IF you're feeling stressed, overworked or suffering from illness, then the garden is the place to go to ease and distract your mind so you can relax, recharge and heal your body and soul.
Throughout history, "healers" have used natural spaces, gardens, plants and human contact to help heal the emotional and spiritual aspects of a person's health in order to help cure physical illness. Recent research and clinical focus has come to bear on the value of using outdoor spaces, gardens and other forms of nature to help heal people suffering from illness or stress.
Perhaps no other theory explains the bond between humans and the natural world more than Edward O. Wilson's theory of biophilia. His biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. (From Wilson's book The Biophilia Hypothesis). Wilson defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life." Such views are relatively new to modern society's technologically focused approach to health care but beliefs are changing.
In her 2004 Masters of Advanced Architecture thesis, from the UBC Faculty of Architecture, Debra Barnes said, "In the past two decades western medicine has slowly begun to rediscover that overall health and well-being are dependant on the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of human health."
Few other places can provide those four pillars of recovery health like purpose-built gardens do. While natural spaces like forests and the seaside have amazing recuperative powers, the purpose-built healing garden can be tailor-made to meet the many needs of patients, health-care staff, and visitors whose individual needs can be accommodated in the design. It should be understood that healing gardens provide distraction and relief from the stress associated with illness thereby allowing the body to focus on healing. A hospital room can provide for the physical and clinical care needs but those rooms do little to help humans find emotional and spiritual peace and strength.
Healing gardens may be used by people of all ages, religions and races who may be afflicted by varying degrees of mental or physical illness, which makes informed design so important. But no single garden should be required to satisfy too wide a range of requirements.
A well-designed healing garden should provide a place for patients and their visitors to relax and interact on a social level. The basic rule here is to avoid making the space so multipurpose that the social function is watered down or lost. Simple group seating, some measure of privacy, perhaps a covered area and a sense of place are a few of the basic tenants of socially designed gardens.
Privacy is another important function of a healing garden that allows the patient some time for personal peace. In hospital gardens privacy is difficult to provide. The use of trees to hide windows can be effective. Partially enclosing portions of the garden utilizing hedging or lattice screens can also provide a measure of privacy.
The ability for patients to have some control and choice during their garden experience has been found to be important since most patients feel a loss of control over their illness and their lives while in hospital. Providing patients with choice can include simple things like multiple seating options and walking paths, allowing them the choice to sit in shade or sun and which plants to be near to.
Healing gardens must also provide for some level of physical activity which can vary from patient to patient depending on the degree of physical limitation associated with illness. There are many design rules that govern how to construct healing gardens but essentially the garden should allow patients to safely walk without restriction or excessive effort while experiencing the biophilic benefits of the garden.
Plant selection is of primary importance because people respond to a wide variety of plant stimuli including fragrance, colour, texture, size and nostalgia depending on whether they experience plants using their sight, sound, touch or smell. Accommodating all of those needs along with designing a visually pleasing space is no easy task and the garden must be designed to be easily maintained and affordable to build since most healing gardens are built with funds from private donors.
Perhaps no other garden is as important as a hospice garden for those people who are approaching the end of life. There is no easy way to pass on but I was recently told that people need closure, peace in their mind and some level of spiritual calm before they can fully leave us. Hospice gardens are designed and built using the same parameters as healing gardens but the hospice garden serves a singular purpose - to provide a comforting environment that provides the opportunity for emotional, mental and spiritual reflection.
Todd Major is a journeyman horticulturist, garden designer and builder, teacher, skills trainer and organic advocate. For advice contact him at stmajor@ shaw.ca.
