What Is a Sit Spot? 3 Benefits of Sitting in Nature

A special sit spot location is a favorite place outdoors where you can reconnect with the natural world. This could be at a local park, on a hiking trail, or in your own backyard—the only prerequisite is that the place should bring you peace. Your perfect sit spot will accommodate self-reflection and quiet time, during which you can develop a deeper understanding of nature and your role in the ecosystem.

Consider the potential benefits of practicing mindfulness in a location in nature that’s special to you, also known as a sit spot:

1. 1. Improved health and well-being: Creating a sit spot routine at a specific time of day can help you reduce stress. Additionally, it can help minimize your body’s release of cortisol, a stress hormone that can contribute to weight gain and other health issues. Practicing mindfulness in nature, forest bathing, or meditating in your favorite place using controlled, deep breaths can help make your body’s pH level more alkaline, reducing acidity in the body and, thereby, reducing inflammation, too.
2. 2. Increased wilderness awareness: Bring a nature journal to document your thoughts and feelings as you take in the natural surroundings. Refer back to previous journal entries to track your progress. For a more active pastime, consider bringing along birdwatching field guides, plant guides, or other resources to develop your knowledge of plant life, birdsongs, bird language, and so on.
3. 3. Refined observation skills: Test your sensory skills by writing down what you can see, hear, and smell. Try breathing through your nose to test your sense of smell or close your eyes to try to decipher the noises around you. Once you have a mental picture of the soundscape, open your eyes to discover how accurate your mental picture was. These mindfulness exercises and sensory tests can improve your peripheral vision, attention to detail, and spatial awareness.

Certain outdoor activities carry an elevated risk of serious injury. Wilderness scenarios require extensive survival gear, including but not limited to food, water, maps, protective clothing, and first aid, along with mental and physical fortitude. This article is for educational and informational purposes and is not a substitute for hard skills and expertise.

Prepare for any outdoor journey by grabbing a MasterClass Annual Membership and committing Jessie Krebs’s wilderness survival course to memory. As a former United States Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape instructor, Jessie can teach you everything you need to know about packing for a trip (neon is the new black), purifying water, foraging (crickets: the other white meat), starting a fire, and signaling for help (forget SOS).