Episode #13. Cultivating mental wellness: move more by gardening with Lucy Butler
The best things about social media are the connections it creates and its ability to inspire people to get help with their problems.
On her Instagram page, Lucy Butler decided to share her passion for gardening that has helped her so much with her struggles with her mental health. In so doing, she gives hope to many and gains a community to speak to herself.
The topic of this year’s Mental Health Awareness week is ‘Movement: Moving more for our mental health’. I could cover so many ways of moving that fit under this banner, but when Lucy reached out to me, I knew this was the perfect topic as it has such wide-ranging benefits for both our physical and mental health.
In our warm chat, Lucy is open about her personal journey; using gardening to navigate through tough times. Her passion comes across clearly and I was particularly inspired by Lucy describing the way to garden mindfully.
Our conversation had lots of practical tips about how to get involved in community gardening, volunteering, and the deep sense of fulfillment that comes with nurturing green spaces.
Whether you're a novice or a gardening aficionado, there are lots of useful takeaways for everyone, from starting small to embracing the inevitable failures along the way.
Join us as we celebrate the joy and sense of achievement that gardening can bring to anyone.
Chapters
03:46 The Physical Benefits of Gardening
09:34 Mental Health Awareness Week and the Theme of Movement
10:14 Lucy's Journey into Gardening
15:33 Mindful Gardening for Mental Well-being
23:12 Community Gardening and Volunteering Opportunities
24:15 The Mental Health Benefits of Gardening
32:11 Starting Small and Embracing Failure in Gardening
39:25 Gardening Without a Garden: Indoor Gardening Tips
45:31 Planning and Prioritizing in Gardening
51:02 The Joy and Sense of Achievement in Gardening
About this week’s guest:
Lucy Butler
My name’s Lucy aka @mindful.gardener. I’m an RHS qualified horticulturist who is passionate about spreading the word on the benefits of gardening for mental health and wellbeing.
I hope to support, educate and inspire people to help them improve their own wellbeing through gardening and find the true joy in growing.
Connect here:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/@mindful.gardener
Organisations mentioned in this episode:
Mental Health Foundation - Mental Health Awareness Week
Finding a Community Garden - Good to Grow
National Trust - Volunteering Scheme
More about your host, Wendy
Wendy (49) founded Reclaim Movement after a running injury at 40 turned into 4 years of chronic pain. In her search for answers and to reclaim her own movement again she discovered natural movement. The philosophy of training real life practical movements to be able to keep using them as we age, coupled with the benefit of using strengthening and mobilising whole-body movement patterns that are underused in today’s modern world made her realise she had found a way to move for life.
Wendy’s aim is to help people embrace a movement-rich life, at any age, to improve mobility, strength and confidence to keep moving well and doing the things they love for as long as they want.
MovNat Level 1 certified & Functional Range Conditioning certified, she coaches online group classes live & by replay in the Reclaim Movement membership as well as online and in-person private coaching in Oxford.
Find out more about Reclaim Movement:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/reclaim.movement
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@reclaim.movement
Facebook: https://facebook.com/reclaim.movement
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