Settings

🔗 Integration with Services

⏳ Consistency Over Time

💷 Policy & Funding Support

This layered model invites us to see nature-based work not just as “time outside,” but as a carefully crafted, holistic approach to wellbeing, one that requires just as much care, skill, and ethical awareness as traditional therapeutic practice.

It’s a tool I often return to in my own work as a facilitator; whether planning community walks, workshops, or one-to-one nature sessions. Because when we hold space outdoors with intention, the benefits don’t just happen - they deepen.

[Read more here]

In the field of wellbeing and environmental psychology, one thing is becoming beautifully clear: it’s not just about how often we spend time in nature, it’s about how deeply we connect.

Recent research from Professor Miles Richardson and the University of Derby shows that even infrequent nature visits can have a powerful impact if we feel emotionally connected. That means it’s not just access to green space that matters, but the quality of our relationship with the natural world.

This diagram, the Nature Connection Loop, visualises that relationship as an ongoing, nurturing cycle:

Notice – the small, sacred details (light on leaves, birdsong, shifting skies)

Connect – emotionally and intuitively, with wonder and presence

Visit – return to nature, not to tick a box, but simply to be

Feel better – anxiety softens, mood lifts, attention steadies

Notice more – sensitivity deepens through repeated contact

Protect – because connection grows care, and we protect what we love

Connect deeper – reciprocity builds, and the loop continues

This is not a straight line or a quick fix. It’s a spiral of return; a gentle remembering of our place in the wider web of life.

For policy makers, educators, and wellbeing practitioners, this is a call to look beyond access-only strategies. We need to cultivate emotional connection, especially for those who feel cut off from nature’s healing rhythms.

In my own work with sensitive, soulful adults moving through anxiety, burnout, and trauma recovery, I see every day how this kind of connection becomes a lifeline.

It’s not about being in nature more. It’s about being in nature differently.

In a culture that often values nonstop doing over simply being, many sensitive souls quietly wrestle with burnout, disconnection, and pressure to keep pushing. Through my work supporting adults navigating anxiety, grief, and recovery, I’ve learned that what people truly need is permission to pause, reflect, and honour their current state.

That’s why I created the Seasons of Self Wheel, a nature-based model that mirrors the rhythms of the natural world to support mental and emotional wellbeing:

Spring – The season of new beginnings, gentle emergence, fresh ideas, and quiet hope.

Summer – A vibrant time for growth, outward expression, connection, and blooming confidence.

Autumn – A reflective phase for letting go, harvesting wisdom, realigning priorities, and gentle release.

Winter – A deep rest, restoration, and inner listening; essential space for integration and renewal.

This cyclical framework helps people understand their feelings and energy with kindness, shifting the story from “I’m stuck” or “lazy” to recognising these phases as natural and necessary.

In workshops and coaching, we explore questions like:
- What season am I in right now - mentally, emotionally, spiritually?
- What does this season ask of me?
- How can I honour and work with my natural rhythms instead of fighting them?

This wheel invites a gentle, compassionate reconnection with your own pace and process. Healing becomes a spiral of growth and rest, not a race or linear path, because, like nature, we are not meant to bloom all year round.

When I first picked up my camera during a difficult season, grappling with severe anxiety and unresolved trauma, I wasn’t trying to create art. I just needed a way to breathe and feel alive again.

What I discovered quietly changed everything: healing didn’t come from chasing the perfect shot. It came from how I was seeing, and what I was reconnecting to.

Slowing down enough to notice sunlight filtering through leaves. Letting the stillness of the woods meet the stillness I was learning to welcome inside. Allowing ordinary moments in nature to reflect an extraordinary truth: I belonged - to the land, the moment, myself.

This was the beginning of my journey into mindful photography and nature connectedness - not as techniques but as lifelines.

Now this practice is at the heart of my work. Research supports it too: nature-based creative activities help regulate the nervous system and build emotional resilience, especially for those facing health inequalities.

