Page - 229 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

229 Box 10.2: Elements of Nature-Based Recreation and Spirituality (Heintzman 2009, 2016) Antecedent Conditions: Person-related factors; things people bring to their outdoor recreation experience, e.g. • Personal history (e.g. previous experiences in nature; previous spiritual experiences) • Current circumstances (e.g. present-day issues and events) • Motivation (e.g. seeking or escaping spiritual experience) • Socio-demographic (e.g. gender, age, income) • Spiritual tradition and background (e.g. religion) Setting Components: • Nature (e.g. wilderness) • Being away, i.e. physically being away from one’s day-to-day setting and constraints • Place processes (e.g. emotional attachment) Recreation Components: • Activity, i.e. type of and challenge associated with the recreational activity (e.g. canoeing, hiking) • Free time, i.e. availability of unstructured time • Solitude, i.e. being alone • Group experiences (e.g. discussion, group effort) • Facilitation Spiritual Outcomes: • Spiritual experience (e.g. awe, wonder, connectedness, heightened senses, inner calm, peace, happiness, joy, elatedness) • Spiritual well-being (Hawks 1994) – Internal Aspects (e.g. sense of purpose/meaning; oneness with nature; connectedness with others; commitment to something greater than self; sense of wholeness in life; strong beliefs, principles, ethics and values that may or may not be grounded in a specific religion; feelings of love, joy, peace, hope, fulfilment) – External Manifestation • Interaction with others is characterised by, e.g., trust, honesty, integrity, altruism, compassion, service • Regular community or personal relationship with a higher power or larger reality that transcends observable physical reality • Spiritual coping: i.e. “ways that people receive help from spiritual resources (e.g. higher power, spiritual practices, faith community) dur- ing periods of life stress” (Heintzman 2009, p.  84). 10 Biodiversity and  Spiritual Well-being