A Garden for Healing

When I go into my garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health, that I discover I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1849

It's difficult to find a gardener who doesn't agree with Emerson. I am an avid gardener and I always feel a sense of undefined happiness when I see green things growing.. So what is causing me and millions of other people to feel this way?   Well, in a word, healing. 

It is an almost meditative experience getting your hands dirty and letting your cares fall away. For me, I get lost in what I am doing and the hours disappear.  I forget about everything else going on in the world, I hear the birds and enjoy nature all around me.  On a physiological level, this calming effect lowers stress hormones that may ease a variety of conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders and insomnia. Being in nature is an excellent way to reconnect with yourself and the world around you.  Physically it is also rewarding as you are often working all the major muscle groups.  

Overdoing it can result in sore joints and muscles, or worse, increased heart attack risk. As the summer heats up, make sure you drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration, which can contribute to headaches and muscle cramping. 

I love my garden, not just for the mental calmness, but also for remembering special moments from the past, for the fabulous feeling of satisfaction in the beauty and bounty, and for the knowledge that for at least a small part of the year I am truly eating organic produce.