The Pursuit of Wellness: Nature as Therapy
During COVID, we rediscovered the link between green space and good health
Pandemic lockdown gave us two options: stay in our homes all the dang time or get the heck outside. Nearly four years later, COVID is no longer an emergency. But it altered our habits and strengthened the connection between nature and wellness.
Last year, University City Partners launched In the Gardens, a series of arts and wellness classes in the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens. Local artists guide participants through 90-minute art classes, and wellness classes include instructor-led yoga and journaling exercises.
Fitness centers like Khali Yoga Center, the YMCA, ACTIVEkids, and SweatNET have added outdoor classes for activities like yoga, barre, HIIT, Pilates, and rowing. Charlotte’s first open-air cycling studio, SkyCycle, opened in 2021. Even mental health practices, like Collaborative InSights, Harmony Health, and Sarah Burns Counseling and Wellness, offer nature-based mental health counseling outside, on the greenways and at urban farms and parks.
Ribbonwalk Nature Preserve. Photo by Herman Nicholson
Thankfully, the Carolinas’ biggest city has pockets of green space that make you feel light-years away from urban bustle. You can walk, run, or bike the greenways, of course, and visit more than 200 parks in Mecklenburg County. You can explore more than 7,600 acres of quiet nature preserves—like Evergreen, Ribbonwalk, Reedy Creek, and Sherman Branch—where, often, the only sounds you hear come from birds and squirrels. You can find peaceful spots on private property, too: Rosie’s Coffee & Wine Garden, where you can spread out and pretend to be Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden. There are The Duke Mansion gardens; Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden; and Wing Haven Gardens & Bird Sanctuary, which hosts outdoor events that include tours, birdwatching, yoga, concerts, afternoon tea, and art exhibits.
The urge to get out into the fresh air is one of the few lingering benefits from the pandemic.
