The benefits of Bushcraft on Health?

[Tony]

I just posted up a survey for a masters student called Jim HERE and it got me thinking a thread for us to discuss the health benefits of bushcraft would be good.

I think there's a huge personal benefit to being outdoors in fresh air, using ones body and being focused on mindful skills etc. I think that in the world generally there's very little room left for pondering, just being with oneself, our thoughts and feelings etc. In the outdoors there's so much more opportunity to learn about ourselves, to formulate our own opinions etc as well as benefit from that feel good feeling that fills us.

Just some thoughts...

What do you think?

 

[Diamond Dave]

Bushcraft does wonders for your Mental Health, General Welbeing communication skills and social activity…..

 

[Chainsaw]

Yep one of the main reasons I canoe, cycle and do archery is for the meditative aspect. Getting outdoors lets you focus on different aspects of your environment at a much slower pace, all good for what's inside my napper!

 

[Wander]

Bushcraft does wonders for your Mental Health, General Welbeing communication skills and social activity…..

Totally agree it's good for one's mental health and wellbeing.
Judging by my experience of interactions with other bushcrafters, I'm not so convinced it helps one's communication and social skills...

 

[Broch]

I'm going to sound like a stuck record - but it's not 'bushcraft' that benefits our mental health; it's doing activities like canoeing, cycling, walking, fishing, camping and being closer to the natural world. Applying 'bushcraft' skills to those activities makes them more enjoyable, safer, and easier.

Woodcarving is a very therapeutic activity but just because one decides to carve a spoon doesn't suddenly make it 'bushcraft' that's therapeutic - it's because it's being carved outdoors, around a campfire, with or without likeminded people.

IMO Bushcraft is a set of skills applied to outdoor activities. Does it benefit what we get out of doing those activities? Very much so. Is it essential to us getting benefit from those activities? Probably not.

 

[henchy3rd]

Most people who spend time in the great outdoors knows the benefits it brings.
The outdoors does indeed help the mind relax, if I don’t get out I start to ponder over silly little things which grows into bigger problems.
Even a 20 minute walk to the local park helps to bring on a healthy mind.
During the dark winter evenings I sometimes watch silent bushcraft videos, they help tremendously & before I know it I’ve drifted off to utopia & wake up feeling alive.

 

[Rizla]

being out in the woods cooking over a open fire, great stress relever

 

[punkrockcaveman]

I think for me, I'm interested in natural resources, be that through foraging, green wood work, fire lighting etc, and that is kinda what the ethos of bushcraft is, learning skills so you can carry less, and harness what the natural world has to offer, alteast it used to be.

Following that principle makes you feel connected and gives you purpose

 

[Kadushu]

Maybe it's that our ancestors evolved to live by bushcraft and so when we practice it, we are doing what is 'natural' to us in the grand scheme of things.

 

[billycoen]

Being "out there" where ever that may be, certainly helps to blow the cobwebs off,well for me it does,but i also find the little things like getting a bit of kit together to go for that walk/hike also gives me focus.

 

[cbrdave]

After a long lay away due to ill health, i am now getting back out for daily walks and they are getting longer and longer, being somewhere peaceful has put my head in a better place and i am starting to feel the body health benifits, even simple things like a walk in nature and making a brew with my stove keeps me mentally fit, if it wasn't for this site and the walks i'd be stuck indoors flicking a switch on a kettle and festering infront of a screen.

 

[Erbswurst]

Hiking and wild camping next to lakes are the only species-appropriate husbandry for human beings, especially if they have the oppurtunity to apply bushcraft skills.

 

[Robson Valley]

It's a fact that humans are social animals. Fire has brought us together for millions of years. Decades ago, a friend observed that my grouse hunting was really an excuse to go for a walk in the woods. Mental health. Knocking down a few birds has always been a bonus for the day.

 

[British Red]

I just posted up a survey for a masters student called Jim HERE and it got me thinking a thread for us to discuss the health benefits of bushcraft would be good.

I think there's a huge personal benefit to being outdoors in fresh air, using ones body and being focused on mindful skills etc. I think that in the world generally there's very little room left for pondering, just being with oneself, our thoughts and feelings etc. In the outdoors there's so much more opportunity to learn about ourselves, to formulate our own opinions etc as well as benefit from that feel good feeling that fills us.

Just some thoughts...

What do you think?

I think there's a lot in what you say. I do more "homestead" than "bushcraft" now but spend a lot of my time growing, building, cooking on wood, sawing, chopping etc . - living like a peasant

I think (obviously) that time spent doing these things has a lot to commend it.

