The Calming Ground

In this episode of Wildly Unplugged, I sit down with Elizabeth Minton, a psychotherapist, Qigong instructor, and founder of The Calming Ground, a space dedicated to helping people slow down, reconnect with nature, and cultivate mindfulness.

Practical Tips to Unplug & Connect with the Wild:

If you can’t escape to the forest, Elizabeth suggests simple ways to incorporate nature into your day:
🔌 Breathe with awareness – Visualize each inhale as a gift from the trees and each exhale as your gift back.
🔌 Keep a small nature object nearby – Holding a stone, pinecone, or plant can help you feel grounded.
🔌 Take a sit spot break – Find a quiet place outside, even if it’s just for a few minutes, and observe what’s around you.

Connect with Elizabeth

🌎 Website: TheCalmingGround.com
🎙️ Podcast: The Calming Ground Podcast
📱 Social Media: @TheCalmingGround on Facebook

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Transcript

Welcome to Wildly Unplugged, sharing stories of nature, conservation, and creativity. Discover what develops when you unplug and step outdoors.

elizabeth, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for having me. It's a privilege. So tell us about your journey before you started The Calming Ground. Yeah. So I, my original journey, sort of in terms of nature is that I've always been an outdoorsy kind of person as a kid.

I love the outdoors and and I loved the way that the outdoors for me can kind of spark imagination and presence in a different kind of way. As an adult, I went into psychotherapy. So I'm actually, I still am a practicing psychotherapist in private practice in Ohio. And what I noticed in my own journey of taking care of myself and, and kind of learning more about me is that it was really [00:01:00] important in between my own sessions, I believe all therapists should be in therapy, so I'm in therapy too.

And That I noticed that in between sessions, it was really important for me to develop a self care routine, some kind of routine that I could do a practice that I could go to. And for me, one of those practices was forest bathing. I also got certified as a Qigong teacher and those two can go together anyway, pretty beautifully.

But I I started incorporating more practices out in between sessions. And then I realized how, how impactful that was for me and how much I wanted to offer that. To others. And so I created the calming ground, which is in it's not, it's plenty of people are, are participating in the membership and it's a coaching.

I have a coaching packages as well in Ohio, but it doesn't, it's not just for people here locally. It's, it's a online business. And so, my reach is far greater and we all come together once a month for different live experiences, but also. Each week, there's [00:02:00] little nuggets that offer people that same practice of self care in their lives.

So it was through my journey of kind of finding ways to reconnect with myself, reconnect with the moment and life itself that brought me into this work that I do now. Why is it important for us to have a space to kind of center ourselves and to kind of check in and get calm? I feel like we've, we've more and more become an indoor culture.

You know, we, we live indoors, I think as children, even from my own experience, we're kind of, I was a, I love to be outside and I felt so I learned so much about. Life by being outdoors and then I was, you know, we were pulled indoors and there's, it's not that indoors is wrong. It's just that I think there becomes a disconnect.

And I noticed that in, especially with screens these days, it's harder and harder for people to move out [00:03:00] and really just to get back into that noticing present living place. We're very stimulated on a, on a regular basis. And so our nervous systems are constantly getting activated. And I think to the point that we don't even realize how stimulated and overstimulated we are.

I'll go on backpacking trips and it takes me, I would say about three days, out there, totally unplugged, before I notice, like, a coming, like I'm fully coming down. And then when I re enter into, like, the front country, the, the world, the indoor world, I am amazed at how overstimulated I am by all of the constant Lights and dings and noise that's everywhere.

And until I become kind of like numb to it again. So I think a lot of times we don't realize how overstimulated we are. And by slowing down and getting present, even, you know, you don't have to go backpacking for that, but like slowing [00:04:00] down and getting present, you can just bring yourself back into some, into some centeredness to, to have a fuller life.

I've heard some people compare it to like plugging back into the matrix when they're getting back onto their phones. And I saw a TikTok the other day. It was like the nostalgia TikTok. And it was just, it was of a mall from the 90s. And it was just, you know, a little handheld camera panning around the mall and all these people were shopping for Christmas, you know, that's a busy time, but there were kids just kind of sitting on the side talking and it just seems so peaceful and so calm.