That’s why I created The Mindful Photography Flow, a gentle, circular model that guides you from sensory awareness to creative expression without pressure or performance.

Each stage invites curiosity, presence, and relationship rather than critique or results:

Pause — begin with stillness

Sense — come home to your senses

Notice — let something catch your attention

Frame — engage your creative eye

Feel — tune into what stirs within

Reflect — let the image speak back

Let Go — release attachment to outcome

Each step includes a reflective prompt, rooted in sensory awareness and self-compassion.

In a world addicted to speed and metrics, this slow, cyclical flow offers a radical invitation: reconnect with your senses, reclaim your creativity, and remember your place in the wider web of life.

A Visual Guide to the Restorative Power of Nature

In our busy lives, the path to healing is often slow, seasonal, and rooted in presence. The Path of Nature Connection diagram offers a gentle, research-backed journey through the many ways time in nature can support mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.

This visual framework represents a non-linear, experiential progression, from a simple moment outdoors to deeper emotional balance and holistic wellbeing. Based on both lived experience and leading research in environmental psychology, each step builds upon the last, illustrating how meaningful nature connection can gradually transform how we feel, think, and live.

The key stages include:

Time in Nature – Even short periods outdoors lower anxiety and reduce stress hormones.
Improved Focus – Natural environments restore cognitive function and reduce mental fatigue.
Enhanced Mood – Noticing beauty and engaging the senses can shift emotional states and boost mood.
Greater Self-Awareness – Nature supports emotional regulation and invites deeper internal reflection.
Increased Resilience – Repeated seasonal exposure helps build nervous system strength and adaptability.
Holistic Wellbeing – Regular nature connection promotes overall wellbeing, including immunity, emotional balance, and reduced loneliness.

Whether you’re a coach, therapist, educator, or wellbeing practitioner, this path can be used to:
- Guide reflective conversations with clients
- Structure nature-based sessions and workshops
- Inspire deeper personal connection to the natural world

This is not a checklist, it’s an invitation. To slow down. To notice. And to remember what truly supports your wellbeing, one step at a time.

Wellbeing is rarely a solo journey. It blossoms in the rich space where our connection to ourselves, the natural world, and the people around us meet and mingle.

In my coaching and workshops, I use this Venn diagram to explore how these three essential relationships support and nourish each other:

Connection to Self nurtures awareness, emotional regulation, and a grounded sense of embodiment.

Connection to Nature invites awe, sensory immersion, and a deep feeling of belonging.

Connection to Others fosters empathy, shared experience, and resilient communities.

At the intersection of these circles lies the heart of wholeness and healing - a place where sustainable wellbeing grows. This integrated approach not only supports personal growth but also strengthens teams and workplaces by reducing burnout and fostering meaningful connection.

Embracing these overlapping dimensions helps us find balance, resilience, and a sense of true belonging.

Rooted in Nature, Grown through Connection

Sustainable wellbeing doesn’t grow from quick fixes or checklists. It grows slowly, seasonally, and in relationship - with ourselves, with others, and with the natural world. The Tree of Wellbeing diagram is a visual tool I created to reflect this truth, shaped by my work with sensitive, soulful adults moving through anxiety, burnout, and disconnection.

Each part of the tree holds meaning:

Roots represent foundational practices supported by nature: grounding, sensory awareness, stillness, and presence.

The trunk symbolises inner strengths that grow over time; resilience, self-compassion, emotional balance, and a sense of purpose.

Branches and leaves reflect the outward signs of growth: joy, creativity, connection, and reduced burnout.

This model isn’t prescriptive. It’s an invitation, to notice where you are, reflect on what supports you, and reconnect gently with what helps you feel whole.

Whether you're a coach, therapist, educator, or wellbeing facilitator, this tree can be used as:
📍 A reflective tool in 1:1 sessions
📍 A visual anchor in group workshops
📍 A conversation starter for exploring root causes of stress or disconnection

Because when wellbeing is rooted in nature and nurtured with care, it doesn't just grow... it flourishes.