INTRODUCTION
Outdoor recreation is something that everyone needs. Finding that place within yourself that allows you to forget about everything. Whether that be playing with your kids in the nearby park, fishing with your grandfather, hiking with someone or just by yourself you learn something new about yourself. Some people use recreation to forget about something and they use being outside as a calming effect. Williams and Stewart (1998) believe that nature, as a place, creates an emotion bond, has a complex meaning to the person, and that people have this draw back to the place. To get the same feeling that someone would get while doing an activity in nature to simulate Williams and Stewart’s (1998) belief, I recently participated in an
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2006). To me recreation is having fun with people that makes you laugh and smile. Outdoor recreation, to me, means to remember the joy that nature brought me at five years old with friends and family exploring what Mother Nature provides us and feeling youthful again. Sometimes this would be exploring the countryside, seeing what humanity has not touched, and running around the fields at top speed. Finding a new path to take or just exploring somewhere new by hiking to a swimming hole, or even just walking around somewhere new and taking in all the details so you can recreate them in a drawing to share with people and to look back on years from now. During my experience simulation, I walked along paths in the forest by my house and took in every detail that nature provides. I would look at a fallen tree and remember being at my cottage climbing a falling tree and wanting to hang off it. I saw all the leaves changing colour and remembered cleaning up the grounds of my family farm and then wanting to jump into the colourful pile. My experience gave me memories of when I was younger and it allowed me …show more content…
To me, outdoor places means forgetting about everything else and feeling that nothing else matters, realizing the beauty that is around us. In Grimwood’s (2016) paper, he stated that moms found that their kids started to get “physically healthier, mentally healthier, calmer, happier, grounded…and moving through challenges a little bit more,” (p.11). Even though this is moms talking about their children, I can relate, being in a certain place outside can make me happier, feel healthier after some time and forget about issues for a time being while helping me get through them. Outdoor recreation and outdoor places help shape my understanding of self and my relationships with others by calming me down and remembering there is more to life. Grimwood (2016) said that moms saw their kids being calmer, and that it changed their mental and physical state of health, knowing this just encourages me to do so too. While walking in the forest by my house, I would feel calmer and get that feeling of escaping from school. Participating in the experience simulations has helped my mental health to get that break and reconnect to
My own personal philosophy of leisure has been shaped by past and present activities I do for leisure and why I do them. To me, leisure is the sense of being free from external stressors that I face in my life such as school or work. The positive outcomes from partaking in leisure are generally overlooked and often underestimated. Leisure affects our emotions, our physical and mental health, and aids in the creation of relationships. In my own personal life, I have done and still participate in leisure as a way to sooth myself or unwind from the stress of school or work. The release of pent up emotions and energy for individuals helps their relationships with others and their overall health as well. When stress is released, an individual is
In society, is has become a priority to be so engaged in the social circle. It gets exhausting trying to be at all the gatherings, getting involved in activities, and partaking in social media. Even though as a society we tire of the constant movement in our communities, we often do not withdraw ourselves from the suffocating social routine. I have often found myself thinking that I should take a trip or go stay at another city to be alone and relax from all the annoyance of society. What holds me back? Being alone is a scary thought. But what joy I experience when the wind blows over the water that your feet are in when sitting on pier. Or the joy of being in a lake fishing, with your thoughts. I find it that the stuff that worries me the most, does not seem as catastrophic when immersed in the greenery of the woods. If only one had the courage to live alone, I’m sure life would seem much
The debate over technology being healthy for our children has been a debate that has gone on for years. It appears as though the tragedy that children are missing out on hands-on nature is definitely something we all must learn to accept. Nicholas D. Kristof hits the nail on the head when he suggest that we try to preserve nature but we don’t promote natural activity such as hiking, biking, camping, and “discovering the hard way what a wasp nest looks like”. Kristof does an effective job getting the point across on experiencing nature and limiting technology. He is a father that is destined for his young daughter to know about the outdoors with personal experimentation. Kristof’s intended audience is geared toward people that want their children and themselves to be involved in nature, but they have been consumed with this technological age.
Creativity and imagination can be truly beneficial to our health development, without too much influence of fear. The age does not matter, anyone can benefit from experiencing time with nature. Let’s enjoy spending time with our loved ones outdoors and connect with nature, because connecting with nature it is the only form of life keeping us alive and healthy.
The purpose of therapeutic recreation is to enable all individuals to achieve quality of life and optimal health through meaningful experiences in recreation and leisure. In this paper the definition of therapeutic recreation will be discussed as well as what should be included in the definition and what should be rejected. This definition will mainly focus on health and use the Health Promotion Model to further explain my choice to focus on health and well-being. I will also be discussing the importance of inclusion in therapeutic recreation for different learning styles in many environments, and the significance of diversity in the community and what we hope to achieve by being fully inclusive.
Sense of place is the “development of level of comfort and feelings of safety that are associated with a place” (Kopec, p. 62). These associations often translate into that desired sense of belonging, and allow individuals the ability to “develop feelings of attachment to particular settings based on combinations of use, attractiveness, and emotion” (Stokowski, 2002). Developing these psychological connections with certain places lends itself to the concept of place attachment, or, “a person’s bond with the social and physical environments of a place” (Kopec, p. 62). These places often hold deep meaning for people because their identities were established among their surroundings. This affiliation between a person and their place is often seen through personal connection, comfort, and security (Kopec, p. 131). Many people feel as though the place they are in should have its own “special character”, or an identity that defines it, and distinguishes it from other places (Kopec, p.1). Kopec states, “An environment’s distinct spatial features, how it compares with others, its connections to personal life paths, and its potential for change combine to affect the meanings places have for people”. An establishment of this sense of place identity ...
