Relaxing the Mind with Healthy Gardening

by Gilly Brewster
(Georgia, Atlanta, USA)

Did you know that every time you are out working in your garden you are actually engaging in a therapy session—without the $200 an hour fee? Healthy gardening benefits you in more ways than just providing healthy food.

All the time and money spent on therapy, meditation, yoga, and other relaxation methods could be saved and put to use on a garden instead. The benefits of healthy gardening are endless—for your mind as well as your muscles.

Unintentionally Zen

While you may not realize it, your garden is the perfect location for meditation. What you also probably do not realize is that every time you are gardening, you are also meditating.

Meditation is not limited to what you see in the movies; sitting in some pretzel-like position making loud chanting noises and emptying your mind. Meditation is the act of clearing your mind, focusing on a task, and finding happiness and relaxation in it.

Healthy gardening is a sanctuary of peace for gardeners—while you are gardening you are probably reflecting on your day, thinking of upcoming tasks, wondering about loved ones; these are all things that you probably would not do otherwise because time does not allow it. While gardening is clearly a lot of work and you may think of it as a chore, it is actually providing you with some much needed personal Zen.

Emotional Release

When you engage in healthy gardening (especially if it is something you do on your own), you are providing yourself with some much needed emotional release. Gardening is a physical activity that allows you to release endorphins as you work. Endorphins naturally make you feel better—and who doesn’t want that? The physicality of healthy gardening may help you to work out your stress, anger & frustration, or other negative emotions in a healthy and beneficial way.

If you work in your garden every time you get upset instead of throwing things or driving around in an angry rage, you would actually have something to show for all of it.

Healthy gardening also aids in emotional release by filling you with a sense of pride with what you have accomplished. Looking at your beautiful garden and knowing that your hands created all of it is a feeling that cannot be replaced by any other.

Getting Your Rest

Not only will healthy gardening aid you in working out your emotions, it will also help you to relax at the end of the day and get a better nights’ sleep. The endorphins released through gardening help to alleviate stress and automatically put us in a relaxed state.

This means after a long day you won’t spend the night tossing and turning, filled with dread at the thought of the 6 am alarm clock buzzing in your ear. Your hobby will help you to unwind (and is a much better alternative than evening television), put the day behind you, sleep peacefully, and look forward to the next day with a positive viewpoint.

The whole world is constantly looking for ways to relax. Some turn to self-help books and CD’s while others seek professional guidance in the form of therapy or religion. Healthy gardening is a proven way to create your own sense of inner peace while creating something natural and beautiful.

There is no need to search for relaxation—the perfect place is right in your own backyard!.

Relaxing the Mind with Healthy Gardening

Our Most Popular Healthy Lifestyle Success Pages