The Spa and Nature Therapy
The term ‘spa’ is derived from the name of the town of Spa, Belgium, whose name is known since Roman times for its healing baths. From the middle ages, towns abundant in natural springs graduated into spa destinations like Karlsbad, Marienbad and Baden-Baden in Germany, all with waters considered to have medicinal and curative properties.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the natural spring baths at Karlsbad (Carlsbad) became a popular destination for writers, celebrities and other notables such as Sigmund Freud, JS Bach, Karl Marx, and Leo Tolstoy.
In 1915, whilst staying in the spa residence Rudolfshof, which is now part of the Carlsbad Plaza (photo right), Freud wrote to Sandor Ferenczi, “. . . Now, however, you have given me the desire for a more extensive presentation, which I will attempt and will show you before I make a decision about publication. Much depends on my mood; when one is in good spirits, one is bolder. Yesterday, on the second day, I began to continue the work, and I find that it isn’t going badly in the comfort of the Karlsbad cure”.
A forest path in the North Italian principality of Renon has been named the “Freud-Promenade”. It is the work of historian and Freud scholar, Francesco Marchioro. Following the spirit of Freud’s appreciation for the wisdom and flights of thought acquired through the motion of walking, this path was dedicated to his memory.
“When we wish to free ourselves from duties and places, pain and fear, we walk along lanes and through gardens, parks and trees, amidst leaves and the wind’s sighs in the hope that they will bring carefree thoughts to surprise and gently fascinate us. And when all of this happens in a serene sylvan setting we can give in to the genius of the place and capture the silent telling of tales, the fabric of impressions, the fleeting shadow of memory, the pleasure in a mobile glance, passionate and dreaming. We may even come across the genius of Vienna amidst the silence and countryside of Renon if we are capable of abandoning ourselves to the atmosphere of the new old path, which the founder of psychoanalysis surely took and admired along with his family on holiday all those years ago. Let ourselves be captivated by nature and its history, images, ideas and emotionally involving tales, which thus become a display of beauty, dialogue and the art of balance, parabola of mythical imagination that influences man’s consciousness like a work of transformation.”
Over the last few decades, aspects of the spa ‘cure’ have been absorbed into the ‘wellness’ culture. Now, mainstream and commercialised under the wellness umbrella, spas offer a vast range of treatments that include many iterations of meditation and yoga, Ayurvedic flotation therapy, Swedish massage, Japanese Shiatsu, Thai massage, European facials, acupuncture, Dead Sea salt scrubs, aromatherapy, reflexology, hypnotherapy, tai chi, dream therapy, psychedelic research, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and more. The wellness industry has also incorporated elements of ‘New Age music’ to form the spa ‘soundscape’.
What does this have to do with the psychoanalytic office? Psychological treatments of all stripes comprise an integral part of a ‘health retreat’s’ daily menu of activities. These treatments often feature ‘engagement with nature’ as a crucial component of the healing experience. The appeal of this sensory experience is pre-verbal, just as is the pampering offered by a benignly ‘maternal’ therapist or healer. The client dreams of a blissful merging, an ‘at-onement’, evoking an infantile submission to the maternal object’s care, where every need, in phantasy-time, can be satisfied.
To evoke a ‘spa-like’ element of sensory engagement (sound, smell, touch etc.,) within the psychoanalytic space, provided this sensory experience is ‘unsaturated’, seems to be compatible with the human affinity for sounds of nature, textures that appeal to the touch, natural light, sensual aromas, and so on. Despite the current mass-popularity around wellness, the sentiment underpinning this popularity is centuries old. Humans always loved engaging with the raptures of nature. In recent decades, consumer culture appropriate the language of the ‘natural’. Organic signifies ‘expensive’ and ‘rare’, which has served to increase demand for natural products. The zeitgeist implies, ‘if it’s organic, it must be good for me’. If food or other packaging states ‘environmentally friendly’, manufacturers must have given thought to preserving the environment. So, returning ‘back to nature’ is now a preferred escape, (part of the phantasy, at least), from over-stimulation and rampant materialism, unless terms like these are used by manufacturers to increase profits by manipulating consumers.
