Do you want an experience to disconnect from constant doing and chores, or always prioritising others? Heath Hands, the charity which supports Hampstead Heath conservation and community, has a twice monthly event which is a great antidote to how life can often be too busy or feel too serious.
Shilpa Agashe leads a 2-hour workshop called Journaling in Nature. She describes it as “a prompt-based workshop to inspire curiosity and engage the involuntary self.”
“The brain’s involuntary attention centre is easily engaged by soft stimuli such as drifting clouds or swaying trees. If we focus on such soft stimuli in nature then our voluntary self, which is always engaging with tasks and problems, has a chance to rest,” says Shilpa.
The workshops are for adults and older children aged 12-17 years accompanied by adults, but it turned out that the session which I attended was a group of ten women and men.
At 2.30pm, we met Shilpa at the Heath Hands headquarters called The Hive. She introduced herself by sharing her own journals and gave us all a lovely notebook, clipboard and sharpened pencil.
Then we went outside to explore the area around the building. For our two hours there was hardly any walking because of the very hot weather. “Normally there’s more walking,” according to Shilpa, “but even then, it’s not about pointing things out but rather focusing on nature.”
Shilpa began by asking us to record with words or sketches what we could see and hear, standing in one spot.
It doesn’t matter if you feel you don’t how to write or draw because the exercise proves that even the unconfident, if given silence and stillness, can observe. And Shilpa emphasizes how it’s all about self-interpretation.
For the main exercise we were told to find seeds, fruits or galls and note them without using botanical terms – so a stem could be called a line, a green acorn seed recorded as an over-sized M&M!
“By letting go of botanical terms,” said the plant loving Shilpa, “You challenge your mind to think differently.”
Staring at a plant to look for seeds, I was humbled to realise how much is going on in nature – how much I don’t see when I’m taking a walk. And Shilpa moves around the group, sharing the names of trees and things.
In the last part of the workshop, before Shilpa laid out lovely blankets and gave us hot drinks and biscuits, we were taken to the small pond right by The Hive.
With quality colouring pencils and oil pastels, Shilpa asked us to draw the pond – either literally or to use it as a starting point for our own imaginative ideas. A couple of people translated the pond and its life into metaphorical cities.
For me, one of the workshop’s perks was being phone-free (except to take a couple of photos for this article!) Usually, Shilpa checks what the group wants and might introduce intentional photography or share about plant finding apps. On a rainy day the group may work from phone photos indoors at The Hive.
Our group enjoyed the event so much that we stayed for an extra half hour and one of the participants left this review: “A way of getting out of my tram lines and seeing afresh, hearing anew.”
From having experienced the Journaling in Nature workshop, I’d say that it’s awesome. And it’s been universally proven that awe – or being in a state of wonder – improves health and makes you feel calmer and kinder.
The event is free to Heath Hands members and costs £10 for non-members. It is also hosted at Kenwood House.
