Taking Care of Eden

Summer - Dominica

Taking Care of Eden

written by Celia Sorhaindo photography by Hitesh Mehta

A recently published on-line Financial Times Travel article written by Paul Miles stated

“Dominica is almost literally Eden. The man who translated the book of Genesis into English for the King James Bible visited the island in 1593. Historians and biblical scholars think he let his experiences colour his translation. His Dominica journal entries are remarkably similar to some of the Old Testament’s description of the Garden”.

It’s an interesting theory and, true or not, it would be nice to think that Dominica was still able to conjure up these images for generations to come.

Sensitive land development will help; Terri Henry, an ecopsychology consultant and workshop facilitator, offers an innovative service to anyone involved with land development who aspires to minimise environmental damage and enhance the natural beauty of a place. Her inspired “nature connection” workshops are based on the principles of ecopsychology, an integration of psychology and ecology, the aim of which is to lead us to a deeper understanding of our place within the web of life.

The fundamental premise of this relatively new approach to conservation is the essential connection between all living things. As humans we are an integral part of nature and should not see ourselves as separate from it. Ecopsychology encourages us to remember and appreciate that the needs of people and planet are the same and, therefore taking care of the planet is synonymous with taking care of ourselves. Although these concepts are not new (and probably originate from ancient indigenous wisdoms), public awareness and acceptance of their importance for environmental security and the health/well being of all living things has grown recently. This is particularly apparent in the area of land development.

Terri explains that the purpose of the workshops in the development planning process, “is to facilitate the lost art of two-way communication between humans and the rest of the natural world.” When clients such as landscape architects, planners, developers and consultants participate “they make genuine sensory contact with nature and reintegrate the intelligence of the natural world into their perceptual awareness and thought processes, to support the development of their planning process”.

She goes on to explain that “each natural area has its own subtle energetic vibration which is known as the ‘spirit of a place’ or ‘Genius Loci’. By engaging and learning from this unique energy we can create designs that are born out of the land, arising naturally from it in ways that can complement, integrate and even enhance. When this is achieved, the planning process is in harmonious alignment with the ecological system and any decisions and development emerge naturally from the land, rather than being imposed upon it. When we listen to the land we can discover the essence of the place in multidimensional ways, which a survey based on strictly quantifiable data can not capture”.

Born in England, but with her paternal family roots in Dominica, Terri moved to the island in 2004 with the intention of creating a more natural way of life. Her years of study and experience have been in the holistic areas of massage therapy and ecopsychology. It’s an area she is passionate about and through her nature connection workshops she has been able to incorporate a much needed spiritual, or metaphysical, component in the land development planning process for several projects in the Caribbean. Through their success she has demonstrated the value and importance of creating holistically sustainable developments that are in harmony with the earth.

With increasing development interest in Dominica and the rest of the Caribbean, and the sale of land occurring at a growing rate, the benefits of ecopsychology are certainly worth exploring, not only for the environmental health of the land, but also for our mental and physical well being.