The age-old debate pits nature against nurture, but being in nature can nurture the mind, body, and spirit. To that point, Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) is hosting its first-ever NatureZen Week.
The week, which kicked off on October 16th, features short mindfulness walks, led by volunteers from various disciplines — spiritual, artistic, wellness, ecology — to encourage people to slow down, take in their surroundings, and disconnect for a bit. “They’re kind of like the Japanese concept of forest-bathing where it doesn’t take a very long time to feel the benefits of nature,” says Melissa McMasters, OPC’s director of communications. “You just have to intentionally go and kick your mind off of other things while you’re there, and your body and your mind start to respond.”
The ultimate goal of these walks and of the week overall is to serve as a launching pad for OPC to implement more mindfulness walks and activities. The idea arose from the times of lockdown. “We started running a NatureZen series on our blog and in our email,” McMasters explains, “and we kept putting out all this messaging to encourage people to still get to the park if they could and enjoy the beauty of nature, just as some kind of a counterbalance to the pandemic. Now we are looking more into public programming.”
To conclude the week, OPC invites all to Club House Zen at the Brooks Museum Plaza. “It’s gonna be kind of a happy hour,” McMasters says. The celebration will also mark the closing of the Brooks’ outdoor pop-up exhibit, “Evanescent,” a collection of larger-than-life bubbles.
“It’ll be really cool to have a dance party with the bubbles,” McMasters adds. DJ Bizzle Bluebland and Ross al Ghul will spin tunes, and food and drink will be available for purchase. A donation of $25 to the conservancy will get you a wristband for free food and drinks for the evening. For more information and a full schedule of mindfulness walks, visit overtonpark.org/naturezenweek.
Club House Zen, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Plaza, Friday, October 21, 5:30-7:30 p.m., free.