I'm like, what is so different about the scene then from today? You don't have everybody looking down at their phones. And I feel like, and maybe correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like. My whole sense of time gets thrown off when I am plugged into my phone. Do you feel that way too? Absolutely. Yes. Yes. And, and time is something that I hear from a lot of people that I work with that they [00:05:00] don't feel like they have, you know, there's less and less time.

And, and and I think it's because And I don't say this in a judgmental critical way. I say it with a lot of compassion. I think that we are, we are doing lots of mindless scrolling, right? Unintentional kinds of living. And so that impacts our experience of the abundance of time.

What is healing? Chai Gong? Chai Gong? Yeah. What is that? So there's lots of different forms. It's, it's kind of like the grandfather, grandmother of Tai Chi. But it's very old practice. It's essentially the way that, the way that I practice is a moving meditation.

There are forms of Qigong that are more like a martial art and it is it's part of Chinese, traditional Chinese medicine. It's right. So it is a slowing down kind of moving meditation. And a lot of times it's practiced outdoors. There's this whole element that has to do with the seasons [00:06:00] and elements of earth.

And so, okay. So I've seen like a group of people walking and doing movements. And they were all very quiet. Is that what I was witnessing or you could have been witnessing that you could have been witnessing tai chi. So tai chi, oftentimes has a different kind of flow to it. So it could have been, it could have been qigong could have been tai chi, but it's a beautiful way to slow down and end with forest bathing.

There is a A lot of grounding centering components to the sequence of it, and so it's easy to incorporate some qigong like a moving kind of like slowing grounding kind of with the breath movements that can help us slow down. It's really hard for people to slow down because our nervous systems are so stimulated.

It's we resist a lot, a lot of times, the slowing. You're a, a forest therapy, \ guide, right? , even just listening to you, saying [00:07:00] slow down. I was finding myself already calming down. So what are some things that you do as a forest therapy guide? Yeah, so I offer all different kinds of I guess ways to do forest bathing.

So some examples, I do one on one. So if somebody just wants their own experience, we'll meet in a park and I'll guide them through their own, their own experience. Very tailored to Then their process. I've done groups with people who don't know each other. And that is a, you know, and I've done that in arboretums and different places.

And that's more of a, it's, it's, it's interesting. Everybody has, when forest bathing, you have your own journey. So there's an individual component to it, but there's also a community. And by the end of it, you really experience that community, even with people who don't Have completely different backgrounds and didn't know each other.

There's still that sense of we're in this together and and then I do I'm actually I'm just talking to somebody now where I'm doing it for like more of an art collective where we're [00:08:00] So I do it in different kinds of, I've worked with groups of naturalists like doing different kinds of forest bathing with different groups.

You can do it with kids or individuals to help them connect with themselves, connect with the land. There's somebody's interested in forest bathing. I've heard somebody say like, Oh, you don't go outside and you can get naked. You're not like bathing, bathing. The same way. What exactly is that for someone that might not be familiar with it?

Sure. So it started in, I believe it was Japan. And actually My understanding is still in Korea, in Korea and Japan, there is a practice of forest bathing that's prescribed by doctors and can only be guided by medical professionals. So they have a lot of research coming out of their work because they do blood pressure and different kind of tests before and after.

So they, they have a lot of data on what happens for people when they, when they do this. So. It began as a way to [00:09:00] kind of a different form of alternative medicine to help people essentially improve their health. So, you know, they're slow. Their heart rate that we're noticing is impact in blood pressure, better improved blood pressure, cholesterol.

They notice changes in immune function and all kinds of things from forest bathing. And that's where it originated. Here in the West, in the United States, for example, it is a, it is used more as a practice of slowing down. It's, there's a sequence. It's really a mindfulness practice where there's a sequence of grounding.

There's a moving kind of, kind of meditative moving type of thing. And then there are different invitations and the invitations vary. That's what, every time you go, it's a different experience because there's different invitations. And the, an invitation could be anything from you get a little scroll and you just pick randomly.

And then that tells, that gives you kind of a prompt. So maybe you would really notice for the next. However long they would let you know because you're not supposed to pay attention, but the guide holds the time the [00:10:00] people are invited not to even bring watches or phones but it is a, like, maybe it's notice everything that you can smell, and you're just connecting with yourself in the land through your sense of smell, or maybe it is, see if there's a tree that's particularly, you're particularly drawn to, and in the, and in the paradigm of forest gardening, And so it's not just bathing or force therapy.

