You wake up; rub the sleep from your eyes, maybe yawn and then what? If you own a smart phone the next step probably includes checking your email, Facebook, texts, or a favorite news site. The world is quite literally in our hands. We have 24/7 access to a wealth of information that has radically transformed how we live.

Take a moment to think about your typical day. How much time is spent in front of a screen? And yes, I realize you’re staring at one now while you read this post. There are valid reasons to stay connected whether it’s looking at photos of family members who live on the other side of the world or staying abreast of what’s going on around the globe.

A lot of this content has the potential to enrich our lives and provide us with greater understanding of ourselves and others. Unfortunately, and let’s be honest, we waste a lot of time and energy zoning out in front of our devices. We seem to be at a crossroads where we value this new freedom but aren’t exactly sure how to handle it.

Recently, there has been a call to return to a simpler way of life that includes “getting back to nature.” This idea is somewhat vague and doesn’t present an honest view about the human race’s struggle to live in and overcome their environment. For centuries people were at the mercy of nature. We lived in constant survival mode as we dealt with everything from unexplained illness to unpredictable weather to food scarcity.

The flipside is our current reality which consists of the overuse of nature and its resources to the point of crisis. There has to be a balance between being at the mercy of our environment and exploitation of the natural world. As it turns out that balance already exists inside each of us.

In 1952 physicist Winfried Otto Schumann made a discovery that didn’t seem to have much importance at the time. Schumann calculated the frequency of the resonances that bounce between the Earth’s surface and the highly conductive ionosphere. Resonances are spectrum peaks in the Earth’s electromagnetic field that occur within a specific frequency.

Schumann calculated the frequency at 7.83 hertz, which is the exact same frequency as alpha waves emitted from the human brain. As we know, alpha waves influence our immune system or, when out of balance, they can alter our stress and anxiety levels. In alpha we are more relaxed, more creative and imaginative, we learn better, analyze less and our body’s physiology changes to more of an inner balance.

An interesting study by Professor R. Weaver looked at what happened when subjects were blocked from receiving the Earth’s natural frequency of 7.83 hertz. Participants were housed in an underground bunker for four weeks. Over time they developed headaches and became emotionally distressed. The symptoms lifted immediately when Weaver brought in a manmade transmitter and tuned it to 7.83 hertz to entrain the subject brains back to Shumann’s resonance.

A separate experiment in 2011 by Dr. Luke Montanye fundamentally changed our understanding of how life works. Montanye removed all DNA from test tubes filled with water samples and exposed them to the 7.83 frequency. The water, which had no DNA, produced new molecules even though no life was present.

Montanye theorized that our DNA communicates via the invisible electromagnetic field that surrounds our living Earth and which we are all connected to. The implications of this research are mind blowing. It seems that the electromagnetic frequency of the Earth not only has a hand in sustaining life here on our planet but also participates in creating it too.

All of this is interesting but what does it mean? Well, for our purposes, it seems the Earth, and all life, has a specific pulse. We – and by we, I mean everything – are connected to the Earth’s energy field that helps us maintain, sustain and create life – only here we don’t need Wi-Fi to gain access. The Earth has its own Wi-Fi that somehow influences our bodily processes.

We can tap into this frequency by going outside. Numerous studies have proven simply being exposed to nature can improve our overall mood and health. Furthermore, we can transform ourselves by tapping into the Schumann resonance because our own personal biorhythms and energy of our nervous systems and bodies synchronize with the frequency of the Earth.

By doing this simple practice we change out of the beta brain wave patterns that are consistent with high arousal or stress. And the more stressed you are the higher the beta brain waves. When we begin to synchronize with nature, our breathing changes and becomes more relaxed, our heart rate can slow down and our awareness shifts. That’s the beauty of immersing yourself in nature.

Additionally, when you are under the gun of the fight or flight nervous system you tend to obsess about things in your life. Your attention narrows, you become more object focused, and you obsesses about things, which leads to imbalance. Your hyper focus on the material world enhances that narrow minded focus and changes how you pay attention.

However, when you are in nature, you tend to open your focus and look at the bigger picture. When you are glancing at a landscape, viewing the midnight sky, standing on the top of a mountain looking out over the valley or spending time at the beach gazing out into the horizon, you are moving your awareness from a narrow focus to more of an open focus and your brain becomes more coherent. And when you brain is coherent, you are coherent.

The practice is easy and starts with how we pay attention. You can try this the next time you go on a walk. Leave your technology at home so as not to be tempted. Let your attention drift to something like a tree or a cloud and open up to seeing the expanse of the scene. Allow yourself time to slow down and breath without concern. In very little time you’ll start to notice your body and mind feel more relaxed. Soon, your brain waves will start to slow down and you’ll enter alpha—the same resonance of the Earth’s magnetic field. Spend some time here and connect to nature and the frequency of life.

Image courtesy of Bartosz Makara is licensed under CC 2.0