It takes a moment’s pause to allow the grandeur of nature to filter in and adjust your psyche. Time and again we hear from those who have stayed with us that they have felt the “vibe”. The illusiveness of this term is itself part of its definition. It is feeling with the soul, with the whole self. It’s an expansion of consciousness where lived time slows and our mental boundaries weaken. The forces of nature become louder than the interminable chatter that we populate our minds with and whilst we may interpret this calmness as a communion with nature and spirit, there are also biological processes occurring.

Submerged in a sensory bath of the warmth of the sun, brush of the wind and the repetitive sight and sound of crashing waves, your brain reads this combination as a predictable pattern. Cortisol levels decrease as your autonomic nervous system dampens the sympathetic 'fight-or-flight' response. Your very adaptive brain begins to fire to match the strongest and most stable frequency in its environment (the ocean) in a process known as phase-locking. This causes your brain’s electrical impulses to change from the thinking and anxious state of Beta to the more meditative state of Alpha. This synching is known as Neural Entrainment and occurs naturally without any conscious effort. The acoustic of the ocean also acts as a biofeedback loop lowering your pulse and evening out your breathing.

The body is a self-optimizing system and so surely it is a kindness to self and to the organism to aid where possible. Whilst we would be abhorred at unnatural environments and factors of stress impacting other animals, we seem to have forgotten to reflect on ourselves. We assume that our bodies can handle our lifestyles and though we do seem to be resilient, there is a price to pay.

Embrace nature whenever you can, for its natural rhythms can become your own.