Nature & Beauty

Alt: Natural Calm & Tranquility Alt: Nature & Tranquility Connection to Nature

Nature

Evidence suggests that Mother Nature provides therapeutic benefits for people healing from trauma. Specifically, spending time around natural materials or looking at nature-based imagery can significantly lower cortisol and stress levels as well as reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, especially in women. Nature's calming effects can help individuals regulate their emotions and find a sense of peace, which is particularly beneficial for those with trauma who may experience intense emotions. Thinking about nature can encourage mindfulness, allowing individuals to focus on the present moment and release negative thoughts and emotions. To take advantage of all these benefits to help residents heal, the homes at Lion Canyon have been designed to provide constant exposure to natural elements.

When coming home to Haven House, residents are greeted with magnolia trees and a collection of colorful, fragrant flowers spilling out of the two large planters on either side of the staircase. Beautiful wood from all over the world fills the first room they walk into, taking various forms, all handmade: a solid block of gnarled monkeypod from Thailand that became an art pedestal, a large wall sculpture carved from a slab of acacia from Bali, a bench made from a live edge slab of black walnut from Vermont, three custom art frames handmade from Canadian birdseye maple, six live edge teak shelves, and several turned wood bowls, each made with multiple hardwoods like magnolia, bubinga, African mahogany, and wenge. Throughout the rest of home they'll find wood practically everywhere they look, from the cabinets and the shutters to the solid wood furniture in every room, large windows to let in fresh air and natural light, and artwork made from stone, seashells, driftwood, natural fibers, pressed flowers, and living plants.

Residents coming home to Cloud Nine Studios experience even more natural elements outside as part of the Recovery Pathway, including a running waterfall and the uniquely pleasant sight and aroma of an enormous wall of African jasmine and honeysuckle flowers. Once inside their homes, handmade custom hard maple woodwork is all around, accenting many of areas built for cats: the deep windowsill platforms where cats can lie in the sun, the finished edge of the cat loft, the threshold of the cat door to the litter closet, and the giant catwalk lightrail that wraps around two walls. The kitchen cabinet pulls are made from real driftwood, the convertible desk-beds are made of solid alder, and the huge full-length mirrors are made from live edge walnut, where they hang opposite custom art pieces made from dried moss and flowers. Picture and casement windows maximize natural light while minimizing obstruction, and the apartments on the top floor each have two skylights.

Finally, between Haven House and Cloud Nine Studios, there are also 19 Digital Art Displays, which have access to thousands of photos and paintings of natural scenes; plus, each one is surrounded by a handmade frame made of birdseye maple.

Beauty

A growing body of evidence suggests that surrounding people with beauty can aid in trauma recovery, and is particularly effective for women.

Aesthetically pleasing environments can evoke positive emotions, promote relaxation, and reduce stress hormones. This can be especially helpful for trauma survivors who often experience heightened anxiety and difficulty regulating their emotions.

Engaging with art provides a non-verbal outlet for processing difficult emotions and memories associated with trauma. can helps individuals to externalize their experiences, gain new perspectives, and rebuild a sense of control and agency.

Being surrounded by beauty can help combat feelings of hopelessness/ and worthlessness.

Using Beauty to Elevate

On a surface level, the way beauty helps is straightforward: Beauty make people feel good, so we aimed to fill the environment with as much beauty as possible.

One of the fundamental design principles followed during the design process was: Anything that can be, should be beautiful; anything that can be, should be art.

Extends to furniture, fixtures, especially objects people physically interact with, like faucets

Using Beauty to Ground

People recovering from trauma often experience emotional dysregulation, making it difficult to manage intense emotions. During these moments, grounding techniques, especially those involving objects, can be helpful to regain a sense of calm and presence.

During trauma recovery, people can frequently become emotionally dysregulated. At these crucial times, having an object to focus on can help ground them

Wherever possible, carefully constructed tableaus

Each common viewpoint within the home environment was evaluated as a tableau and wherever possible, art would

even in the bathrooms

During recovery, meditative moments and rushes of insight can come at any time, so we aimed to have some object of beauty available from virtually any point in the environment.

Sometimes with specific psychological goals in mind. See Healing High Art for details.

Calming Beauty Color palette based on colors that have calming effects on the brain / mood

Anything that can be, should be art. Failing that, Anything that can be, should be beautiful.

Discoverable stories.

Another was: Whenever possible Fill the home with beauty made by women, and furthermore, when possible, local women Local not only provides a greater potential for a sense of connection / The more they can identify with the artist / the closer they are in age, background, or location -- the more similar they are, the easier it is to feel a connection or to visualize themselves doing something similar The more immediate, the more realistic it seems that she could do it herself

The more they explore (at the time of their choosing, when they are receptive and curious), the more they will learn that these beautiful works they have been admiring were made by women / people they can identify with / people who aren't so different from themselves.

There, they'll learn that many pieces were made by local women