Biomimicry. Ever heard of it? 

(a free exercise below – keep scrolling)

“Biomimicry, as described (and popularized) by Janine Benyus, is the practice of using nature as a model to develop sustainable designs and processes.”

Taken from Wikipedia, they define it as:

“The examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The term biomimicry (and biomimetics) come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate.”

I was introduced to this concept while watching a documentary on sustainable business practices titled “So Right So Smart”. A carpet company was using this concept so that old carpet pieces and recycled carpet can be pooled into one big melting pot making new carpet that isn’t of neutral or solid design, but of diversity, mimicking the natural patterns that emerge from the falling of flora on the Earth’s floor.

Try this little experiment with the pictures…..

Take time to actually LOOK at them.  With ALL your senses (see, smell, hear, taste).

Then pause. I mean REALLY pause (a 30 second pause).

Consider it a tiny moment of rest for the day.

Like nap time in Kindergarten.

Try it!

Look at ONE picture. Pause. Close your eyes. Wait.

Don’t even try to breathe. Just let your breath come, naturally.

Then, NOTICE what happens NEXT in your body.

Repeat with each photo.

The above is a simple exercise, yet it can do wonders for your physiology, your biology, your whole nature.

It is incredibly easy to get lost while in our ‘life’. It is incredibly easy to return back to life by simply returning to even the thought of nature. It is also incredibly easy to forget that we (you and me) are nature!

Soak up the essence, or the ‘bios’ as the Greeks would say: LIFE.

Detail, contrast, colour, layering, imperfections, texture, dry, moist, shapes….all that nature naturally gives us, no questions asked, is present in all of us, all the time. We just need to remember how much resource and diversity actually is there. Waiting.

Thanks for sensing with me. Irene.

(flora courtesy of Breitenbush Hot Springs, Oregon)