Nature’s Multiplier Effect?

Is there a multiplier effect in Nature? Follow my logic about earthing / grounding and negative ions that I formed walking through the woods today at Spirit Tree Farms.

Consider the following:

• Science is proving that earthing (aka grounding, or connecting with the Earth) is beneficial to our emotional AND physical well-being
• More and more scientific studies are showing that increased exposure to negative ions in Nature increases our overall mental and physical health.
• Negative ion exposure also decreases harmful chemicals and other polluters of the human body

Where Earthing And Negative Ions Occur

Studies into earthing show that physical contact with the Earth (soil, as well as sand, mud, rocks and water) somehow connects our physical bodies with harmonic waves that increase our health. Obviously, this occurs out in Nature much more than it does on cement sidewalks or the inside of shopping malls. (It’s also why grounding or earthing practitioners encourage skin-to-earth contact as much as possible, such as going barefoot).

At the same time, negative ions (which are, despite their name, good for you!) occur most abundantly in Nature. Sources include moving water (especially waterfalls, rapids, and rain), and wind through the trees or grasses (any air movement that rustles the leaves).

Can Exposure to Multiple Nature Influences Have A Multiplier Effect?

This question came up today as I walked through the woods toward the West Chickamauga Creek at Spirit Tree Farms. As the sunlight filtered through the trees and hit my upturned face, I took off my shoes to feel the dirt’s coolness against my feet. Simultaneously, I felt and heard the wind rustle through the oak, hickory, and cedar trees surrounding me.

Off in the distance, I could hear the gentle noise of the creek as it thrashed its way over and around the rocks in the prehistoric Native American fishing weir just upstream from our “beach” of dirt, sand, mud, and water on the creekbank.

Then it hit me: If I take each of these Nature forces and simultaneously experience them, is there a multiplier impact where the total of these components is greater than the sum of their individual parts?

In other words:

• If I sit with my bare feet, legs, and hands in the sand, mud, and water, I’m grounding. That gives my body and soul a health factor of G [1].
• If I am near swirling water cascading against, around, and over rocks and logs (rapids or waterfalls), that creates negative ions, that gives my body and soul a health factor of (Negative Ion H2O [1]).
• If the wind rustles through trees’ leaves in the woods, that create negative ions as well. If I’m in the woods, that gives my body and soul an additional health factor of (Negative Ion Air [1]).

If I do each of these simultaneously, does that exposure to Nature increase its impact exponentially?  Does G[1] + (Negative Ion H2O)[1] + (Negative Ion Air)[1] equal more than their Total [3]?

Does Nature Have A Beauty Factor Multiplier Effect?

In addition, is there a “beauty factor” multiplier effect involved? Does the amount of blue and green, or the amount of Nature’s light, that a person is exposed to, and the amount of Nature’s sounds and scents and feelings, add to that equation?

For example, if I’m barefoot in New York City’s Central Park, next to a hot dog stand, and all I hear are sirens and taxis honking in the distance, and all I smell is an onion-slathered hot dog, is my experience less healthy than if I were in a creek in the woods in the middle of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where I could hear and see nothing from the outside world?

Taking that one step farther, and spinning off of Dr. Doug Tallamy’s work with HomeGrownNationalPark.org, if the plants I’m surrounded with are native to my area, is their impact on my body, soul, and senses more beneficial than if I’m in a yard full of non-native and invasive plants? How, why, and to what degree or magnitude?

How Nature Helps Our Minds: Ask Questions!

I honestly don’t know the answers to any of these postulates. In fact, I’m reaching out to my scientific son for help in even forming the hypothesis. Things I do know:

1. Being in Nature seems to have a multiplier effect and impact on me, and
2. I enjoy Nature much more where I can focus on its beauty, and hear God’s messages to me, and,
3. Because being in Nature helps me relax, it also gives my mind the creative AND analytical abilities to think, postulate, contemplate, and ask more questions!
4. The result? I’m opened up to more of what God and Jesus want to share with me and give me

Spirit Tree Farms is our creative and Nature observation retreat space. If you’d like to learn more about how God speaks to us all through Nature, as well as develop your creative and Nature observation skills, while connecting to the Earth and enjoying our over-abundance of negative ions, please check out our classes and retreats. Or contact us directly.