In this video, David Brimacombe shares the nature‑based practices that helped him recover over 20 years from seven concussions. He explains why and how brief morning sunlight exposure resets the circadian clock, how grounding (barefoot contact with earth, sand, or dirt) provides electrical conductivity that supports recovery, how immersing oneself in natural surroundings engages the reticular activating system to promote present‑moment focus and lower sympathetic stress, and why short walks—especially after dinner—further calm the nervous system. For days when outdoor exposure is impractical (e.g., cold, snow), he recommends looking out a window, listening to nature sounds, or viewing nature images as partial substitutes. Throughout, he emphasizes that nature’s healing power is accessible even in less‑ideal weather, encouraging viewers to incorporate these low‑effort, evidence‑informed habits alongside any professional medical care.
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Welcome back to the PCS Resilience Collective. As you can probably tell, I'm filming this video outside in nature, and that is the topic for today. How can we use nature to help our healing recovery? Now, for those just joining, the goal of this channel is to provide you with lifestyle modifications that can be supplemented by any specialist that you go to to help speed up your recovery. It took me 20 years to recover from my 7 concussions, and part of the way— majority of the way I did so was by finding out what worked for me. What were the big pushers, the big movers, the big rocks that I had to apply? And one of those things was nature, okay? Using nature as my backdrop. Now, not an ideal day today. This is the first snowfall. of the season. So a northern latitude country like Canada, it starts to get cold around November. I'm— we're in the thick of it, so I wanted to use today as a backdrop showing you that yes, nature can look ugly and wicked outside, but it doesn't mean you can't go and explore it. If you find enjoyment and use out of this material, please like and subscribe down below. So let's talk about the first thing I like to use in terms of nature in my recovery. Now, if we look outside, we do not see the sun right now. It's overcast, it's midday, but first thing in the morning is the best time to be outside. Okay, so we're not talking for an extended period of time, but if you can be outside for 5 to 10 minutes as soon as the sun rises, okay, those wavelengths, those colors in the sun's rays will help Set your circadian rhythm. Now, why do we need to worry about our circadian rhythm? Circadian rhythm determines our sleep-wake cycle. Now, if your circadian rhythm is off, your body won't know when it's time to go to bed. I found this the hard way. Could not sleep. When I did sleep, I got up at 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock every single night. Now, when you go outside and see the first light of the day, okay, those rays will hit your suprachiasmatic nucleus. Now, that part of your eye is going to actually activate your circadian rhythm, telling your body to reset so that that 24-hour cycle can reset so that now when you're ready for bed physically, your body will be prepared as well. Okay? Number 2 is grounding. Now, today, not an ideal time to go and take your shoes off and go for a walk, but typically speaking, I could go touch A tree. I could go hug a tree if I really wanted to, but I could be part of nature. I could put my feet in the ground, in the soft sand, in the dirt. Okay, I'm sure you've heard of grounding. Now, ideally, 20 minutes is what we're looking for here. That has been proven to be the kind of the, the minimum threshold. But if you can get 2-3 minutes here and there, that is better than nothing. So focus on grounding when possible. Get outside, get your feet in the dirt, feet in the sand, The wetter the sand or the dirt, the better the conductivity. So wet sand, ideal for grounding. And our 3rd concept I want to talk about, I want to talk about the reticular activating system. So the reticular activating system is your brain's filter. It determines what comes in and what doesn't. Now, when I'm in nature, one thing I truly notice, my phone is away except when I'm recording a video, Of course, my phone is away, my earphones are off. I am present in nature. I'm focusing on what I see and hear, not what happened in the past, not what happened 10 years ago, or what's gonna happen in the future. I am completely present in that moment. It allows me to filter out all the negativity in life. It allows me to block out all those things that I've been ruminating on. It focuses on the here and now, and that's what we need to do. So, Going in nature, I like to look for things. I'll look for a heart-shaped leaf. I'll look for a bird. It requires me to be present. It requires me to show my system and my body that I am safe in this space, that there's nothing here that's gonna harm me. And with that feeling of being safe, it lowers my sympathetic drive, lowers my stress state, making me feel not only safe, but a little more relaxed in the process. Now, the last thing I want to talk about is just going for walks whenever possible. I like to think that if you can go for even a five-minute walk after supper before bed, it's going to help draw down that sympathetic drive and get you into a rest state. Now, what if you can't go outside? So let's say you have a day like this—a prime day. It's snowing; it's cold. You don't want to go outside. Now, there's actually been studies that have found that if you go stare out a window, listen to sounds, or even look at images. Images of nature. It is not as profound as getting outside, but it does have some of the similar effects of lowering your stressed state and getting you into a feeling of being safe where your body no longer feels like it's constantly in that fight-or-flight situation. So what do we want you to get from this video besides the fact that maybe don't move to Canada in November, it's pretty cold, is that I want you to understand That there is great power in nature. I'm gonna do a few more videos about nature specific to some of the mechanisms that we've talked about, but this is just a general one. Understand that nature has amazing healing properties if you let it. Go outside, okay? Even if it's a bit cold, enjoy the weather. Be present. Focus on what's around you, not what has happened in the past, okay? I really appreciate you watching this video. Hopefully you subscribe if you haven't already, and have yourself a great day. I gotta go warm up. I'm freezing.
