Women Need Woods-Roxanne's Take

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!