{"id":379,"date":"2020-12-17T20:36:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T20:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/?p=379"},"modified":"2021-05-07T16:38:13","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T16:38:13","slug":"the-healing-aspects-of-meeting-in-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/the-healing-aspects-of-meeting-in-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"The Healing Aspects of Meeting in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"p1\">We are lucky to live in California, where the weather is mild year-round, and we can use our outdoor spaces as extensions of our&nbsp;homes\/living&nbsp;spaces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The need for human beings to be outside in nature is as old as time. Today, modern medicine and wellness experts acknowledge the healing aspects of connecting with nature, finding tranquil places to reflect, find hope and focusing on healing&nbsp;and&nbsp;strength.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">During the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, CiminoCare communities have been so grateful for their outdoor spaces, gardens and walking paths. Being outside, being able to smell the fresh air and plants, see the colors of the flowers and trees, and feel the many textures in the backyard and garden helps us to feel grounded&nbsp;and&nbsp;hopeful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Portola Gardens, a CiminoCare community in San Francisco, is especially lucky to have a huge background garden and walking paths. We have lost count on how many times someone has said, \u201cyou\u2019d never be able to build a place like this with so much outdoor space today!\u201d It\u2019s true. During visitor restrictions, Portola Gardens was able to set up outdoor visiting areas for families to safely visit outside in the garden.&nbsp; \u201cJust sitting in an environment surrounded by 100-year-old trees, fresh flowers and an herb garden helped to normalize visits where people were socially distanced and wearing masks. You can\u2019t help but take a big deep breath!\u201d recalls Jeffrey Dillon,&nbsp;executive&nbsp;director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Other ways Portola Gardens has used its Garden as a healing and&nbsp;purposeful&nbsp;space:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Portola Gardens participates in the annual Portola Garden District Garden Tour that helps support horticultural education and preservation of garden spaces, especially in urban environments.<\/li>\n<li>Residents and staff picked sprigs from the holly bushes to make wreaths and candle holders and gave them as holiday presents.<\/li>\n<li>Residents plant and tend to herbs that get used in the kitchen.<\/li>\n<li>Resident gardeners are in charge of tending to the garden beds. They have a sense of pride in watching the garden grow and thrive.<\/li>\n<li>Walking paths and sitting areas are sprinkled with inspirational sayings to help prompt reflection, hope and healing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"margin-top:1em;\">We hope this inspires you to sit in a garden or backyard this week and reflect on your own resilience and the gifts that come&nbsp;from&nbsp;nature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Portola Gardens is luck y to be located in a beautiful setting with well-maintained and well-utilized outdoor spaces. Discover the benefits of spending time outside, on a walk, or just for a few minutes on your balcony or front stoop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ciminocare.com\/portola-gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}