Lawn Care and Maintenance as a Meditative Practice

Lawn care is often considered a chore, but with time, you may come to realize that it’s actually a relaxing activity. Taking care of a yard is meditative, helps you forget your worries, and allows you to be one with nature. At MowTown Blades, we’re diving deeper into how lawn care and maintenance can help with your mental health. We’ll also discuss tools you can use, such as lawn mower blades Toro, to make the activity even easier.

Nature and Mental Health

Being in nature has been associated with better mood, lowered negative emotions, and a host of other benefits. It’s not surprising that people like activities like hiking, camping, and so on. In the suburbs, we may not have easy access to the wide outdoors, but our lawns offer a small slice of that.

Working on your garden is akin to working in nature. You tend to the growing bushes, water the beautiful flowers, and mow the grass. While doing these activities, you may have noticed your mood improving. Yes — the colorful blooms will leave you smiling. Scientific studies indicate more than just that, however. Here are other ways freshly cut grass or the feel of loose earth can affect your mental health:

• Soil microbes can increase serotonin production, a happy hormone
• Gardening helps increase mindfulness and cognitive function
• Lawn care encourages physical activity, which is important for mental health

Does Gardening Help Reduce Anxiety and Depression?

Anxiety and depression are common mood disorders. More than 30% of US adults have one or both of these issues. To treat these conditions, it takes a holistic approach. People need to undergo therapy, take medication, and do other activities that improve their condition.

Gardening has been shown as a beneficial hobby for people with anxiety or depression. Those who consistently carried out lawn care showed lower anxiety scores in one study. Gardening also increases dopamine levels, which heightens feelings of pleasure and satisfaction for people with depression.

Keeping Yourself Grounded Through Gardening

When things feel overwhelming, you may feel disoriented and extremely stressed. Grounding yourself is a practice that helps you relax and return to the present. You meditate, sleep, or do breathing exercises to reduce stressful thoughts.

Gardening is another practice that helps you keep grounded. The physical work doesn’t take a lot of mental effort, and you can do something purposeful and deliberate. Being in contact with nature also helps you relax, as mentioned above. The meditative aspect of physical labor can help you focus and release some of the stress you’re carrying.

What Is Rage Gardening?

Speaking of releasing stress, there is one gardening method that will help you let it all out — it’s called rage gardening. Pulling weeds, digging dirt, and slashing overgrown branches can feel therapeutic. Any intense anger or frustration you have — all that energy — can be refocused on these activities. The release is immensely satisfying, especially if you put in a lot of physical effort. Just be careful not to do too much and end up ruining your garden.

Ways To Make Gardening More Meditative

We’ve shared a few tips below to make gardening more beneficial to your mental health.

• Practice Mindfulness: It’s easy to get distracted. Make sure to focus on what you’re doing so you experience every part of it. You want your senses to experience the smell of freshly cut grass or the feel of the dirt.

• Remove Distractions: Connecting with nature means disconnecting from distractions, especially your phone. If you can help it, keep away from mobile devices or the internet while gardening.

• Use the Right Tools: Picture this: you’re already focused and calm, but the lawn mower blade you’re using isn’t cutting properly. It’s just going to make you feel frustrated, defeating the entire purpose of meditative gardening. Use high-quality equipment like Toro lawn mower blades. That way, you can do lawn care without any hassle or additional distractions.

Wrapping Up: How Gardening Helps You Relax

Gardening helps you reconnect with nature. Being close to greenery, doing manual work, and seeing the fruits of your labor can help with your mental health. In addition, lawn care keeps you grounded and refocuses your energy into something productive. To ensure a smooth, meditative experience, use the right tools and equipment during gardening.

For more details about the best mower blades, contact MowTown Blades or browse our products.

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