I am a middle-aged single woman
living in my RV in the woods. I have never felt happier or freer than I do now.
I wake up to birds singing, the sun breaking above the tree line and cool fresh
air to breathe while I move around and start my day. In the evening after the
sun sets, I am relaxing by a fire with my dog, drinking a cup of hibiscus or
chamomile tea, watching the stars and connecting with spirit. Then I peacefully
drift into sleep. The trees tuck me in, the soil grounds me, and the plants and
flowers erupting in the spring warmth fill my soul with texture and color.
Women Need Woods. Three small
words full of big impact!
It is spiritual, soulful,
solitary and it is bliss. The natural world has been here for women to care for
and learn from for ages. It is by design and for greater purpose than a weekend
getaway.
Collegiate and medical studies
have shown that being in the woods improves our mood, reduces our stress, and
can reduce our blood pressure.
Scientifically, the energy
transmuted among the canopy of trees improves women’s mental and emotional
health, due to the absorption and release of oxygen, carbon dioxide and other
gases. We tend to pause, breathe deeper and exhale longer in the woods. This
natural reaction combats anxiety, exchanges bad air for good inside our bodies
and just feels right.
Spiritually, my experience has
been that women need woods for engaging in solitude and making time to think
for ourselves about ourselves. And the world around us. The sounds, the trees,
the soil, they bring light into our souls and let us sit in our divine feminine
for self-reflection. This encourages growth. This allows us to revisit our
lives and our dreams without judgement or ridicule. The woods let us reconnect
to mother nature and revitalize our sense of self.
Communally, my experience has
been that women need woods with small groups of other women, to hold hands and
sing and dance, releasing our tribal inclinations and allowing ourselves to be
free in a safe, sisterly way. Our ancestors were in the woods to forage, for
food, to make medicine, to nurture and grow all the wild plants and flowers,
and to honor the bounty provided with traditions (or rituals, if that is the
path you travel) that include fire, harvest and our voices rising. Sometimes we need to be that primal tribe of women
that our ancestors were and restore their purpose through our voice and
actions.
The woods embrace us in our
rawest form and meet us where we are. We can’t get that kind of support too
often out here in the modern world, where concrete covers the soil and
buildings block the sun and stars.
Women need woods. Their dogs do
too!
