Get out in the great outdoors

In this fast-paced world, we often forget the incredible healing powers nature offers. We’re forget to connect and recharge by immersing ourselves in the tranquil embrace of the great outdoors. 🌞💚

Research has shown that spending time in nature reduces stress, improves mental well-being, and increases creativity. 📚💡 It’s always great to take a break from screens and urban chaos to embark on an adventure with nature as your teacher.

Today, take a moment to disconnect from the chaos, plug into nature, and listen to what it has to tell you. When you spend time with the healing powers of nature, your soul and spirit will heal.

Or…you may realize that you never needed healing in the first place. You just needed to leave your bubble, get outside, and reconnect with what’s most important…yourself and you spirit.

The Woman and the Tree

A poem about nature’s healing magic by Serena Kelley

In the heart of a forest, where solitude thrives
A woman sought solace to quiet her cries.
Beneath the grand canopy, she found her retreat
A wise old tree, a friend with roots firm and deep.

The woman approached, burdened by the mundane
Her spirit entangled, a wearisome chain.
She sighed to the tree, "Oh, one so wise,
I'm mired in life's struggles, beneath sorrow's disguise.

Each day feels a burden, a weight on my soul
I long to be free, feel happy and whole.
Tell me wise one, with your wisdom so vast,
How can I find freedom to break free from the past?"

The tree whispered softly, its branches swaying low,
"My dear, you are free, more than you'll know.
Bound not by the world, but the thoughts you believe,
Release the shackles and your spirit will free.

The roots that ground me reach into the earth
But they do not define me, they're simply my birth.

As such, your routines need not keep you confined
For you hold the power to leave them behind.

Choose to dance with the wind, like leaves in the breeze
Embrace the untrodden path, let your heart find its ease.
The world may throw troubles, but they need not define
For you, my dear friend, possess a freedom divine.

Open your eyes to the beauty around
The caress of sunlight, the songbird's sweet sounds.

Your soul is unbounded, a spirit that's free
Release all worries, and your eyes will see.
Embrace life's adventures, explore the unknown
For you have the choice, you're not meant to be thrown."

The woman listened, her heart stirred by the tree
A hope awakened, her spirit set free.
She looked up in awe to thank the tree so grand
For showing her freedom lay within her own hands.

From that day forward, she walked a different path
Unburdened by routines, liberated from the past.
The forest is her haven, her sanctuary of choice
Finding solace in nature & the tree's gentle voice.

So remember dear wanderer, when life weighs you down
Freedom's within you, a choice to be found.
Seek the wisdom of trees, let their voices guide
And embrace liberation, for on wings of joy you'll glide.

—Serena Kelley

Why nature is such a powerful tool

Something special happens the second I get out in nature. Less stress, more present, less vulnerable to the elements and more comfortable just being.

Nature has such strong healing powers. I’m so glad more studies are coming out and more subjects about grounding, energy, natural medicine and more are becoming more mainstream. Everything that we need to heal, nature already provides.

I’m so thankful I get to spend my time enjoying the incredible beauty that this world has to offer. The USA is a beautiful country with breathtakingly gorgeous mountains, beaches, lakes, canyons and waterfalls. I have so much more appreciation for this place than I did just a few years ago. Likewise the more I travel the world, the more thankful I am to live this life and be able to experience as much as I can through travel and exploration.

As much division and frustration and sadness there is around us now, one thing we can all agree on is how blessed we are to live in a beautiful world, or to be in the USA, a massive country with plenty of space and beauty for all of us.

And if you haven’t seen it…I suggest you go out there and give it a try!

You don't need half the stuff to progress in life that you think you do

The best thing about traveling without a specific hard and fast plan in mind is finding incredible place is like these steps away from your original plan.

Throughout my travels and my six month cross-country drive around the USA, I constantly pulled over and veered off the side of the road towards exits with views that looked cool, or random rivers or lakes. Many times I stumbled across hidden gems like this lake right outside of Prescott Arizona!

