Because we want something that is authentic and more human, we coordinate ideas, people, and events to inspire, nourish, and engage our Value Based Outdoor Health Care Platform:
Outdoor Health & Wellness.
Nature Based Interventions and Mindfulness for The Social Engagement System
June 2025 ISSUE
Mindfulness To Strengthen The Social Engagement System
Why is understanding symptoms of depression and being proactive about seeking resources to help manage symptoms so important?
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In Search of Solutions: Using Nature Based Therapy to tackle the Chronic Disease Crisis
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Capitol Reef National Park
The Art of Hiking
Have you ever been so at peace with where you are; both in the literal sense and the metaphorical sense. Take a moment and imagine the sights, sounds, and smells around you as you sit under a juniper tree nestled atop a red sand rock bluff; overlooking miles and miles of scenic beauty and freedom.
The temperature is perfect and the blue skies make the fluffy white clouds seem soft and within arms reach. The gentle winds bring the scent of juniper berry close; taking in a drink of fresh, cool, clear spring water.
Pure satisfaction!
You stand up, stretch your arms above you, reaching from side to side, inhaling in, the fresh juniper air, looking, optimistically, towards the dreamy skies and the privileged clouds.
The trail is calling your name. You lean forward, lace up your hiking boots, and venture on, towards the open landscapes of limitlessness, breath, and life.
Poem by Anna Marie Hallows
Polyvagal Theory, Meditation and Nature
January 6, 2021
The polyvagal theory states that the polyvagal system is a third type of nervous system response that is called the social engagement system. This system can intentionally be activated or calmed in response to social interactions. This is how we learn to navigate through both personal and professional relationships with our self and others.
The other two parts of the nervous system are the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic nervous system (shut down response). These are involuntary responses to perceived life threatening situations. The more that we can shift into the third type of nervous system, the social engagement system, voluntarily, we can learn to have more control of our own sense of safety from a neurological standpoint, more intentional and less reactive.
Meditation and nature become very useful in developing a healthy social engagement system. Think about a nervous system that has habitually been placed into a perpetual state of fight or flight, which in the extreme can be characterized as anxiety; or, the counter opposite, imbalanced in a shut down response that is associated with depression and dissociation. Body awareness activities such as; yoga, meditation, and outdoor activities such as; hiking and backpacking require a presence of self that nourishes a healthy social engagement system through intentionality. This body -mind conscious, intentionality can help to ease sympathetic and parasympathetic over activity and imbalance.
Read more about Polyvagal Theory, Meditation, & Nature here
Our National Park High Light
Capitol Reef National Park
Explore the natural beauty of Capitol Reef National Park with a day hike or an overnight backpacking expedition. There are well kept trails that wind through Capitol Reef’s most iconic landmarks including; Golden Throne, Hickman’s Bridge, Goose Necks and Sunset Point, Chimney Rock and Temple of the Sun and the Moon.
Stargazing
Capitol Reef National Park is one of the many International Dark Sky Parks. When stargazing in Capitol Reef’s night skies the star’s seem as though they are close enough to hold.
Stress Disorders, what are they? Do nature and mindfulness really help?
Our stress response system is shaped through millions of years of evolution. An imbalance in the stress response system, in extreme cases, can lead to psychiatric disorders such as, post traumatic stress disorder. It can also increase the risk of other mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.
In a healthy stress response system, some stress can be healthy as the mental and physical body adapts to homeostatically take control over the perceived life threatening situation. However, when the stress response becomes excessive; the physical, mental, and emotional bodies become flooded with stress hormones such as cortisol. When stress is prolonged over a period of time, or too intense for the body to handle, the fight or flight stress response can take over and lead to compromised health emotionally, mentally and physically.
Coping mechanisms are resources to help an individual adapt when a stress responses is experienced. Self regulation techniques such as; Yoga, Meditation, Hiking, Biking, Canoeing, simply being in nature and many other outdoor activities can help the body and brain rebuild healthy neural connections. How? These activities are experiential in nature giving the body -mind connection opportunities to rebuild new, healthy pathways.
Using Nature Based Interventions to Re-Create Neuro Feedback Processes: How?
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Mindful Mountain Wellness 8 Week Online Course Yoga & Mindfulness for Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
followed by an Outdoor Health and Wellness Retreat
Captiol Reef National Park
February 15, 2021
Have you ever felt so tired, that you couldn’t even get yourself out of bed in the morning? Have you experienced the kind of exhaustion and fatigue that just doesn’t seem to go away? It is important to understand that normal fatigue can be experienced by anyone. Normal fatigue is temporary and the body can bounce back once adaquate sleep and nutrition has been balanced, and the (common cause) underlying bacterial or viral illnesses have subsided. On the other hand, Chronic Fatigue Syndome is more than normal fatigue, it is a constant feeling of exhaustion to the point of fatigue persisting for longer than 6 months. It is often accompanied by insomnia, muscle and joint pain, brain fog or difficulty concentrating and can be misdiagnosed as chronic depression or come with a co-occurring diagnosis of depression. Most people understand how serious a diagnosis of depression is, especially when thoughts of suicide or not wanting to live is present. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is just as serious. It can be a painful existence for those that experience living with this condition. It’s time to bring awareness to this common and serious debilitating condition!
In the scientific community there are no exact causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; However, the way CFS shows up in the body is now characterized as a neurological condition that effects the Central Nervous System. Simplified, It can be understood as an imbalance in the Nervous System, with overproduction of stress hormones and over burdened immune functioning. The symptoms are not linear in cause and effect, such as the chicken or the egg phenomena; but rather systemic in the idea that thoughts, feelings, emotions, and body sensations are all connected to produce symptoms of illness as well as progress of health!