There are many other movements, some centuries old, that seem to illustrate the benefit of harnessing and embracing elements of nature and the sensory world for therapeutic purposes. I will mention some of these, below. Though traditional psychoanalysis is the antithesis of a ‘New Age’ philosophy, I have suggested compatibilities between the aesthetics and functionality of the spa/nature retreat, and the way psychoanalysis values minimalist aesthetics, silence, simplicity, dreaming, art, creativity, free thinking and attunement to nature.
The Japanese Wabi sabi tradition was an inspiration when conceptualising the office remake. The recognition of human imperfection, of life’s impermanence and our emotional fragility are realities within which all psychoanalysts work.
“Wabi sabi is an acceptance and appreciation of the impermanent, imperfect and incomplete nature of everything”
I had known nothing of Wabi Sabi by name at the time I commenced the PhD. My discovery of it, when researching ‘Japanese indigo’ for office paint choices, seemed fortuitous. Perhaps not so surprising after all, since my travels in Japan decades ago ignited an appreciation of Japanese approaches to architecture, music, design aesthetics and spirituality. There seems to be a common sensibility between Wabi Sabi and psychoanalysis – they both seek to create sensory environments that are thought-provoking, unsentimental and uncluttered, all richly conducive to meaning-making. Wabi Sabi has cultural antecedents in the aesthetically compelling, austere and highly stylised Japanese tea ceremony (Sado).
My own search for a facilitative therapy environment led me to think about the ‘ceremonial’ atmosphere of psychoanalysis, its consulting room decor, and other ‘thoughtful’ spaces in contemporary culture: museums, art spaces, libraries, places of worship – and the intellectual and cultural traditions underpinning them.
Another Japanese tradition is Shinrin-Yoku, literally meaning ‘forest bathing’. It is also known in the West as ‘Nature Therapy’. Shinrin-Yoku advocates the therapeutic benefits of ‘tuning into’ the sounds of nature and the appreciation of ‘natural silence’, which Dr Qing Li has called “one of the most endangered resources on the planet”.
“The sounds of the forest soothe our frazzled heads, lift us out of mental fatigue and give us the silence in which to think. When we do shinrin-yoku, we can find the peace and serenity that Japan was once famous for. In the forest, we can let our ears be captured by the sounds of the natural world and have our senses refreshed and rejuvenated.”
“Silence
The song of the cicadas
Penetrates the rocks.”
“The sounds of nature are a link to the environment and to ourselves. In the forest, we can learn once again to listen to the landscape we were built to hear. When we are quiet we can tune in to the natural world. Immersed in nature, we are in a whole new dimension, a restorative sonic landscape. Being still and quiet, we can hear the sound of silence and begin to relax. ”
Uµ represents the road back to the comfort and familiarity of nature. From a slight distance, nature caresses but does not impinge. Of course, nature can impinge, and humans are wise to maintain a respectful distance. Uµ is inspired by environmental sound, then reimagined and reconstituted using musical scales and other aural properties thought to complement the atmosphere of the modern office. In contrast to the soundtracks for some relaxation/spa/massage practices, reproducing the sounds of running water or crackling fireplaces during psychoanalysis would be felt as grotesque and anathema. Such derivative mimicry would be perceived, at the very least, as intrusive.
Dadirri - Inner deep listening and quiet awareness. Indigenous and most non-indigenous Australians appreciate that First Nations people have a deep respect for Nature and the sacredness of the land. In the Nauiyu language of the Malak Malak people of the Daly River, NT, dadirri refers to deep listening, contemplation and community connectedness.
To Aboriginal elder and activist Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, Dadirri recognises the “deep spring that is inside us. We call on it and it calls to us. When I experience dadirri, I am made whole again. I can sit on the riverbank or walk through the trees; even if someone close to me has passed away, I can find my peace in this silent awareness. There is no need of words. A big part of dadirri is listening”.
http://miriamrosefoundation.org.au/about-dadirri/
At one end of the Earth to the opposite, in Finland, the moss face bath is enjoyed in the Kainuu wilderness. As part of the government-funded Kantri-Sampo project, researchers have found that a regular nature bath will reduce levels of depression, alcoholism, and suicide. In South Korea, there is a free program of nature therapy sponsored by the local government for firefighters suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.