I feel so blessed to have disconnected from all the outside noise of media, people’s opinions and fired any sort of teacher or guide I was paying to coach me. In doing so it allowed me to create a deeper relationship with myself and connect to my intuition to where I knew exactly where to stop, exactly where to go at every step of the way. And I was able to take that connection to the rest of my life and apply it everywhere.

It’s amazing when you drown out the noise of all the other inputs around you with your own silence, that’s when you truly can hear the voices you’re meant to. And that’s the ones within yourself, your own soul, the only connection and teacher you need.

So turn off the fucking news. Stop reading articles online, stop following a gagillion influencers who say they have the only objective way to enlightenment or (fill in the blank) of whatever thing you are searching for. Stop getting offended and mad for everyone else. Because the thing you are searching for is already within you. But you can’t find it because the only person that you’re abandoning and fighting against, is yourself.

All good things are wild and free

When was the last time you felt truly wild and free…if ever?

"All good things are wild and free." -- Henry David Thoreau

When was the last time you felt truly free? For me I feel it every time I travel, when I explore a new destination, land in a country I’ve never been surrounded by people speaking a language I don’t understand. I relish the novelty, the excitement an the overwhelm.

But sometimes, I long for more. For true, raw, unbridled freedom. Freedom that’s hard to get in most cities, crowded spots and fast-paced lifestyles. It's being alone out in nature, in the wild, with nothing to keep me company except myself, and whatever nature is around.

Here is when I can come back to myself. Back to life, back to the beginning, naked, stripped away of everything I identity with, to remind myself of who I truly am, without all the other outside accolades and identities to hide behind. It’s here where I truly feel the freedom that life has to offer.

I hope everyone can experience the magic of nature, not just outside your door, but truly in the wild. With no one else around to tell you what to do, how to think or how to act.

We live our lives everyday under the rules of civilization and judgments of others. We're not even aware of how much this influences us until we completely step out of that bubble and see everything with a new lens.

When we connect with nature, we found parts of ourselves that we completely lost along life’s way. The parts that were shut down, the weirdness and oddities at our core that make us truly unique and connect us to the specific gifts we each have to share with the world.

I hope everyone can experience true #freedom in their lives at some point. It would change so much about who we are, how we react and show up in the world. When freedom comes from within, the rest will follow.

Cheers to forever being wild and free!

How dance reconnects you to your body

Healing through movement - part 2

Healing from sexual trauma requires not only conscious but subconscious efforts, if you want truly break out of the self-imposed prison your brain put you in to protect you.

When we experience sexual trauma, our brain dissociates. This enables us to not only “deal” with the trauma, but disconnect so we don’t fully experience the horror of what our bodies experience.

The problem is, we stay dissociated & become completely disconnected to ourselves and bodies. We don’t fully feel anything anymore…joy, sorrow, excitement, pain. You don’t know how to be truly alive as you are not fully there, in your conscious mind and body.

What helped me get to a place of being comfortable back in my body and sexuality, was movement. This can look different to each person, but for me it was dancing. In my 20s I spent most of the decade dancing away in clubs. While this was not the healthiest way to move emotions through my body, it was what worked for me at the time. I credit it as actually being a big source of healing & reacquaintance to my body, and for this I’ll never be ashamed of it.

These days I often practice hip movements like this. Grounding, isolated moves focused on the pelvic region. Why? It helps get in touch with the parts of your body you’ve ignored because they’ve been violated. It reconnects you to the discarded parts of yourself that were too painful to take notice of before. That’s where dancing comes in. With the reconnection of our bodies with movement…you can heal.

Healing is work, yes, but it doesn’t have to be terrifying, sad and serious all the time. It can be fun, exciting, new, and different. Just approach it like a curious child and think “what can I try today that I haven’t before?” Then go do it!

Other forms of movement for healing include:
- Walking
- Running
- Stretching
- Horseback riding
- Swimming
- Yoga
- Rock climbing
- Biking
- Hiking.. And more!

I want to know… what movement worked for when you were going through something? Comment below!

#mysereneearth #traumarecovery #traumainformed #mypathtohealing #childrenofgod #traumahealing #childrenofgodcult #marydear #dancetherapy #danceitout #dancevibes #movetoheal