The Benefits of Nature: Finding Wisdom in the Outdoors

“The world is too much with us,” wrote the poet William Wordsworth. “We have given our hearts away.” Wordsworth wrote those words early in the 19th century. How would he feel about a world in which smartphones, computer screens, social media, and television dominate our attention and consciousness?

He would probably opt to go for a walk outside. Because nature—then, always, and today more than ever—is a salve that soothes our souls, settles our bodies, and reconnects us to our hearts.

Fortunately, Royal Way Ranch exists as a respite from the stress of the world, a place where the benefits of a spiritual connection with nature are vivid and tangible. In today’s hectic world, we feel the need to experience the connection between nature and spirituality. And we are gaining an ever clearer understanding of the importance of spiritual development in outdoor spaces.

The Positive Influence of Nature on Spiritual Well-Being

Most people intuitively know the positive influence of nature on our physical and spiritual well-being. We all feel refreshed when we step outside and breathe fresh air. We all feel awe when we stand beneath a star-filled sky or take in an expansive mountain view.

Science and psychology today are studying and quantifying those benefits and are drawing conclusions that both verify what we intuit and underscore the vital importance of reconnecting with the natural world.

For example, Japanese researchers have been touting the benefits of “forest bathing,” or “forest therapy.” On a purely physical level, one study contrasted the benefits of walks in a natural setting versus an urban setting. It showed that the benefits of walking in nature include:

• Reduced stress level

• Lower heart rate

• Lowered blood pressure

• Enhanced mood

• Decreased anxiety level

• Increased immune function

Other researchers have expounded on the benefits of nature on our moods, cognition, and mental well-being.

Ruth Ann Atchley, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, discusses the importance of a spiritual connection with nature in the book The Nature Fix by Florence Williams:

“When you’re engaged in nature, it leads to mindfulness. When you walk out in nature, it’s like wearing rose-colored glasses. Everything is a little more positive; there’s more connectedness. This is the world in which we are supposed to be.”

Cognitive neuroscientist David Strayer, who teaches and conducts research at the University of Utah, has said, “Having hiked around the desert for years, I noticed in myself, and from talking to others, that people think differently after being out in the desert. Their thoughts are clearer. They’re certainly more relaxed. They report being more creative. If you can disconnect and experience being in the moment . . . it seems to produce a difference in qualitative thinking.”

The founder of Royal Way, spiritual teacher Michael Gottlieb, expresses the profound benefits of outdoor meditation in deeply spiritual terms: “If you sit near a waterfall, you listen to it. But do you interpret what the waterfall says? It says nothing, yet it says much—much that cannot be said. What do you do near a waterfall? You listen. You become quiet, silent. You absorb. You allow the waterfall to go deeper and deeper within you. Then everything becomes quiet and silent within. 

“To listen with alertness, without interpretation . . . to see with awareness, without thinking . . . to know without the mind, is not as unusual as one might think. Do we use the mind to know love? Do we interpret the beauty of a tree? Do we interpret the singing of birds? No, we do not. We see and we hear without interpretation, and we know and understand without thinking.  

“The word for this experience is delight. Without thinking, we can be delighted in a garden filled with roses. Without thinking, we can be delighted when we hear the birds singing in the trees.”

Royal Way's Connection With Nature

Royal Way Ranch in the high Mojave Desert is an idyllic setting for experiencing the delight in nature that Michael Gottlieb describes, and a place to savor the benefits of outdoor meditation. The 900-acre spiritual retreat center is a protected natural sanctuary that nestles against the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains. The views are delightful in every direction: To the south, the soaring peaks of the San Bernardinos. To the north, an expanse of desert punctuated with Joshua trees, yuccas, and wildflowers, spreading to the Granite Mountains. To the east and west, awe-inspiring views of sunrise and sunset. And by night, the clean desert air reveals a firmament of stars.

It is not coincidental that a waterfall is a centerpiece of Royal Way Ranch’s Zen Park. It tumbles into a stream that flows into twin ponds, filling the air with the soothing, meditative sounds of the natural world. The Ranch is a true desert oasis—the water flows down from a spring high above in the mountains.

Meditation is central to the Royal Way experience and to the teachings of Michael Gottlieb. The Zen Park is but one of many places on the Ranch where one can sit to meditate and enjoy the connection between nature and spirituality. Additionally, the Ranch offers trails that lead through the desert to sacred meditation sites, as well as beautifully landscaped gardens filled with the sounds of fountains and birdsong. The Ranch’s orchards and vegetable gardens are also serene places where one can walk or sit and experience a spiritual connection with nature.

Retreats at Royal Way Ranch frequently include outdoor sessions in these meditative settings. One meditation that Royal Way often practices is an outdoor awareness meditation, where one walks and observes the surrounding sights, sounds, scents, and sensations. The Ranch is certainly ideal for such a meditation, as it incorporates:

• 900 acres of desert and mountains 

• Trails leading to sacred meditation sites

• Waterfall, stream, and ponds

• Teahouse and meditation fountain

• Landscaped gardens incorporating meditation benches

• Organic vegetable garden

• 500-tree organic orchard

• Abundant bird life

• Whirlpool spa overlooking a vast desert and mountain landscape

The entire Ranch is a place where one can experience the sacred feeling of being one with nature.

The Silence of the Outdoors

The word “awesome” is overworked these days, but at Royal Way Ranch, with its vast desert and mountain landscape, true awe is real and tangible. Michael Gottlieb describes the value of awe as “immensely expansive and almost always enriching.” He adds: “When one stands in the dark of night, the sky filled with brilliant stars, clusters of galaxies, etc., etc., one is filled with awe. That awe is enriching, enlarging, expansive, growthful, and sometimes transforming.”

The sensation of awe at Royal Way Ranch epitomizes the connection between nature and spirituality. The sounds around us in nature reflect the silence within us that we touch through meditation. The beauty of nature at Royal Way Ranch reflects our own inner beauty. 

To be in silence at Royal Way Ranch, to feel the connection between nature and spirituality, is to touch the divine that is within us and all around us. As Michael Gottlieb wrote, “We have forgotten that we are an appendage of nature. We have forgotten that nature takes its time. It has rhythms and cycles. A seed does not become grain overnight. A cloud does not always turn to rain. Man needs to learn how better to protect and nurture his organism.”

In Conclusion

Royal Way Ranch is a place where one learns to nurture one’s organism, within and without. When “the world is too much with us,” we can find serenity and silence in the extraordinary beauty, sounds, and sensations of the natural world. At Royal Way Ranch, we can experience an uplifting physical, psychological, and spiritual connection between nature and our spirituality. At Royal Way Ranch, we reclaim our hearts and dive into silence.