Harvard Meditation and Psychotherapy: Learning from Nature 2025

Meditation and Psychotherapy:Learning from Nature 2025

Course Overview

Research shows that connection to nature can have a wide range of benefits, such as improved attention, memory, mood, social interactions, happiness and wellbeing, and reduced stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease. Although human beings have evolved with nature, benefit from nature, and are part of nature, modern society is increasingly alienated from the natural world and our environment is in crisis. Eco-anxiety and climate distress are having a significant impact on mental health, especially among young people.

Meditation and psychotherapy can be harnessed to improve our relationship to nature, and nature can have a positive influence on how we meditate and do clinical work. This webinar series explores the importance of nature from a variety of perspectives—scientific, therapeutic, mindfulness, and indigenous. Attendees will learn useful tools and strategies to help their patients realign with, benefit from, and support the natural world. Therapists will also have a chance to explore their own relationship to nature and environmental disruption.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

•  Summarize the research supporting the mental and physical health benefits of exposure to nature.
• Teach their patients mindfulness practices to enhance their sense of connection with nature in urban and rural settings.
• Guide patients with trauma to alleviate their distress by engaging safely and effectively with the natural world.
•  Engage therapeutically with adults and youth who are experiencing eco-anxiety.
• Integrate elements of indigenous wisdom into mindfulness practice.
• Understand and manage the clinician’s own emotional distress associated with climate