The Healing Garden: A Place Of Peace

Gardening For The Soil Gardening For The Soul

Finding Solace In A Changing World

ISBN 0-9733085-0-8

By Gwen Nyhus Stewart

Chapter 6 What Is A Garden?

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In this chapter:

Ø Components of an Outdoor Garden

Ø Practical Steps to Creating an Outdoor Garden

Ø Remember

“The land! That is where our roots are. There is the basis of our physical life. The farther we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity.” - Henry Ford

In Section 1 of this book, I described a process of creating internal healing and peace.

Internal is defined as relating or belonging to or existing within the mind. In this section we

will examine external peace and its place in our journey. External means having merely the outward appearance of something, or of, relating to, or connected with the outside or an outer part. Peace is described as a state of tranquillity or quiet; freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; and at peace: is a state of concord or tranquillity. For our purposes then, the definition we will use is: internal and external peace exist when our inner and outer worlds are balanced and in harmony. In my mind, this peace is manifested when we create a garden, whether it is indoors or out.

A garden has always meant the same thing to every culture. It is representative of PARADISE ON EARTH – our opportunity to own a little bit of heaven – here and now. In fact, the word for ‘paradise’ comes from the Persian word for a garden.

A gar A garden is a holy place, one in which we create a bond with nature, which bestows a sense of sanctuary and well-being. The garden evokes the most intimate relationship a person can have with the earth. This relationship has a restorative significance as a healer when we understand that gardening is loving and expressing love with work. This flow of love between the Earth and the gardener reconnects us with a profound sense of awe as we watch nature unfold. In creating a garden, we have the capacity to reflect our ideals and to give ourselves support to make the changes in becoming what we really are – beings full of love and light. To rest spiritually, is the invitation to all that enter.

In this age of technological development, the garden and nature are ever more important to our emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. The more we live indoors and away from natural sunlight, the more we succumb to illness. According to Dr. Edwin Babbit, an early authority on chromotherapy, “sunlight is the principal curative agent in nature’s laboratory and where light cannot enter, disease does.”

This is the beginning of the sixth chapter of the book The Healing Garden: A Place Of

Peace by Gwen Nyhus Stewart. There's lots more information online, but if you've read

this much, you'll undoubtedly find the book of great value!