The idea is that whatever you're drawn to is, it's a reciprocal relationship. So it is also drawn to you. That's the concept. So if I'm drawn to this tree, this tree is drawn to me. And what happens if I sit next to the tree or like just forming that relationship to deepening that relationship. And so the invitations can vary.

And then at the end, there's a tea ceremony. First cup of tea is offered back to the earth. And then the, and then, then the other tea is shared. As a, as a way of kind of culminating the experience, that's sort of it in a nutshell. That is beautiful. And I think for a lot of people hearing the, oh, I [00:11:00] get a scroll and it says, like, just, you know, observe what smells you're smelling in the forest.

Is that all I'm doing? I don't have to do anything else. I don't even have a phone. Like some people might get panicky at that. Do you ever experience people like freaking out at the lack of things that they're doing? Yes. And that's why I, I, I don't, I think that, well, let me back up. A lot of times what'll happen is that there's people when they're first coming in, they have a really hard time with the slowdown.

And so there's a, there's two things. Parts to the sequence prior to that invitation that could be it could be something else, you know I'm just kind of throwing one out there there it really depends on the moment in the guide but I think the guide if they notice that someone was really struggling might see if they could offer Something to that person that might be a little bit more supportive to where they are I will say though, the way, in my experience, that more of the jitters, there's more jitters at the beginning.

And forest bathing, there's a crossing of the threshold. [00:12:00] So let's say, and you can do, you can do forest bathing or forest therapy anywhere. But there, but one of the parks that I go to, for example, one of the thresholds I see is like there's the parking lot, and then there's a bridge that you go over a stream, and then there's the forest.

That threshold is really important. So we'll meet in the parking lot and we'll kind of go over what's this like, any questions, kind of some things to consider. I'll start offering them the paradigm shift because there is a bit of a stretch there. I think a growing edge for people to think of things in a little bit different way.

And then we slowly cross, each person slowly crosses the threshold. And then there's a series of activities that help people, help support people in the slowing down. So usually by the time they get to those invitations, they're okay. But a lot of times it does take like the guided grounding, the, you know, kind of moving meditation, where we're all walking together and like in a slow way and just getting used to that [00:13:00] before people go into what they call in forest bathing, liminal space.

Which is like this sort of like timelessness where you don't know. Is it five minutes? Is it five hours? I don't know. It feels like both at the same time it's a lot of times people will talk about how it feels like Like it goes by so quick and it also feels like they've been there like for so long But in a way that is more like childhood, you know Do people come out of that experience like super refreshed and recharged?

Yes, usually people come out feeling a different pace and rhythm in their body, right? And and we really invite them as they recross the threshold back, because they're going to go back into their, probably their vehicles, you know, probably the traffic, and just kind of, just let themselves take the time that they need to do that shifting.

Because yeah, they are refreshed and they're also kind of a lot of times really in a different rhythm in themselves by the end of that. But what [00:14:00] else is happening is that, you know, there's all kinds of research. Their body is replenishing, you know, and their health is stabilizing in some way. I mean, it's not that we're, it's not miracle and, you know, we can't like heal people in these ways, but I think it does offer some reset to the body, the body systems.

That's really powerful. I think that's so important. To for someone that's new to this, to have a guide, because I feel a lot, a lot of times we need permission to put our phones down. I find like, I love scuba diving. And part of the reason for that is I don't have to be on a phone. There's no cell service down there.

And then just listening to the breathing and just observing what's around me is. Yeah. It's probably very similar to going out and forest bathing, but you're not getting all the, you know, the chemicals in the air from the trees and everything like that. All that. Yes. Right. And I do think there's also something really helpful about having a guide structure the time [00:15:00] and also hold the time.

Like so there's a beginning and there's an end. And I know that I don't have to worry about that because I've already carved it out on my schedule and they're taking care of that for me. So I can just be, you know, yeah. And you do retreats too. What are some of the activities and things you do there?

Yeah, so I, it's been actually I'm, I'm planned, I'm in the planning stages For one coming next year, but I think for me, the retreats are a way a lot of times I will do. I've done day long intensive retreats that are more creative focused and kind of, tapping into self discovery through that creative creativity.

I've done forest bathing where we go, you know, out and there might be different experiences of being, maybe not the whole day forest bathing, although when I was in training, that's definitely what we did, but but it would be maybe different brackets of time, and then coming back together for a meal, and then going back out.