1) It's proven that time spent in fresh air & in contact with the soil has health benefits

2) In the modern world, it's great to spend time doing a single, physical task with a measurable result.

3) Isolation from the constant pinging of notifications, emails, WhatsApp etc. gives time to reset

4) In work, cities, even homes sometimes we are forced to smile through gritted teeth at people we really dislike at times. It's great not to have to.

5) Finishing a hard task, tired and a bit sweaty is good, not unpleasant.

6) Working with, often dangerous, tools without being babysat, regulated and certified is a simple relief these days.

7) IMO, human beings were never designed to be packed into massive groups. Social animals? Perhaps - with family and a few like minded friends at well spaced intervals. Packed into polluted concrete jungles with people we've never met, nor want to meet? Nope.

In short, I think I am happiest spending most of my time doing actual work in the open air, with occasional time spent with other people, rather than the other way around.

 

[TeeDee]

I think there's a lot in what you say. I do more "homestead" than "bushcraft" now but spend a lot of my time growing, building, cooking on wood, sawing, chopping etc . - living like a peasant

I've often wondered if this day to day gentle list of chores is a way of being 'Mindful' without over thinking it.

I know being Mindful is a very contemporary term but there is a simple beauty to just being in the Now.

 

[British Red]

I've often wondered if this day to day gentle list of chores is a way of being 'Mindful' without over thinking it.

I know being Mindful is a very contemporary term but there is a simple beauty to just being in the Now.

It's not a term I would use but yes there's a calmness that is relaxing in swinging and axe or, this weekend, barrowing another lorry load of woochip. I'm building a chicken coop at the moment using tongue and groove on framing I'm ripping to size. It's ply lined and, sitting in my workshop with some John Wyndham novel playing using a low angled block plane to true the end frame of the planks doesn't feel like work. It's satisfying and, almost, Zen like. In part I am sure this is because I selected the materials, came up with design and am building it with care for our use. It would not be the same building it in a factory assembly line and making it down to a cost rather than up to a quality. I also love working with, or at least around, the weather. Coop making is evening work in the workshop. Planting and digging is daylight work. I feel the day and the weather now.

 

[JonathanD]

Tens of thousands of years getting DNA attuned to an environment. The sounds, smells, heat of the sun on the skin, smell of the earth when the rain falls on it, cut grass. It’s all remembered. And in the last half century most people have been ripped out of that and had it replaced by a constant rectangle of light and unnatural sound.

Is it any shock that people who experience nature again feel relaxed. Even if they’re just underneath a tree in the local park getting half cut.

 

[Broch]

I've often wondered if this day to day gentle list of chores is a way of being 'Mindful' without over thinking it.

I know being Mindful is a very contemporary term but there is a simple beauty to just being in the Now.

I don't believe mindful awareness is limited to physical and 'honest work' type chores to be honest; it can be applied to all action including office work and even (or especially) combat. I could not have done my job over the 30 odd years I worked for myself in technology without applying mindfulness to my everyday tasks. I don't think it's the task that harms our mental state but the demands of time, politics (with a small p), and competition.

Having said all that, it is easier to apply mindfulness to swinging a good axe down onto an ash log than when trying to solve a tricky software algorithm, or overcome impossible project timescales. But, with careful control of external stimulations, the latter is not impossible. I thought I was in control until I retired; now I know I was clinging on by my finger tips. Now, spending a day in the wood, getting home exhausted, sitting down with a cold beer in the knowledge of a day well spent - is priceless.

 

[TeeDee]

I don't believe mindful awareness is limited to physical and 'honest work' type chores to be honest; it can be applied to all action including office work and even (or especially) combat. I could not have done my job over the 30 odd years I worked for myself in technology without applying mindfulness to my everyday tasks. I don't think it's the task that harms our mental state but the demands of time, politics (with a small p), and competition.

Office work? really?

Can you explain your position how it applies to Combat? Genuinely interested.

( Maybe in PM if awkward to discuss here )

 

[Broch]

Tens of thousands of years getting DNA attuned to an environment. The sounds, smells, heat of the sun on the skin, smell of the earth when the rain falls on it, cut grass. It’s all remembered. And in the last half century most people have been ripped out of that and had it replaced by a constant rectangle of light and unnatural sound.

Is it any shock that people who experience nature again feel relaxed. Even if they’re just underneath a tree in the local park getting half cut.

The truth is though, there is a lot in our DNA that we are forced to ignore in the name of 'civilisation'. Two million years of evolution cannot be swept aside by a few hundred years of rules and laws (but now we're getting onto dodgy ground for many reasons ).