As I make my way on this journey that is my life, I realize that I have always believed in the fundamental worth of all humanity and my responsibility as a fellow human being to respect this premise and also to support individuals, as much as I am able, to help unearth it should this basic truth become hidden to them. This is a guiding principle for me and I believe that many of the constructs of the field of Therapeutic Recreation (TR) are congruent with this philosophy. Making the decision to obtain a Therapeutic Recreation Specialization (TRS) degree offered a theoretical rationale in which to further explore the concept of leisure, define my professional philosophy and an opportunity to reflect critically on the field which I have chosen and my evolving role within it.
The Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) proposes the idea that nature “posits a healing power of nature that lies in an unconscious, autonomic response to natural elements that occur without recognition and most noticeably in individuals who have been stressed before the experience”(Bratman; Nature Experience, cognitive function, and mental health). Scientists tested this theory through the usage of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). By analyzing the brain activity demonstrated in the images, facial expressions and other factors that indicate changes in emotion, scientists, consequently; children are not fully familiar with their emotions and couldn’t describe what they were feeling in detail. The fMRI brain images indicated massive differences in the children who had had a nature experience prior to the brain scans (the control group) compared to those who had not. The second theory Attention Restoration Theory “centers the power of nature to replenish certain types of attention through conscious, cognitive processed in response to natural landscapes.” The Attention Restoration Theory (ART) focused primarily on the differences in attention spans and behavior of children who lived in urbanized areas compared to those who live in greener areas. In a natural experiment Taylor “compared children from the same population in a housing complex in Chicago, whose living conditions and demographic characteristics differed only by their views from home: a small pocket of urban park or a barren concrete area.” (Berman, Tennessen, Cimprich and Taylor; Nature experience, cognitive function, and mental function). Children in both areas demonstrated the effects of an environment on the behavior and proved the Attention Restoration Theory. A minor
I will complete a literature Review in order to find out the benefits of outdoor play and I will get my information from internet, books and placement. This will be completed by 20th April 2016
When I think of the perfect place, I imagine a cascading waterfall, a vast forest, a stunning mountainside, or a warm sunset on the beach. I look up around me, mesmerized by the vastness of the natural world and breathe in the fresh air. Over the course of my life, I have come to respect the environment and the earth’s natural surroundings in ways that most others do not in the industrialized and technological era of today. I can appreciate the beauty of the Earth and of all the different landscapes and organisms that surround me. The way in which I value and treasure the environment has evolved just as I have. I see the environment as something to be preserved and admired, not destroyed or exploited. My relationship with the environment is
With more needs for nature experience and sustainable development in urban areas, increasing importance has been attached to urban open spaces since they play a crucial role to support the ecology system and form a natural network in the cities (Chiesura, 2004; Tzoulas et al., 2007). Urban open spaces include plazas, parks, campus, greenways and other green spaces. They serve as islands of nature, enriching urban landscapes, adjusting the microclimate, promoting biodiversity and providing habitats for other species (Chiesura, 2004; Do, Kim, Kim, & Joo, 2014; Morimoto, 2011). Apart from these benefits, they also show a great impact on urban dwellers’ health, since open spaces offer places for outdoor activities and opportunities for contact with nature (Chiesura, 2004). Tyrväinen et al. (2014) indicated that even short-term visits to urban green spaces have positive psychological and physiological effects on perceived stress relief. People were attracted to urban open spaces for physical activities, social interactions, and a relief from daily life, which benefit their mental and physical health (Thwaites, Helleur, & Simkins, 2005). A large epidemiological study in Britain looked at mortality and morbidity among three income levels in relation to urban residents’ access to green open space (Mitchell & Popham,
This essay is the respond to the Local Council Member who has wrong idea about a common archetype of adventure tourist. This misconception based on ignorance of current tourism industry, could potentially be a dangerous for local economy and development. The local authority must be well informed about present conditions with the tourism market, before they will make a far reaching decisions about the development direction in this industry. Currently, there are many organisations whose monitoring an international tourism business and this knowledge supposed to be good use for our common good.
Outdoor recreation has been around for more than 80 centuries. Throughout the years, outdoor recreation has evolved in many different aspects. Outdoor recreation began as a tool for survival strategies, such as hunting and fishing. As the years have passed, people went on to hunt and fish as a form of recreation. As a population, we can concur that outdoor recreation has many positive attributes such as personal satisfaction and enjoyment, as well as negative aspects that could amount to the costly engagement in outdoor recreation activity.
Outdoor learning activities are beneficial for students’ health, including psychological, physiological. Outdoor learning activities offer students opportunities to move their
As I walked down the worn dirt path to the ocean, I was astonished by how many people were lounging by the water.. As I got closer to the water’s edge, I contemplated why more people don 't swim and decide to tan in the sun instead. The feeling of being alone with the ocean and my thoughts played in my mind.