Don't Cut Those Apron Strings...EVER! A Clear Connection To Mother Nature Is A Life Saver.
After 4.543 billion years, Mama still knows best. Maybe that is why being able to keep her in clear site and maintaining a good visual connection with her has so many impactful physiological and psychological benefits. Mother Nature has a way of taking that empty place so many of us feel inside and making it whole again. The natural environment meets us anywhere we are on the spectrum of emotions. Pass on a cup of coffee and take in a sunshine saturated courtyard for stimulation. If Xanax feels like a bad idea, opt for a walk along a refreshing brook of running water. Whatever you need, a view of the great outdoors is a good start. This brings us to the first biophilic pattern: Visual Connection With Nature.
- Lowered blood pressure
- Lowered heart rate
- Improved mental engagement
- Improved attentiveness and concentration
- Positively impacted attitude and overall happiness
- Reduced attention fatigue, sadness, anger and aggression
- Increased self-esteem based on a ecological sense of belonging
Now is the time to refocus our attention on our homes, something we have some control over. Some of us our blessed with large properties that are full of opportunity to landscape creating beautiful vistas from within our homes. We are invited out by stunning landscaping and the need to maintenance the garden. Those of us in more suburban/urban areas have smaller yards with obstructed views by buildings. Others still, live in concrete jungles and are even more restricted on healthy views of nature. The real deal is significantly more beneficial than a simulated natural environment but, simulated nature over no nature matters. With that understanding, let's consider some options that allow you to be visually connected to nature within your home.
Any time you have a view through a window, make the most of it. Prioritize your views with little to no obstruction. This includes being in a seated position too. If you have a home gym or just do yoga, make sure you have a view. Lynn gave this featured kitchen an infinity window with a view over a lush green golf course where the homeowner can take in the swaying palm trees or humming birds flitting about.
Set your Smart TV to gallery mode and rotate through an abundance of nature scapes. Kick it up a notch by taking a walk through a rainforest or virtually scuba diving with tropical fish and swimming through coral beds. Whatever pulls at your heart strings, that is what you want to keep in view for a good portion of your day.
Make a mural as epic feeling as Mt. Rushmore or add them to a narrow space. It can be argued that murals date back as early as 30,000 BC. There is a reason they have remained popular. A picture is worth a thousand words. Lynn used a tile mural in her showroom kitchen to create a 360 view of nature within the kitchen. If your back is to the window, then you are facing a waterfall.
Nothing like adding the magic of life to your kitchen. With Wellness Kitchens becoming part of the new American standard in living, in-kitchen cultivators are gaining in popularity. Watching your microgreens grow so that you can add them to salads and sandwiches brings a whole new level of health and wellness.
Do you live in a home built anywhere from the 50's to the 70's donning a dated atrium? Good news, they are back! With a background in architecture, Lynn Wallace is freshening up atriums and including them in Wellness Living. Whether you choose to cultivate in them, use them for dining or just create a composition of living beauty, atriums are a conduit to nature. The featured atrium is from the Architect's Diary where you can find more inspirational examples to consider for your own home.
We have come along with way with air purification but nothing beats Mother Nature. Living walls fall under multiple categories of biophilic patterns and can be a fundamental feature of Wellness Living. They don't just stop with air purification. Acoustically they dappen reverberation adding a level of quiet to your home. Not only are the perfect for connecting us with nature inside your home, they have their perks to exterior application too. For insulation and reducing energy costs add them to exterior walls and rooftops. Need a little fire resistance, they are good for that too. Find more amazing ideas at Livabl.
Whether you are into visually connecting with nature because it triggers more of your brain's pleasure receptors or you just need to decompress for five minutes, the benefits are undeniable. Viruses are not the only reason we will find ourselves home more often. With a more aggressive global shift in sustainability, living remotely from our home base is an emerging standard in living. It is more important than ever to make sure our homes address our health and wellness.
Making sure that everything we need to be happy, safe and healthy in our home will take thoughtful design. Interior designers are shifting their focus from simply creating beautiful spaces to creating intelligent spaces that solve our problems. Kitchens And Baths By Lynn is a leader in the Coachella Valley in biophilic kitchen and bath design. Utilizing the 14 patterns of biophilia, sustainability and new technology, Lynn's designs leave her clients happier, healthier and with a better quality of life.
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