It is increasingly common to find articles in mainstream media touting the health benefits of time spent in nature (in one aspect, referred to as ‘wilderness therapy’ or WT), often with a cultural shading which encourages us either to explore the mentality of our ancestors, or that of another culture perceived to be holistic and enlightened in its approach to wellness.
Friluftsliv (a term coined by the Norwegian, Henrik Ibsen in 1859) is a concept which is generally accepted as a basis for wellness activity and educational reform in Scandinavia and beyond, including the emergence of Forest School in the United Kingdom in the first decade of the 21st century.
The benefits of WT are coming to be well-recognised, and cross-cultural, cross-national studies are beginning to show the universal applicability of core therapy concepts (Harper et al, 2018). Friluftsliv may be a named cultural concept in Scandinavia, however as several researchers have established, the concept is not exclusive to Scandinavian culture and therefore is a useful way of naming the positive connection between individuals and the natural environment on a much broader scale.
Most recently, a study by the Norwegian Pål Lagestad and academic partners, which appears in the Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership (2019) touches on the importance of friluftsliv to wellbeing and indicates the benefits of tracking participation in traditional friluftsliv activities as an indicator of general youth activity levels as well as the health of social relationships both within and beyond the cultural confines of Scandinavia.
Although the translation and definition of friluftsliv varies (see Beery, p.93 for a sampling of definitions which have appeared over the last twenty years), at its core is the concept of wellness achieved through time spent in the natural environment. It has been well-established through research that the cultural concept of friluftsliv is related to the psychological concept of Environmental Connectedess (EC), and in Scandinavia is recognised in and by every age group which has come under direct study (ibid).
Such studies suggest significant implications and recommendations for access to nature, outdoor recreation and education (see also Mikaels, 2018). Pilot studies have indicated substantial positive mental health benefits to time spent in nature (Mutz and Müller, 2016).
Conversely, inactivity among youth and their perception of family relationships has been found to have a direct connection, in Lagestad’s study, to their level of participation (or lack thereof) in traditional friluftsliv activities, where inactivity in these areas can be used as a predictor of general inactivity. (p.21)
Lagestad’s study stands on the shoulders of, and reflects the general findings of WT research, best summarised by Odden (2008), that ‘Traditional outdoor recreational life may constitute an important positive contributor to children’s physical and mental health’ and that ‘Friluftsliv activities may have a major and lifelong effect on health and quality of life.’
The rationale for the study by Lagestad and his colleagues is that ‘increased knowledge of factors that predict inactivity is critical for preventing people globally from becoming inactive in friluftsliv. This knowledge may find applications with governments, teachers, and family members, who are all attempting to establish habits of engaging in friluftsliv in young people.’ (p.22)
In establishing the power that natural environments have over urban environments, the article quotes F. Nansen (1922), establishing as traditional and long-held the concept that the benefit of immersion in the natural environment is not solely a result of improved physical fitness: ‘The first great thing is to find yourself, and for that you need solitude and contemplation. I tell you deliverance will not come from the rushing, noisy centres of civilization. It will come from lonely places! The great reformers in history have come from the wilderness.’ (p.22)
Lagestad’s study (among others) confirms through research the contemplative power of friluftsliv, with 90% of participants reporting a desire to experience silence, tranquillity and ‘fresh air’ as driving their choice to engage with the outdoors, and that many traditional activities require no specialist equipment, skill or knowledge, thus making these wellness factors readily available to all. (p.23)
Such concepts come as no surprise to anyone who has experienced the sense of replenishment and cleansing that comes with time spent in woodlands. Even as a small child, I recall the special feeling that was to be had during long canoe expeditions into the Northern Ontario wilderness – tens of thousands of square kilometres of forests, lakes, rivers and wetlands, and glimpses of the majestic Canadian Shield granite over which we travelled – being sometimes many days travel on foot and by paddle from the nearest road or access point, bringing with us all we needed and relying on natural fresh water sources and firewood gleaned from the forest while in camp.
The silence in the evening was so profound, we felt deafened by a strange buzzing in our ears coming from everywhere and nowhere – the sound, as my mother explains it, ‘of life.’ These were opportunities for our parents to pass on traditional skills – fishing, paddling, map reading and navigation, identifying species, tying knots, first aid, safe handling of fire – everything needed for survival in a total wilderness.
I can recall from early on a sense of connection with history and tradition, that these were skills needed by my ancestors and those of the people who are indigenous to the land, and that the place held spiritual significance. I recall soaking my skin and hair in the lakes just before leaving, allowing it to dry and feeling reluctant to ‘wash the woods off’ once home. I always carried, and still do, a fragment of wood or a stone, taken as a talisman to keep the woods with me and feel the continued psychological benefit of environmental connectedness.
In the Carolinian forest at home, just a few hundred miles further south, towering hardwoods create, again in the words of my mother, ‘our cathedral’. What do we do there? Simply be: observe nature, experience it with our senses, walk, sit, think, pick berries, tell stories.
Not a religious woman in the traditional sense, my mother’s phrasing hints at what time spent in woodlands offers a person: a feeling of connecting with something much larger, leading to a sense of personal replenishment and wellbeing.