So then, How can Yoga and Mindfulness be a tool to help assist in the recovery or healing of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? MindfulMountainWellness
We are offering an 8 week online course that introduces Yoga and Mindfulness Practices for overcoming symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Sign up on our website @mindfulmountainwellness.com
The 8 Limbs of Yoga. What are they? Why are they so important?
The Eight Limbs of Yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
February 22, 2021
The Eight Limbs of Yoga are Eight interrelated parts that connect all parts of an individual’s life! These teachings are taught from ancient Indian principles of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Patanjali is an ancient Indian Sage. A great mystic and seer of wisdom.
We will go into more detail each month on the ancient wisdom of the 8 limbs of disciple. Here is a brief introduction:
Yamas - Ethical Rules of Life
Niyamas - Ethical Rules for Living
Asanas - Postures of Yoga
Pranaya - Breathing Techniques
Pratyahara - Understanding of the Senses
Dharana - Focus and Attention
Dhyana - Meditation
Samadhi - Settled Mind
February is American Heart Month: Take Care of your Heart!
Remember that Health & Wellness is not a substitute for regular physicals especially as we age! Make sure to check in with your physician regularly!
A Reminder from Center for Disease Control
Heart Disease: It Can Happen at Any Age
“Heart disease doesn’t happen just to older adults. It is happening to younger adults more and more often. This is partly because the conditions that lead to heart disease are happening at younger ages.
February is American Heart Month, the perfect time to learn about your risk for heart disease and the steps you need to take now to help your heart.
Heart disease—and the conditions that lead to it—can happen at any age.
High rates of obesity and high blood pressure among younger people (ages 35–64) are putting them at risk for heart disease earlier in life.
Nearly half of all Americans have at least one of the top three risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking.” -CDC (Center for Disease Control)
Benefits of The Great Outdoors &Mindfulness Meditation
When people hear Mindfulness Meditation they may think of the distant, out of reach experiences of Buddhist monks and monasteries in a mysterious land far away. Individuals may never give meditation a chance because it doesn’t fit into their belief system of normative experience. This reality is not their reality, so they pass on the experience.
There are however, many people who are giving this new approach to life a try as the health, wellness, and medical industries are popularizing the practice. Organizations such as UCSD Center for Mindfulness are combining research, medicine, and mindfulness to further findings of the multiple health benefits of Mindfulness Meditation. Some of these benefits include; improved stress management, improved focus, improved emotion regulation, reduced impulsiveness, improved conflict resolution, increased empathy, increased resilience, improved physical well-being, improved creativity and collaboration, and improved expression of self.
For those individuals who find Mindful Meditation too foreign or extreme in belief, there is nature as an alternative. Mindfulness happens naturally when surrounded by beauty in nature. Engaging the body in awareness activities such as hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, skiing, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, bird watching, or simply picnicking in nature brings many of the same benefits as Mindfulness Meditation. In fact, many physicians and therapists are prescribing nature as medicine. See what Nature Connected Research Group says about Nature as medicine.
What are the benefits of combining Nature Based Interventions with Traditional Treatment? How will that increase population health?
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Book Club
Book of the Month
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
-Michael A. Singer
“What would it be like to be free from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to find this kind of inner peace and freedom? This book will help you discover what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts and emotions that limit your consiousness by opening a door of self-realization and happiness.”
Book Review
Mindful Mountain Wellness offers health and wellness classes, workshops, and retreats that focus on mindfulness meditation, yoga, and nature. We are located near Weber State University and welcome everyone. Our vision is to combine mindfulness meditation, yoga & nature to cultivate a culture of health at every eco-systemic level.
Symptom Development and Environmental Impact: how biological, psychological and social processes interact over a lifetime to influence health and vulnerability to disease.
With Daniel V Papero, PhD, LCSW of the Bowen Center in Washington, DC
And Darlene Francis, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
See conference session here
Daniel V Papero, PhD, LCSW of the Bowen Center in Washington, DC
Darlene Francis, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
When considering the field of neuroscience and an optimistic outlook towards health, this article provides hope in the possibilities of the brain’s capability of changing. Darlene Francis, PhD and Daniel V. Papero, Phd, LCSW specialize in subjects around molecular epigenetics or the way the environment influences how genes are phenotypically expressed and social epidemiology, how the structure of society influences factors of health. The idea that experience and social factors can effect biology is a beginning to understanding the possibility that the expression of genes can change. The example of addiction comes to light. For many years the belief was that addiction is a genetic disorder and if addiction or alcoholism runs in your family you are at risk. Once you are an addict or alcoholic you will always be an addict or alcoholic. While there may be some truth to this, a person’s environment can also change the course of an individual’s struggle with or triumph over addiction. The idea that information from the genes is one directional is not completely accurate, environmental factors are also important indicators of how the gene is expressed. This thought paradigm gives hope to the idea that environmental factors may also be capable of undoing the development of symptoms into more functional behavior.
Future considerations
How can therapeutic modalities such as; adventure therapy, Wilderness Therapy, mindfulness meditation/yoga & nutrition help turn around a devastating diagnosis?
What kind of an Impact will this have on our health systems and economic systems?
Favorite Recipe of the Month
Pear and Spinach Salad
From Healthy Family Meals: American Heart Association
Dark-green spinach, rich in vitamins A and K, provides a pretty backdrop for juicy pears slices rich in vitamins C.
Orange Vinaigrette
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon basil (minced)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Salad
1 large pear, halved lengthwise, cored, and cut crosswise into thin slices
4 ounces baby spinach
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
In medium bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.
Add the pear and spinach tossing gently to combine. Sprinkle with the walnuts and orange zest. Serve immediately for the best texture.