Resilience: Connecting with Nature in a Time of Crisis

Connecting with Nature in a Time of Crisis (Resilience Series)

Nature is one of the best medicines for difficult times. An intimate awareness of the natural world, even within the city, can calm anxieties and help create healthy perspectives. This book will inspire and guide you as you deal with the current crisis, or any personal or worldly distress. Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a naturalist and certified forest therapy guide who leads nature and forest bathing walks for many organizations in Washington, D.C. and the American West. Learn from her the Japanese art of “forest bathing”: how to tune in to the beauty and wonder around you with all your senses, even if your current sphere is a tree outside the window or a wild backyard. Discover how you can become a backyard naturalist, learning about the trees, wildflowers, birds, and animals near your home. Nature immersion during stressful times can bring comfort and joy as well as opportunities for personal growth, expanded vision, and transformation. The “Resilience Series” is the result of an intensive, collaborative effort of our authors in response to the 2020 coronavirus epidemic. Each volume offers expert advice for developing the practical, emotional, and spiritual skills that you can master to become more resilient in a time of crisis.

Cover photo by Susan Austin Roth. Foreword by Wendy Paulson.

Praise for the Book

“Melanie Choukas-Bradley shows us the way to peace and spiritual comfort in turbulent times.”
— Bruce M. Beehler, Author of Natural Encounters: Biking, Hiking, and Birding Through the Seasons and Birds of Maryland, Delaware & the District of Columbia
“Nature does not stop to mourn the damage that we cause to ecosystem integrity or our political fallacies; it keeps striving with each new miracle… Melanie’s observations remind us that each day is still a miracle. We only have to open our hearts and take notice.”
— Susan Leopold, PhD, Ethnobotanist, Director of United Plant Savers, author of Isabella’s Peppermint Flowers, and member of the Patawomeck tribe of Virginia
“Melanie’s writings are deeply centered on the joys of being fully present in our wondrous natural world. The relentless and distressing news cycle can feel like an all-out assault on our sense of wellbeing. Melanie offers us a way to find connection, peace and renewed resolve to fight for what is at stake. Her keen observations invite us to more fully embrace the healing and life-giving forces of nature available to us.”
— Doug Barker, Founding Board Member, Rock Creek Conservancy, and Chair of Green Ribbon Panel for 125th Anniversary of Rock Creek Park
“There’s no better guide to nature in Washington, DC than Melanie Choukas-Bradley. She reminds us that time in nature has the power to restore us to sanity and joy.”
— Stella Tarnay, Co-Founder, Capital Nature