#sit spot

[accidental-rabbit]

a place to sit

[deer-knight]

they/them 

welcome to my sit spot ^_^ 

“sit spot” is our forest school practice of sitting silent and alone in the woods for twenty minutes each day. the idea is that you always sit in the same spot, so you can observe how the nature of your sit spot changes over time and through the seasons. i don’t always have time to get out there when i’m not working, but i love the times when i do <3

[image description: the first and last photos are of the same area of a snowy forest shot at different angles. two fallen trees span a shallow sloping and winding valley, thick with tall trees on either side. the second photo shows op sitting on one of the fallen trees, with one leg dangling off the side and the other bent up with their foot on the tree, their knee propping up their elbow. they rest their chin on their hand and are looking up and off to the right. they are dressed in dark muted clothing and a long cloak with the hood down. op is white with long wavy brown hair. end image description.]

[malleedesign]

New Post has been published on https://malleedesign.com.au/gardening-for-wellbeing/

Gardening for Wellbeing

Stress Relief, Connection to Nature, Community involvement, Mood lifting, Physical Health, Personal Growth ….just to name a few!

Words by Kath Gadd and Hannah Preston @ Mallee Design

On Dharawal land

In times of great social and economic upheaval gardening can offer multiple benefits. As we are living through one of those times right now, where many of us are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by the current chaos, why not try to increase your dose of nature? 

Gardening offers us a place to come together as communities, neighbors and individuals to relieve stress, connect with nature, improve our physical health and grow (both the plants and ourselves). 

For many gardeners it is the love of planting something and watching it grow that gives the most pleasure. There is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained from watching a plant you have planted and nurtured flourish and flower. By witnessing and planning the growth cycle of your garden you become connected to your environment and greater surroundings. 

“We might think we are nurturing our garden, but really it is our garden nurturing us” Jenny Uglow

Acacia iteaphylla, Flinder’s Wattle

Nature connection and the sensory experience of the garden can be incredibly uplifting. To feel wriggly worms writhing amongst bare fingers or brush past a mint bush and be bombarded by its delicate perfume forces us to notice something that is right here right now. This connection with the present has the potential to heal in small or big ways and the rise of mindfulness as a strategy for approaching mental wellbeing is recognition of this fact. Allowing our hands to explore soils, leaves, flowers and texture instead of a smartphone is a sure way to bring us back to the moment. 

Sit Spot in Small Native Garden

Being present in the garden also gives us a much needed respite from the digital world. Why not try having your morning coffee or tea in the garden without your phone? My current favourite sit spot is on a log in my garden (image above)

Ways to be mindful in the garden 

Crush the leaves of different plants to see what they smell like

Sit in the garden rather than inside

Look for insects or beetles on trees or in the soil

Search for mushrooms (there will be lots around with all the rain we’ve had)

Observe your plants

Walk barefoot through your garden or the bush

What’s more, recent scientific studies have found there is a link between specific soil microbes and the production of serotonin in the brain. When gardening without gloves these beneficial microbes are absorbed and can act as an antidepressant. 

Dirty Hands can make you Happy!

Findings like this are no surprise to regular gardeners who describe the garden as their ‘happy place’, reporting stress relief and feeling less agitated as an immediate effect of gardening. It gives people responsibility and goals to work towards without the pressures of meeting deadlines or doing things perfectly. Within a garden there is also so much room for creativity!

Why not plant a field of paper daisies this Autumn? Now is the time to sow the seed as plants will grow slowly through the winter months, developing a strong root system and flower prolifically in spring!

Rhodanthe species

The physical benefits of gardening are anecdotally well known. People who have been involved in gardening programs report feeling fitter and healthier than those who don’t garden and it has been shown that vegetable gardeners are more likely to eat a diet high in fresh fruit and veggies. Amongst the elderly, improved wrist strength and balance have been demonstrated qualities in gardeners. 