So things [00:16:00] like this I have also done workshops where we, One of the invitations is that can be to like do earth, like earth art, earth altars, kind of like where you gather whatever's around and you create a gift art that you just leave for the earth and you might leave them like a message in yourself, you know, in yourself to like thank the earth or no, or whatever, or even notice if something's coming up for you maybe, you know, a message for you.

And so. I'll bring, I'll bring artists out to kind of do this sort of connecting, offering, slowing down, which can really enhance the creative process for creatives. Those are some examples. I don't know if that answers your question. Yeah, do you have Any, oh gosh, like any tools or tips that we can, if we're sitting in our office and we want to have like something in our back pocket to pull out and use it as a tool to calm us down.

Do you have any tips or tricks for that? Yes. [00:17:00] So if we're focusing on like nature. You can do when they said to us, it's like, you know, there's, there's limited, people have different levels of access. Right. And so if you have. Just I'm using nature first. Like if you have a plant and like we're all we're in relationship, right?

And so if you wanted to just take a few moments and just notice in a breathing Exercise and you could do this actually even if you have no house plants in your house, you could just do this anywhere no notice the inhale as the gift of the trees the gift of that plant Maybe because that is your oxygen, right?

And then as you exhale If you pause at the top of the inhale, so breathing in, pausing for as long as feels right to you, and then just noticing when your natural exhale comes, and that is your gift back, because that carbon dioxide is the gift back to the plant, to the trees outside, and that in this way, you are part of this bigger thing.

connection and [00:18:00] belonging and you are receiving and giving with every single breath you take. And so sometimes that's a nice way to both slow down and notice your breath, which immediately, if you're noticing your breath, you're present and which then sends all kinds of signals to your body and your nervous system to calm down.

But then also it offers you that sense of the greater world that you're part of, which sometimes can really help with Either isolation, stress, perspective, like, oh, yeah, I'm on a, I'm on earth, you know, like, it's not just whatever's tiny and stressful in this moment. I'm part of something so much bigger.

So sometimes that kind of thing can help. Yeah. Do you have a personal favorite moment outdoors? I have so many I can tell a story. This is actually in my training that I did. For to become a guide and the training that I did was through an United American company [00:19:00] and here in the United States I think they're based out of California, but the training itself was actually in Costa Rica And so we were in Costa Rica and we did these long Stints to learn to really learn the process and to really experience the different elements of the sequences and there was this one day it was very windy and And I was going along this path very slowly and there was this tree and it wasn't that big of a tree.

It was really gnarly. But I, I just felt drawn to this tree. So I went over and I, and I just touched it. And as I touched the tree the tree's moving cause it is, it's not a big tree and it is really windy. So the whole tree is moving. And then I started, I decided, well, let me just move with this tree and see what it's like to move with it.

So I'm, the tree and I are essentially. At this point together and we are and I'm as it is it's moving. I'm holding on to it. So we are both [00:20:00] moving and with this wind and it was so powerful for me because I actually was brought to tears in that moment because I don't think I realized how much at that time in my life.

I felt like I was weathering. I was really having to navigate a lot, a lot out of my control and to feel the presence of the tree and the rootedness of the tree and to be together with it as the wind is like tearing through was so powerful. It was a sense of belonging. Like I'm not alone. And relationship like A really deep appreciation for both the tree and its roots and also me being able to like allow myself to stand there with it.

That we could both be there together. That was, I've never forgotten. It was really powerful. Really? That sounds, I want to go hug a tree now in the wind. I know, beautiful. That sounds like a cool experience. Yeah. Yeah. Like I've hugged trees [00:21:00] before, but never like, and felt the wind sway too. That's so cool.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a favorite place in nature to go? So I have, from my childhood, what immediately comes up actually is a place from my childhood. My grandparents lived in the mountains in North Carolina and they're on a house kind of on stilts and down below was the lake. And I used to go to the lake.

And the bullfrogs. I remember just the bullfrogs and sitting at that lake and just watching. It was pretty still water. Every once in a while, a boat would go by and the water would, you know, have little waves, but for the most part, it was just still water and the bullfrogs and the mountains. And that has been really a special place that I go back to and back to and back to in my.