In times of personal struggle, with mental and physical health, it was only really by retreating into the wilderness that I felt any real progress towards a rebalance. In times of stress, I daydream of being ‘out there’. If that’s not possible, I watch my favourite vloggers on YouTube who record their wilderness camps and bushcrafting activities, and the sights and sounds of the wilderness they share with viewers is profoundly soothing – the ultimate ‘slow TV’, to reference a related Scandinavian wellness phenomenon.
It is also at times of wilderness immersion when I feel a strong connection to my family, especially those I share the experience with, and thankfulness for the skills and knowledge that have been passed on to me through teaching and example. These experiences are anecdotal evidence only, but compelling, of the validity of Lagestad’s findings, and especially so as these experiences were and are obtained outside of the cultural home of friluftsliv, yet touch on the same core ideas.
However, the research of Lagestad and others has established that a decline in participation in friluftsliv activities (60% in 1997, and 40% in 2014) in the general population is attributable to a particular decline in participation among young people. Moreover, young people today tend to be drawn toward friluftsliv activities which are perceived as ‘exciting’ (such as skiing, climbing) but which are simultaneously exclusionary, involving expense, technical skill, equipment and travel which not only prevents many from being able to engage in them, but which for those that do, can stand in the way of a meaningful engagement with the outdoor environments in which such activities are carried out.
Moreover, preference for such sports means many traditional activities are not receiving attention and are being lost. (p.23) Additionally, the study is based on sociological theory, specifically regarding the role of family and friends in shaping a person’s cognitions and behaviours.
People are more likely to engage in friluftsliv if this is an activity shared by their social network. People who are most likely to engage lifelong in healthy levels of activity are those who have had a strong influenc upon them as children to engage in activity, with parents having the strongest positive or negative influence. (p.29)
When establishing the connection nurtured by Forest School between participants and the woodland, it is important to consider the points above, that not only is it an opportunity for the environment itself to create positive feedback in the client, with noticeable improvements in mental and physical wellbeing associated with opportunity to spend time regularly and often outdoors, it also fills the gap in socialising clients toward a nature-based wellness model if such socialisation is not otherwise present in the client’s life.
I was lucky to have the example and motivation of parents who understand the benefits of living an outdoor life, but know from the anecdotes of my contemporaries that many have not shared this experience, and for them, the outdoors was and is an unknown, uncomfortable environment.
Sara Knight puts it well in her conclusion of Forest School for All, where she directly addresses the influence of friluftsliv on the Forest School guiding principles: ‘Habits of quiet contact established at a young age can offer balm and healing when we encounter the normal bumps and bruises of life.’ (p.240) Forest School provides the chance to create a ‘woodland family’, where Leaders and other participants provide a positive example for clients and so establish positive patterns of thought and behaviour, as a parent might with a child.
Additionally, Leaders are able to pass on traditional knowledge and skills, so that these – crucial as they are to a continuation of accessible, culturally significant friluftsliv activities, no matter the national or cultural setting in which they are undertaken – may see a resurgence, or at least a slowing in their decline.
Such an opportunity as Forest School provides will be of personal significance to all participants, for cultural sharing and connection with the natural environment, helping participants towards wellness in its many aspects.
Beery, Thomas H. Environmental Education Research. Nordic in nature: friluftsliv and environmental connectedness. 2013, 19:1, pp. 94-117.
Harper, Nevin J., Leiv E. Gabrielsen and Cathryn Carpenter Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. A cross-cultural exploration of ‘wild’ in wilderness therapy: Canada, Norway and Australia. 2018, 18:2, pp. 148-164.
LaBier, Douglas. Why Connecting With Nature Elevates Your Mental Health. Psychology Today. 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-new-resilience/201801/why-connecting-nature-elevates-your-mental-health
Lagestad, Pål, Tina Bjølstad and Eivind Sæther. Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership. Predictors of Inactivity Among Youth in Six Traditional Recreational Friluftsliv Activities. 2019, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 21–36.
MacEachren, Z. (2013). “The Canadian Forest School movement.” Learning Landscapes, 17(1), 219-. Available at: http://www.learninglandscapes.ca/images/documents/ll-no13/maseachren.pdf
Mikaels, Jonas. Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership. Becoming a Place-Responsive Practitioner: Exploration of an Alternative Conception of Friluftsliv in the Swedish Physical Education and Health Curriculum. 2018. Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 3-19.
Mutz, Michael and Johannes Müller. Journal of Adolescence. Mental Health Benefits of Outdoor Adventures: Results from Two Pilot Studies. 2016. Vol. 49, pp. 105-114.
Odden, A. What is happening with Norwegian outdoor life? A study of trends in Norwegian outdoor life 1970–2004 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 2008.
Ritchie, Stephen, Mary Jo Wabano, Rita G. Corbiere, Brenda M. Restoule, Keith C. Russell & Nancy L. Young. Connecting to the Good Life Through Outdoor Adventure Leadership Experiences Designed for Indigenous Youth. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. 2015, 15:4, 350-370.
