RECLAMATION. In it, I see a phoenix rising from the ashes, strength and resilience, new life after grief and loss, and my younger self as a fledgling forestry graduate student at the University of Georgia. 

On a barren piece of land in South Georgia, Nature offered me a life-changing lesson on reclamation.
 
This land had a particularly challenging history. Stripped of her timber early on, followed by topsoil while growing cotton in the 1800s, finally, what remained of her was taken away to mine the mineral kaolin. By the time I arrived on it, that patch of land was as used-up as any land could get. As John Prine wrote in his song Paradise: 

They tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken, 
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.  

That patch of land, with its mix of red clay subsoil and remaining white kaolin, was my responsibility for the course of my graduate studies. It was absolutely devoid of life. My research to reclaim it for the benefit of wildlife and tree production was a daunting task, to say the least. 

HOWEVER, I LEARNED…If given the tiniest levels of support, Nature will predictably heal herself. After all, this has been going on for thousands of years! However, to see a barren wasteland transform into a productive ecosystem within a relatively short time absolutely amazed me. Within two years, the mottled red and white clay landscape, which looked like a different planet, became a sea of green. The land simply took the nourishment, community, and rest that I offered and used those ingredients to recover —completely. 

I believe that through nourishment, connecting with community, and rest, we can reclaim our health and well-being on all levels, just like that land did. 

These days, a lot of what I do with my nature therapy clients mirrors Nature’s process of reclamation. Cultivating a relationship with Nature will help you to reclaim your purpose and passion for life, your sense of self-worth, your vitality, and your enoughness. Nature will bring you back to a sense of being settled in your own skin and thriving right where you are planted. 


Please reach out if this is your year for reclamation. It would be my honor to support you with a private session or in one of my group offerings.