Mind's eye and in my heart. And then as an adult during the pandemic, my husband and I purchased some property. Kind of, it was like a big, we're going to [00:22:00] do it. Oh gosh. You know, like a big step. And about 45 minutes away and I am so thankful because that land has a spirit and I, it just like, I, like I calm, it's so calming and I love going there because I just feel my body.

Decompress. So, in my adult life, that is my special place. Do you have a favorite item, like a piece of gear or water bottle or hiking shoes that you take with you when you go outside to help make the experience a little bit more comfortable? Mm hmm. So in hiking and backpacking, I definitely. If I'm going on a long hike, I'm bringing my, my camel back and that I don't, I'm not good at keeping myself hydrated and I know what it's like to not do that.

And so that for me is really, really important as a way to easily access access water. And then if I'm going not on like a, like a, you know, miles wise, long hike, [00:23:00] but I know I'm going to be outdoors. I have a little foam accordion thing that I take that allows me to sit really comfortably. With forest bathing, sometimes I'll bring that and sometimes I just really like to have that contact with the earth.

But if it's like wet or muddy or something like that, I'll bring this little accordion foam thing. It's just a little square, but it makes my life a little more easy when I'm sitting out there. It's a little simple things like that, like water and a little comfortable cush. Yeah, we do sit spots with kids and I, my, the person I learned from, they're like, you know, make it big enough so they can sit on the ground comfortably, but small enough.

So like their feet and their hands can still touch the ground and they can really feel that experience. So that's a comfortable place to sit is very important. It is, especially if you're going to be there and sit spots are great. And so that having that comfort as you just notice, right, it's really.

Just nice. Mm hmm. Do you have [00:24:00] any long term goals that you hope to accomplish for The Calming Ground? Oh, that's a great question. Yeah, I'd, I'd love to do longer retreats. I've only done kind of day long retreats at this point, but I'd love to do like a week long retreat. So, I do have that as a goal.

My next goal is a weekend, but my long term goal is to do like a week long, really immerse, really allow that space. And then I just love to grow the membership. You know, it's a, that's a, it's a beautiful way. The membership is specifically for women, the coaching and other stuff isn't. That's for men too.

But the membership is a way for women to come together and really allow a mission. And encouraged a permission for one another to take the space in their lives to take care of themselves. And I think so often, everybody, women in particular, I think have it in a different way of, [00:25:00] we're encouraged to care take.

to do on behalf of, and it can be much harder. There's a lot of guilt sometimes associated with taking this space to just allow ourselves to be for us. And I think for me, that membership is a really powerful experience for me just to be amongst these women who are courageously making that space for themselves in their lives and just helping facilitate that.

So I'd love to grow that. And then the coaching packages are fun because it's one on one and it offers something different. And so I think just continuing to grow in these ways. But my overarch, that's, that's more like specific. But my overarching love would just be to invite people to really join life.

To just join the vibrancy of life in a different way. And And sometimes that can be really hard and there's a lot of resistance because there's so much doing that we have to get done. And oftentimes it might feel unproductive, but I think [00:26:00] that there's so much richness and allowing ourselves the permission to be.

Curious, and engage, and not know, and just have fun, so. So if people want to help your community grow, how can they find you? Yeah! Well thecalmingground. com is one way to find me. That's my website. I have a podcast too, The Calming Ground Podcast. Those are probably the easiest, but I'm also on social, I'm on Facebook, at The Calming Ground, or Elizabeth Minton.

I have both at the Calming Ground page on Facebook and Elizabeth Minton on Facebook. And I can find you that way and send me a message, however, it's easiest for people. And I will tag everything in the show notes. So when people are done listening, they can hop right over and find you. And before we go, what is one tip you have for someone that would like to connect with nature?

So I would notice what in the moment you're [00:27:00] connecting with. So for example, like if you're outside and you really notice the sky, the wind, a tree, a rock, okay, whatever it is, it doesn't really matter. A stick, I don't care, a pine cone. But I would just invite you to notice what happens if you get close. So in terms of the sky, you can't get close, but you can bring your awareness or attention to that, to the sky, and just notice What it's like to be in the relationship, so you're there witnessing the sky, right?

You're there holding this pine cone or this rock and sometimes even if you're holding something sometimes just bringing it to your heart Or to your cheek and just noticing what it's like to feel its presence There can be a way to feel a connection more deeply. That's perfect advice. Thank you so much for being here today, Elizabeth thank you for having me and until next time get outside and see what develops.

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