Natural Conditions: How I Show Up Matters for You

I was talking with one of my mentors recently about the way I work now, and I heard myself say something I know to be true:

I’m a better therapist because I’m outside walking.

I know because I remember the twelve-hour shifts in a psychiatric hospital, moving from one psychiatric evaluation to the next. The years of private practice spent sitting inside an office, seeing client after client, hour after hour.

I liked the work then. I learned a lot. But I could feel the demands on my body, and I was often a grumpy human teetering near burnout.

The way I practice now is different.

And I feel so much more nourished.

Some days, I sit with clients. Some days, I walk alongside them. Often, I do both. That diversity sustains me. The movement, the changing scenery, the fresh air, the weather, the sunlight, the unexpected animal encounters—all of it asks something different of my body and my attention.

And while I’m caring for the nervous system beside me, mine is being cared for, too.

Nature nurtures me. Movement regulates me. I have more space. I listen better. I’m more present.

Regulation is relational. Energy is contagious. Our nervous systems affect each other.

The nervous system of the therapist matters.

After more than a decade of doing this work, I know the conditions in which I practice affect the way I show up for the person in front of me.

I’ve intentionally built my practice around the conditions that allow me to do this work well.

Because how I show up matters. It’s part of what I offer.

It helps create conditions for real growth.