The outdoors is a playground — an opportunity to explore adventure and creativity — and a place to truly learn about the self.”

Mary Beth Dziedzic

 

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NOURISH talk walk flow grow

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Explore nature’s playground

Head bowed, elbows bent, fingers hovering over a keyboard, eyes fixed on a laptop screen — this is how many people spend their days. But should they?  

Mary Beth Dziedzic, a licensed clinical social worker, attachment-focused EMDR, registered yoga teacher, and the founder of NOURISH talk walk flow grow, has broken free from the confines of her office by bringing her clients outdoors — into the healing arms of Mother Nature.  

“I’ve been in private practice since late 2014, and for much of that time, I was very much your conventional therapist with four office walls and a lot of traditional talk therapy. You know, the usual — ‘Tell me what's going on for you, your current struggles, challenges,’ that kind of thing,” Dziedzic recalled.

Dziedzic, who holds many titles in her career, also holds the title of mother. Her dedication to bringing these therapeutic sessions into Mother Nature came from her personal experience with it in 2019, when she experienced a crisis after giving birth to her daughter. “I was probably going through some postpartum depression, some postpartum anxiety. It was a hard time,” she recalled. “Turning to movement and the outdoors saved me. It helped me through those really challenging moments,” she confessed.

Drawing from her own experiences as a runner, yoga student and teacher, avid outdoorswoman, and somatically-informed clinician, Dziedzic began to forge something new for her clients and herself. “I vividly remember nursing my daughter in the middle of the night, Googling things like ‘running therapy,’ ‘ecotherapy,’ and ‘nature deficit disorder,’ ” she shared excitedly. “That was the spark I needed,” said Dziedzic on how she began her business Nourish talk walk flow grow.

From that spark, she began integrating movement, mindfulness, nature, and therapy into a single, powerful experience — one where clients could step outside, move their bodies, and process what they needed to, surrounded by nature.  

She explained, “Because when we surround ourselves in our natural environment, our brain shifts into a state called soft fascination.” According to her, this is essentially a heightened state of “present moment awareness.” She went on to say, “The present moment is so essential for our overall all well-being, our mental health, our physical health, and our spiritual health.”  

Nature’s playground

“Maybe take a big sip of the fresh air in — and maybe a slow breath out. If you’re open to it, let’s begin with a walking meditation,” invited Dziedzic. She typically begins each session by inviting clients to become open to the natural world like this. She continued, “Just let yourself settle in, notice how the body’s feeling, and really immerse yourself in this sensory experience.”  

The invitation was to hear the crunch of the leaves underneath the feet and listen to the birds and the other sounds of the forest. “Walk away from the noise of the larger world,” she beckoned as a car horn sounded in the distance.

“When the eyes close, our focus shifts from the external world to your internal world. So, I invite you with kind eyes, curious mind, and an open heart to see yourself in this moment just as you are,” Dziedzic offered.

“It’s like an opportunity to say good morning to yourself, to come into contact with who you are, right now, to feel the natural wonder and awe of simply being,” she enticed.

According to Dzidzic, in this state, when the present moment is greeted with full attention, with the physical body and the history of self, the perfectly imperfect rhythms of the natural world cater to the wild self within us. 

To Dziedzic, nature is more than just scenery — it’s an invitation to explore. “The outdoors is a playground — an opportunity to explore adventure and creativity — and a place to truly learn about the self.” 

She believes that sense of play is deeply healing, especially in what she calls “a new pandemic of loneliness” brought on by modern isolation. 
“Loneliness is such a huge factor,” she explained. “But when we step into nature, we remember that we belong. There’s a kind of reconnection that happens and we realize we’re not just in nature, we are nature,” she went on to explain.

Ancient practices like forest bathing and mindful walking have been sharing this wisdom for centuries. Now, according to Dziedzic, science is catching up. She gently encourages people to leave the office, close the laptop, and step into the unknown to rediscover themselves on Mother Nature’s playground.