Gardening can also have widespread social benefits. Whether it is being able to prepare a meal with homegrown produce for loved ones, share knowledge with other gardeners or meet people through community growing spaces, gardening can personally have a positive impact on our social wellbeing but also gives us the opportunity to create more resilient food systems and ecosystems in our community. 

Community Growing Spaces in the Illawarra

Thirroul Community Garden 

Woonona Community Garden

Green Connect Farm 

Dapto Community Farm

As well as looking after and educating ourselves gardening can help to look after and educate our kids – especially in a time when so many families are having to transition schooling into their own homes. Gardens are a place where children get to tangibly learn about natural processes and reap the physical and mental health benefits described in the paragraphs above. “Why try to explain miracles to your kids, when you can just have them plant a garden” Robert Brault

[permiekids]

Sit Spot

What is a sit spot? It is a “nesting niche,” retreat and renewal center in the natural world that you visit often to sit still (alone, often and quietly) and connect intimately with a small sliver of Mother Earth – one biome – before playfully exploring beyond. Sit spot is the core of the core routines found in Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature by Jon Young, Ellen Haas and Evan McGown…

View On WordPress

[masonverger-rising]

Mason’s standing at his desk, bending down to tap out an email. It’s supposed to be a day off, but there were things that just couldn’t wait until tomorrow -- hopefully this will see an end to them. He grabs his chair, pulls it closer and sits for a second before standing again, rubbing the crease where his thigh meets his rump and frowning.

Must be a little bruise or something, every time he sits it stings like a bitch. He rests his knee on the chair seat instead and finishes up the email.

Hannibal had had a few things to tinker with in his music room and then he’ll be upstairs and they’ll have the whole day to do with as they please.

[sitspotstop]

27th oct. Sunday morning. I can hear squirrels in the trees above me talking to one another. The trees are about 10 yrds from one another and there is a squirrel in each. The sound they make is a little similar to crows but quieter.   There is also a lot of communication between little song birds. Twittering. The squirrel knows I am here. I try copying their sound. Its hard. I think I annoy them in the process and they retreat further away. I get a headache. It comes suddenly. I ask my body where the origin of this head ache came from. I am drawn to by belly. The head ache goes away. I hear an alarm call in the SE. Its a blackbird. --- Things go quiet for a while. I close my eyes. I listen. My mind wanders. I pretend that my deeper worries and troubles are like the clouds. I let the wind blow them away ... I open my eyes. I think of my dark and light mirrors. I cry. Again. I can't remember the last day when I didn't cry. - I see a dog running along the path at the bottom. I don't see any owner. My alertness always sharpens when I see a dog because I don't want them to give my secret spot away to people. - I become aware of what sounds like foot steps behind me. I think I am imagining it. I become aware of the sound of the road and the cars on it. I am intensely aware of the wind. An aeroplane goes overhead. And another. I see leaves drifting down around me. Fluttering down to the ground. I hear them pitterpatter as they land, falling as gentle as snowflakes. - I see the same dog run back along the path. Again no sign of the owner. A bird in the SE has started chirping. I'm not sure what this sound is or means. Its a repetative sound, it doesn't sound distressed, but maybe slightly worried- like its calling out for something, or seeking and answer to its call. - I hear calls from behind. A lady. Calling after something. - The weather to me is the external embodiment of emotion. The wind is anger, restlessness, irritation, the wind is desire. With each proud gust helping the trees to let go of what needs to be let go of, so that they can start afresh when the time is ready.

[sitspotstop]

- 10th oct. Windy and cold. It feels like autumn. I can hear quite a lot of birds behind me at edge of wood. The wind is so loud in the trees that its hard for me to hear what birds they are. - Two crows fly through the wood over head, from se to nww. Crow call from E Walker along the bottom path. Squirrel E oak. Heading NE

[sitspotstop]

18th 1044 Birds are still quiet. Not much sound, the odd song amidst the stillness. Blackberries are out. Perhaps they are all too busy feasting to bother with singing... There is a high pitched squeak , not sure which bird that is.