Have you ever gone camping for the weekend, and didn’t really start to slow down until the weekend was over? For the average adult– that is one who has a job, bills, family, stress, or simply life wearing them down—it can take up to 2 days of being in the woods before you really begin to enjoy it.

You can throw out as many excuses as you want. Unpacking and setting up a tent can be stressful? You forgot something important at home? You have a deadline or due date looming over your head? Maybe you feel guilty about taking a break from life to go into nature and relax.

Unfortunately, that transition period can interfere with your whole purpose of going camping. You need to get away from it all and unwind because that’s how you reconnect. That’s how you return as the best you that you can be. If it takes you two days to get there on a weekend camping trip… what about a hike that only last a couple hours?!

Physical and mental relaxation goes hand in hand with nature observation. When you bring your troubles into the woods with you, you will not be able to get the intended results out of your nature observation experience. In the worst possible scenario, you may leave feeling even more stressed than before you began.

To Achieve Full Relaxation, You Must Let Those Thoughts Go!

Before entering a natural environment, you must free your mind and body of all tension. Study common meditation practices, because that is the most effective way to reach the right state of mind so you can concentrate on seeing more, feeling more, and experiencing more of your surroundings.

A natural environment is no place for the worries of civilization, and people go into nature observation to get away from it all… so it is counter-productive to bring all that garbage with you!

Simple Meditation Exercise – Do Try This At Home!

Lay down on your back, or sit in a very comfortable position, and relax your body starting with your feet then working up to your head. Massage if necessary. Once your body is relaxed, close your eyes and quietly count backwards from 100 down to one.

This simple meditation exercise works because it concentrates your mental efforts only on the numbers you’re counting and does not allow any other thoughts into your mind. Whatever meditation exercise you use, the concentrated state of mind should be brought into the woods so you can continue to focus completely on nature observation… to see, feel, and experience as much as possible in a natural environment.