Clemens G. Arvay - The Biophilia Effect: A Scientific and Spiritual Exploration of the Healing Bond Between Humans and Nature

CONTENTS

FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH EDITION BY MARC BEKOFF, PHD

Born Biophiliacs: Minding Nature Means Minding Ourselves

Most people dont need convincing to go out and enjoy nature. We are inherently drawn to the natural world, or born biophiliacs. The attraction to the natural world is in our genes. When we take a walk outside, we immediately notice how much better we feel.

But connecting to nature or rewilding, as I call it goes far beyond improving our psyches and well-being. Getting in contact with flora and fauna, forests and green spaces, rivers and lakes, mountains and rocks, and deserts and savannahs, influences our organs and cells in a signifcantly positive way what Clemens Arvay calls the biophilia effect.

According to research that Clemens Arvay skillfully lays out in this book, forest air is a rich biomedical mixture of substances that we can inhale or absorb through our skin, and plants release volatile compounds called terpenes, which significantly increase our immune functioning. Terpenes can even activate the natural anti-cancer-mechanisms of our bodies that eliminate dangerous cells as well as those that have already become tumors. Further, being in the forest or walking across meadows with trees and shrubs stimulates our adrenal glands to release more of a biomolecule called DHEA into our blood, which protects us from heart disease and supports its cure.

Wide, green landscapes with solitary trees help against chronic stress, depression, and burnout, and lower the blood pressure of patients with cardiovascular diseases. Our preferences for certain landscape elements and tree shapes can be explained by the fascinating history of human evolution. The memory of this type of landscape was written into our unconscious in ancient days, and these memories are carried forward with each and every generation. As Clemens Arvay reports, people can heal from chronic psychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorder, panic attacks, and derealisation (the feeling of being unreal or living in an unreal world) thanks to their personal rewilding in the presence of rivers, lakes, trees, or even the desert.

Individual rewilding means appreciating, respecting, and accepting other beings for who and what they are, no matter if they are humans or not. It means rejoicing in the personal connections we need so badly. Nature offers us the space for being away from the influences of our commercialized society, in which everyone and everything must have economic value. In contrast to our society, which is full of stereotypes and commercial beauty treatments, nonhuman animals and plants dont judge us for how we look or who we are. Going on a personal journey and transformative exploration that centers on bringing other animals and all ecosystems back into our hearts is a win-win for all.

I lived in the mountains outside of Boulder, Colorado, for 35 years. I always felt blessed to co-exist with many magnificent and inquisitive nonhuman animals, some dangerous and some not. Cougars and black bears were among my visitors. On a number of occasions I accidentally wound up within a few feet of wild cougars and black bears, yet nothing happened to me. And, while I dont want these sorts of meetings to happen again and I know I was lucky to escape unharmed, I learned a lot about these magnificent beings and was thrilled that they allowed me to live near their homes. Just knowing they were there made me feel close to them and to other nature, and I know that these experiences, combined with living away from crowds, were an essential part of my own personal rewilding. Lucky me, as I know Im a biophiliac at heart.

Clemens Arvay is a biologist who grew up at the edge of a forest in Austria as the grandson of a forester. He explains how we can bathe our cells, organs, and souls in natural health-supporting environments, and offers many suggestions for relaxation and breathing techniques that intensify the biophilia effect that nature provides. You will learn which trees are especially productive regarding the release of healthy plant compounds into the air you breathe, and how simple access to a garden can invite the healing forces of nature into your home.

In this rich and soulful book, you will be invited to rewild yourself. You will be given exercises and visualizations for making the most of your time in nature including meditations to boost attention and concentration, detailed plans for how to grow an anti-cancer garden, instructions for how to build a nature hut in your backyard, and ideas for planning a wilderness retreat.

But The Biophilia Effect isnt important only because of the enormous effect nature has on our psyches and bodies. It also calls us to something important in terms the future of our planet: our very existence depends on our paying close attention to all of nature and her intricate tapestry of diverse and magnificent landscapes. We are members of a vast and interconnected community in the web of life. Clemens Arvay calls this interconnectedness between humans and nature a healing bond. Our psyches, souls, and bodies cannot heal without also healing our ecosystems and our relationship to other species. Similarly, planetary healing cannot be achieved without healing ourselves. In nature, everything is intertwined with everything else. Each of the parts depends on all other parts.

By showing how deeply our own health is connected to the health of the planet and to all of its beings, animate and inanimate, this book will surely contribute to your rewilding, and to the rewilding of society.

As you read this engaging and wholehearted book, allow the deep richness and diversity of nature to affect you in an intimate and personal way. Allow the natural world to fill you with hope and inspiration. And pay close attention to the words in this important book. Minding nature, as I wrote in my book Rewilding our Hearts, goes hand in hand with minding ourselves. Albert Einstein once said, a human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest. Einstein went on to say: This delusion is a kind of prison for us... our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion and embracing all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Marc Bekoff, PhD, is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

FOREWORD BY RUEDIGER DAHLKE

Biophilia!

I have seldom been so amazed, learned so much, and felt so delighted as I did while reading this wonderful book. I was very surprised that Clemens Arvay could scientifically verify so much in my life. I used to sleep outside frequently, in the woods or on my patio. I wrote most of my books in the great outdoors, right in the middle of green plants, where I would gaze while my thoughts wandered. I love my living room in Bali, which is a garden cozily decorated with heavenly tropical plants and entirely green. TamanGa, our health center in southern Styria, Austria, means Garden Ga(mlitz). (Gamlitz is a municipality in Austria.) When I was a child, I wanted to be a gardener and always had the feeling that plant life could be healing. I felt it and tasted it in green smoothies, and now it has even been scientifically proven. This makes me incredibly happy, and Id like to thank Clemens Arvay. As a biologist, he competently, with scientific mindfulness, gathered these numerous and wonderful benefits of greenery and then passionately shares them with readers.

In 1984, when a study from Professor Roger Ulrich was published in Science