The Healing Effects of Experiencing Wildlife

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2024

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Safe encounters with wildlife can deepen our appreciation for nature, and for other people. Craig Foster of “My Octopus Teacher” shares his transformational experiences with the animals of the ocean.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/murmd98b

Episode Summary
Venturing into nature and experiencing wildlife can be transformative. Safe interactions with wildlife encourage us to be more in relation with nature, and each other. In this episode, we hear from Craig Foster of “My Octopus Teacher” and how his interactions with sea creatures have changed his life. We also hear from environmental researcher Liz Lev about the effect on our well-being that being in wild spaces provides.

How To Do This Practice:
The next time you want to explore the outdoors, find the “wildest” space you can think of. Explore the “wild spaces” in your neighborhood or city, and reflect on your experiences with wildlife.

Today’s guests:
Craig Foster is the director of My Octopus Teacher, and the co-founder of Sea Change Project.

Liz Lev is an environmental researcher and research associate at Harder+Company who that specializes in the intersections of environmental and climate justice issues, mental health, and urban planning.

Learn more about Craig’s work:https://tinyurl.com/tyctr6fu
Follow Sea Change Project on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/2pzdx73z
Watch My Octopus Teacher: https://tinyurl.com/e87edt4b
Follow My Octopus Teacher on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/mryx4zum
Learn more about Liz’s research: https://tinyurl.com/y2afdxpr
Read about Liz’s research on wild spaces: https://tinyurl.com/msjsz32t

Science of Happiness Episodes like this one:

Experience Nature Wherever You Are, with Dacher (Encore): https://tinyurl.com/aj34s585
How Exploring New Places Can Make You Feel Happier: https://tinyurl.com/4ufn2tpn
Why We Should Look up at the Sky: https://tinyurl.com/mpn9vj2t
How Birdsong Can Help Your Mental Health: https://tinyurl.com/3tey4rb5

Happiness Break Related Episodes:

Feeling the Awe of Nature From Anywhere, With Dacher: https://tinyurl.com/y4mm4wu9
How to Ground Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/2wv69kws

Tell us about your experiences with wildlife! Direct message us or leave a comment on Instagram @scienceofhappinesspod. You can also e-mail us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Quite recently I had this extraordinary interaction with a fish.
0:10.0	This is a sea bream and they're quite a common fish in the great African sea forest.
0:15.0	I've swum past thousands and thousands of these animals and we'd actually just had an enormous fire raging through our area. The biggest fire
0:26.4	that ever raged to the Western Cape. There were these choppers everywhere
0:31.6	lifting water out of the sea to try and douse the flames,
0:36.4	and I desperately just needed to go in the water because it was a stressful time.
0:54.6	And I swam out far into the sea forest and it was difficult because I was breathing through my snorkel and I was breathing quite a lot of the smoke from the fire and I was way out in the ocean and looking back these giant clouds of smoke.
1:02.0	And the seabrem came up to the surface and really looked at me, which is very
1:08.0	unusual for a sea brem and then it came closer and I was like, what's going on here here this doesn't happen with these animals.
1:15.4	They're very beautiful they can change color from dark almost black to silver.
1:21.0	They've got beautiful, big silver eyes, fins on the side that they can lift out, a big
1:28.3	strong tail, and tiny little sharp teeth. This animal just came closer and closer and then it was doing a beautiful thing
1:38.3	it was opening up its fins and displaying at me and then it made physical contact with my skin, with my arm a number of times and I just
1:48.5	kept dead still and I was a bit traumatized from the fire. We had almost lost a friend's house, had a
1:55.0	evacuator, and it was incredible to feel the relief somehow. And this animal
2:01.6	just kept with me for about a half an hour in the water looking into
2:06.0	my eyes making physical contact.
2:10.2	And it is a strange thing that sometimes these animals come to you often in times of need.
2:17.0	I've had this. Even now when I speak about it, I get the tingles running up my legs and spine,
2:22.0	because that's a very very powerful thing.
2:25.0	So sometimes these extraordinary mysterious things happen and
2:31.0	nature's mirror is playing out in this beautiful unusual way.
	...

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