When everything shut down in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taft Gardens was a space where people could come to reflect, heal, feel, and be centered amid all the uncertainty. One of the programs that held and fostered a sense of connection through social distancing was the Nature Immersion Walks guided by Elena Rios.

So, what is a Nature Immersion Walk, exactly? The Nature Immersion Walk is an extra-sensory experience that helps to open you to the healing powers of Nature. During these walks, you are encouraged and supported in slowing down and intentionally taking in your surroundings, remembering and cultivating an inherent connection between you and Nature. 

“In a forest or any other natural environment, I take groups of roughly 15 people out and I give directions in the form of an invitation to assist people in slowing down and observing with all their senses,” Elena Rios said. “It isn’t so much about knowing all the names of the plants as it is about noticing which plants your body feels pulled to. It’s about being here in the present moment. It is a really good integrative practice that helps all the miscellaneous fall away from us.”

This falling away process that takes place during the walks creates an opening for participants to deepen their awareness of self, their connection to all of life, and to trust their inner guidance and intuition. 

“Each of us have a certain knowing and wisdom,” Elena said. “When we allow ourselves to be quiet enough and slow down enough it can help us connect with that inner medicine.”

There are several benefits that Nature Immersion Walks provide. They have been scientifically proven to decrease stress, increase mood, help lower blood pressure, facilitate better sleep and rest, lower anxiety, and help participants engage their parasympathetic system, which fuels and supports the body’s ability to restore.

As Elena emphasized, these walks are a one-on-one experience with the ultimate therapist – Nature itself.

“I am not a therapist I am a guide. As a guide, I open the doors … the forest is the therapist. Nature is the therapist,” she said. “I call it a Guided Nature Immersion because we are dropping into a deeper state of connection together and when we do that, it can help us connect with our inner medicine that we have inside of us.”

In addition to being an Association of Nature and Forest Therapy certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide, Elena works as a fire fighter with the Chumash Fire Department. She shared that her connection to nature is a thread that is seen and felt throughout her entire life and it’s this relationship to Nature and ancestral teachings, wisdom, and practices that informs how she guides the walk. 

“I hold the space in such a way as to honor all languages and all ways of connecting with Nature,” Elena said. “I believe that all of us, no matter where we are from, have an ancestral or traditional way, or an understanding, that building relationship with Nature is essential to our health and wellbeing no matter where we’re from. When we slow down, relax, and drop into deeper connection, it has an ability to remind us of the deeper relationship to all things and our relationship to Earth.”