The Spirit Of Healing

A Vancouver Urban Designer, Planner and Landscape Architect recounts her experience with gardens during her recovery from cancer.

“Having had cancer has allowed me certain freedoms I never had prior to my illness. One of those freedoms is the ability to talk openly and candidly about my experience. This piece entitled ‘The Spirit of Healing’ comes from a place deep inside. A place from which we all have the ability to seize and harness energy, but a place few of us tap into until we are confronted with a crisis in our lives. How each person harnesses his or her ability to heal is as different as each person is different.”

“Another aspect of the framework was the garden. I believe all gardens are nurturing, restorative and healing in themselves but this garden embodied the notion of sanctuary through courtyards which led from the public street, through a semi-private courtyard, to an inner private courtyard, and eventually to the house. The outer courtyard was rambling with flowers and vegetable patches. The inner courtyard was well protected from the sun and the wind. The garden, like the beach, invited involvement but allowed for passivity as well. There was privacy in the garden and a sense of separation. When I was ill, I needed privacy and separation. The frameworks of the garden and the beach, though different in scale, both suggested safety and protection.”

“In the garden I found elements which were complementary to the overall framework. These elements were the nature of the plant materials and the complexity of the setting itself. For me there was relief in returning to a more natural world. Tending to the garden and the plants within it was analogous to tending to my body. The time I took caring for the plants, picking off dead heads, weeding, watering and restaking would reap a bounty in the garden. So it was with my body. I felt that if I took care of my body, eating better food, rebuilding my physical strength, and taking the time to meditate, my body would reap the benefits more so than if I neglected it.”

Read the complete article, ‘The Spirit of Healing’, here.

Read more about Horticulture Therapy here.