The Benefits of Gardening for Mental and Emotional Well-being.
The Benefits of Gardening for Mental Well-being
“As I fill the landscape before my eyes with meaning, I strip my inner world of noise. And I find that tending my garden helps me peer over the precipice of my emptiness without fear.” This paragraph, which masterfully sums up the entire philosophy of the garden, appears in the opening pages of the book touch down by Leticia Rodríguez de la Fuente, daughter of the legendary naturalist Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, and an exceptional gardener who has not only revolutionized the sustainable cultivation of cut flowers on her estate in Guadalajara but has also proven herself to be a creative entrepreneur and a visionary thinker. Her book is a delight from start to finish; the table of contents alone, with chapters as evocative as “Hands in the Soil,” “The Path of Gratitude,” and “The Beauty of the Ephemeral,” is already a magnificent invitation to enter the garden that Leticia has created as a way of life and a way of thinking.
La visión de Leticia Rodríguez de la Fuente As a gardener who grows the flowers she sells and, at the same time, turns that activity into a source of physical and mental well-being, she fully embodies the philosophy of the jardín andalusí which was the greatest ecological achievement of the Al-Andalus civilization. It is precisely in that legacy that we have also found the inspiration for our personal care brandl EL JARDÍN DE HAMMAM that we use in our services HAMMAM AL ÁNDALUS. A garden created to delight the eye, to stir the senses of smell, to be felt with the hands… a garden that fills the botanical apothecary and generously offers its fruits in exchange for care and respect. There is definitely a beautiful philosophy of life in everything surrounding the garden, and if Leticia Rodríguez de la Fuente’s book is a delight, here is another, in this case, a film, that has the power to make us feel better after watching it, Conversations with My Gardener. These inspirations may spark a desire to find a patch of land, an urban garden, or even an indoor space to cultivate our own garden—a surefire remedy for many of the ills of our time. As a supplement and guide to practices that reduce stress and promote mindfulness and self-awareness, we recommend reading an article we previously published on our blog about small therapeutic gestures with the garden as both a space and a companion. And for those who wish to draw inspiration from great creators who have made the garden a way of thinking and living, this is an essential book for understanding the passion for the noble art of gardening, Philosophy in the Garden by Damon Young of the UK.
Aromatherapy in the Garden
It’s not always possible to get your hands dirty when you live in urban areas; I wish it were mandatory to turn every rooftop into a garden and every roundabout into a vegetable patch… but there are other ways to connect your senses and emotions with those havens of well-being that gardens provide. That is the purpose of the aromatherapy line EL JARDÍN DE LAS EMOCIONES. This line, designed to enhance the sense of smell and promote body care, features seven scents available as Hydro-Nourishing Oils and Stimulating Mists. Through these two simple steps—body massage and misting—we can transport ourselves to the heart of a garden in full bloom. Each scent has been created using natural ingredients to reproduce as accurately as possible the natural olfactory sensation of a tour of different areas flowers and plants, the rose garden, the jasmine beds, the orange trees in bloom, the terraces of lavender or mint…
Smell is the sense with the greatest evocative power, Stimulating it also has a therapeutic effect that can help us create an oasis of well-being at home.
A scent ritual to recharge your energy.
- Make a cup of tea Rooibos con Naranja, add a few drops of Aceite de Oliva Virgen Extra and grate a little bit of thoroughly cleaned orange peel.
- Massage your arms and neck area with the Aceite Hidro-Nutritivo Pasión de Azahar, A small amount is enough for a self-massage lasting a few minutes. During the massage, pay attention to the scent and what it evokes in you.
- Spray the Bruma Pasión de Azahar place your hands together, cup them over your face, inhale deeply, and then exhale gently, savoring the aroma; you can repeat this two or three times.
By the end, we’ll feel as though we’ve truly been in an orchard filled with orange trees in bloom, and we’ll also notice how that image relieves our tension and gives us a sense of lightness—something essential for getting through our daily lives.