YOUR SENSORY FITNESS

POETRY, ART, AND NATURE—A GROUNDBREAKING APPROACH

by Susan McIntire ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 26, 2024

Speaker and workshop leader McIntire presents a reflective guide to banishing stress by spending time in nature.

In this lavishly illustrated nonfiction debut, the author acts as a guide for what she refers to as “a sensory journey where nature speaks directly to our souls.” She invites her readers to take this voyage in order to shed the nagging pressures of the modern age: “Imagine transforming the stress of daily routines with a rejuvenating interaction rather than meditating or numbing it away,” she writes, before turning the bulk of her narrative into a tactile, hands-on encounter with the world around us. Illustrations by the author and selections of the author’s poetry return consistently to the theme of nature’s healing potential; this is key when she notes the enormous number of medical issues that have their roots in stress. “Our tech-dominated era often leaves us craving simplicity,” she asserts, and the natural world, when appreciated with what she calls “sensory fitness,” has the ability to ground the worrying soul and calm the anxious mind. In addition to advocating mindfulness and journaling, she offers several exercises designed to “open doorways to deeper understanding.” Many of these activities take the form of what she simply calls “invitations”: smell invitations, taste invitations, or even “state of mind” invitations that “inspire us to seek out a new song, illustrating how music can be a joyful, transformative experience for the brain.” Several other exercises throughout the book are “indoor journeys,” which include storytelling or quiet reflection.

Throughout the book, McIntire takes the tone of a gentle, encouraging life coach who understands the distractions and distortions of the modern world and wants to help her readers to overcome them. Her championing of what she characterizes as the “garden journey” will cause readers to feel a keen sense of empowerment. This book offers a rare methodology of self-care that doesn’t rely on any technology, theology, or even trips outdoors (“sometimes,” she assures her readers, “meaningful adventures occur right where we are”). However, McIntire is also politely insistent on the virtues of going outside and literally touching grass: “Our modern lives are inextricably linked to nature,” she writes, “even when we don’t make time for it.” Her descriptions of the healing and calming power of the outdoors are the most lyrical and most convincing passages in her book. However, she’s just as compelling when she’s describing the simple measures that people may take to slow down, look inward, and defuse the tensions that accumulate day-to-day—even if that method merely involves sitting in a “comfortable spot by a window or nestled in a cozy chair.” With a tone of sincerity and clear, straightforward prose, she manages to avoid the sort of sentimentality that might otherwise attend a plan that urges readers to appreciate “nature’s evolving lessons”; instead, she slowly crafts a working model for using the simplest of tools to counter the demands of contemporary living.

A wise and accessible invitation to live a less anxious, more natural life.

Pub Date: June 26, 2024

ISBN: 9798990374003

Page Count: 398

Publisher: Peregrinate Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

NATURE | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | GENERAL NONFICTION