Tue 20 May 2008
Gardening: Benefits for the Body, Mind, and Spirit
Posted by Rita under Healthy Living
Generally, when one thinks of gardening only thoughts of having lots of fresh vegetables, or beautiful flowers, at little expense come to mind. However, there’s much more to gardening than meets the eye. Gardening is beneficial in the following ways:
Body: Gardening requires a certain amount of physical stamina. You might want to consider trading in your boring tread mill routine once in a while for some fresh air and gardening. You will get quite a work out with all the bending, stretching, chopping, digging, kneeling, and squatting that gardening requires. Will you burn calories? You bet’cha! Not only that, all of your hard work will not only pay off in terms of weight loss, but depending on the type of gardening that you do, you will have lots of fresh vegetables, and/or flowers.
Mind: Gardening is great therapy for those of us with too much on our minds. It’s as good as meditation for me. I leave my “to do” lists in the house, all of my worries on the back porch, and I am fully engaged in the moment. Fully present in only the here and now of gardening. Sweet peace!
Spirit: There’s a certain pride you feel in successfully growing your own flowers and vegetables. A lot of work goes into working a garden, but a lot of love goes into it too. There’s also the added bonus of being able to share the fruits of your labor with others. The single act of giving is great for self esteem, and also sends a powerful message to the Universe which will respond in kind to you.
In essence….Gardening not only “does a body good”, but it’s great for the mind and spirit as well. :)
I hope you’ll enjoy the photos from my own gardening efforts.
Abundantly Yours,
HomeSpun Granny






May 20th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I like spending the time gardening with my kids. Not only do they take ownership and pride in their “work”, they also enjoy the fruits of their labor, or rather , veggies! Under the warmth of the sun, I am amazed at what we end up talking about. Busy hands are happy hands and after our talk about the surface stuff comes and goes, we end up with the deeper more meaningful stuff. Ah, free therapy… building good family relationships!
May 20th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Molly, I couldnt’ agree with you more. My kids are all grown, but my grandchildren are enjoying the time we spend outside together, and watching the miracle of plants springing up out of the ground from seed,etc.
I am hoping that the sunflower seeds that I planted (for the second time) will come up out of the ground, grow and bloom this time. The rabbits around here ate the first batch that I tried to plant. *laughs*
Thanks for stopping in,and leaving us a note!
In friendship,
HomeSpun Granny