Personal Story

Vitamin N – Nature Therapy

A personal testimony:

After spending two days in ICU with my son, and confined to the hospital setting, the brief but influential experience made a great impact on me and my dependency of a relationship with Nature. I began to be flooded with exploratory thoughts in regards to my position as the founder and facilitator of the Eco Arts Council and it’s mission and it's relation to the personal thoughts I was feeling from the parent and patient perspective I was witnessing with my child. I intuitively knew that this stay and visit in the hospital was going to serve as more than a medical healing treatment for my son, but also a motivational factor in my professional approach in future goals as an advocate for “Vitamin Nature”. My son’s sickness was not a positive experience, but the silver lining in the situation was that it offered an opportunity to see how I could advocate in making similar experiences of others better with a dose of Vitamin N.

What is Vitamin N? I first of heard of Vitamin N from writings by Richard Louv who is a journalist and author of eight books about the connections between family, nature and community. According to Mr. Louv, It is suggested that Vitamin N (for nature) can improve our physical and mental health as “new research suggests that exposure to natural environments enhances our ability to cope with and recover from stress, illness, and injury. Short, quiet encounters with natural elements can calm us, and help us feel less alone. Nature-based therapies have produced good results in some people, and mental health organizations, particularly in United Kingdom, are beginning to see nature's value as an antidepressant.” As a parent and arts educator, I was very pleased to learn through his writings that becoming “nature smart” can help improve intelligences and creativity through the exposure to the living world, too. Among one of his theories, he believes that our “senses and sensibilities are improved through our direct interaction with nature; and a more natural environment seems to stimulate our ability to pay attention, think clearly, and be more creative. Nature time helps us feel more attuned to the best of life. When else do we use all of our senses at the same time, as we do in nature? Parents and children can become nature smart together.”

Even after one day and evening confined to his room with off white walls, mechanical devices and a clinical atmosphere, I was driven to change his environment in order to foster a more peaceful mental image of his surroundings. From home, I brought an ocean scene poster, which I strategically placed under the flat screen wall television; an environmental based “Whale and Krill” game board to accommodate our ocean theme, and provided coloring books and crayons. The simplicity of nature scenery, induction of color into the décor and creative activity was not only enjoyed by my son but noticed by his accommodating staff.

As I walked through the halls, there were fragment images of artworks and two tree multimedia art works. Viewing the two items were significantly the only two positive, reassuring and comforting scenes family members may seek for a peaceful environment among sanitized conditions of hospitals. I stopped to look at the details- colors, textures, and design; forgetting the stress I was experiencing with my son’s condition. At the end of his visit, he was transferred to the pediatrics wing, were intentionally and noticeably, the walls were bright with yellows and reds- members of the “warm colors” family. Internal room walls had opposite but complimentary calming colors such as aqua. That promoted a more peaceful, relaxing atmosphere as opposed to the previous sterilized conditions and barren white walls.

The simple application of color theory was evident and proved effective in this situation and provided an opportunity for me to share with the nursing staff the artistic philosophy of colors and their mood enhancing effects. My son’s favorite colors are shades of blues and so the aqua was comforting.  The courtyard view from his window with bright green grass reminded him of his favorite pastime of playing outdoors at home. The creative hallway decorations in the pediatric unit diverted his attention and provoked conversation from various photos and pictures festively displayed and served a reminder of our family’s obsession with photography and documenting happy moments. The variety of bright colors resembled decorations of a celebratory nature just like the birthday parties I have given him in the past. As the hospital staff worked to make my son better physically, I was injecting my beliefs on the positive power of an artistic holistic approach that positively enhanced his environment and outlook during his recovery. From this experience, I believe that art should have an active and symbiotic presence with traditional medical approaches to help foster a patient’s recovery in body, mind and spirit.

As a personal thought, and with some public support, an opportunity may blossom from this experience in the form of a volunteer program that can be discussed with the hospital administration. In effect, they would grant us access to their courtyard to host a few public Eco Art sculptures made of natural materials that symbolically showcase a nest – a metaphorical representation of comfort, home and serenity. Or perhaps, a four-seasons tree sculpture in recycled metal materials celebrating the cycle of life, changes, transitions and the universal concept that “There is a season for everything”; a topic of exploration many patients and their families may experience in relation and provoked by issues of health.

As people may experience similar or varied experiences in their involvement and communication with the medical arena and treatments for patient illnesses, it is evident that all need to find comfort, hope and peace, as this is universal truth for all people. Art provides a universal feeling of comfort and combined with the need for nature in our everyday environments (which applies to all humankind) we can find a perfect marriage in combining the two and to provide a positive catalyst for this journey and expression of comfort. Art is communication about what we see and what others see. Art is created and used to extend and expand our shared common visual language. Nature has always provided a visual language and now current research is expanding to prove the physiological and physical health benefits, as well. How naturally, then, that Art and Nature form a wonderful communion with positive assets.

As with Nature, Art functions in a range from simple servitude to powerful contributions. Art conveys an expression of life and life is enriched because of art. Art has existed in and for: storytelling, interpretation, conveying emotion, creating beauty, recording visual data, in social commentary, religious rituals and communication of important events. It is the cliche of “Art from life and life from art” - a harmonious partnership; and as with Nature, artists derive much of their inspiration from Nature and their relationship to it.

My son has recovered from his ordeal, and our lives continue on. But the experience and exploratory thoughts that were a product of our hospital stay has made an imprint on me and surged a creative driving force to address the importance of Vitamin N in our communities and most specifically the medical community. As research based scientists, environmental activists, artists and educators reach out to the medical community, community developers and urban landscapers, we can partner to represent and advocate for Eco Arts and Vitamin N. I hope for a day where medicine, science, art and education will partner to honor Nature as a sanctuary for humans and engage and practice the benefits of nature in our everyday lives.

“Culture strength is in our freedom, and as artists, our strongest art comes out of this freedom. For some, art can be about expressing beauty, political representation, used for self-discovery and healing, or art produced by popularity and demand. Regardless of the finished product and it’s destination, most everyone would agree that in our freedom to create, artists reap the benefits of cultivating, expression, discovery, reflection, challenges, projection and rewards. Every artist has the freedom to show us new ways to see everyday and familiar things in a new interpreted way. The purpose may be to enlighten, provoke, speak in symbolic shorthand to make a statement, or simply to wait upon for the audience to show side effects.”

- Glorie Iaccarino