The new “Ken Burns” effect

Ken Burns new documentary, Ken Burns: National Parks – America’s Best Idea, was a fascinating look into the beginning, development and preservation of our National Park system here in the US.  I do have to admit that I enjoyed the series, albeit there were parts of the documentary that as one tweeter, tweeted, “was kind of like watching paint dry.” 

My personal curiosity with the National Parks is that I love the mountains, waterfalls, wildlife, etc. and so seeing the videos and pictures that were accumulated, taped, etc., for the documentary absolutely fascinated me.  The documentary although slow at times provided great insight to the painstaking efforts that Stephen Mather, Horace Albright and others took to ensure the preservation of the true beauty that our nation possesses, which is our National Parks. 

Out of the approximately twelve hours of video that comprise the documentary there is one point that I want to focus on.  There were several times in the life of Stephen Mather where he had “episodes” or bouts of depression, nervous breakdowns, I’ve seen the episodes listed several different ways.  The point is that during these episodes whether he was hospitalized or retreated to the comfort of his home, he repeatedly wanted to return to Yosemite or the wilderness of the National Parks to revitalize himself.  When hospitalized he always had two photos of his favorite views of Yosemite next to his bed.

Whether we realize it or not we return to nature and places of comfort to revitalize ourselves on a regular basis.  Whether we have photos of beach scenes, our favorite garden near home or the vast open landscape scenes of Yosemite, Yellowstone, or the Grand Canyon, we look to nature to help us Escape Our Reality.   Whether your reality is teaching at the local high school or deeply imbedded in the corporate cubicle world, the birds, the trees, the oceans and the mountains will always call us back to the wild to retool our hearts and reduce our stress.

As far back as Hippocrates and the Hippocratic oath, it has been known and practiced that although medicine/doctors have the education to heal, it has been believed that “Nature cures – not the physician”  Hippocrates.   Studies to this day are done to see how animals/nature reduce stress not only on the mind but also on the body.   Texas A&M researcher Roger Ulrich, segregated patients that had gall bladder surgery into two groups, one group that had a view of a garden and the second group had the luxury of viewing a brick wall.   Those patients that had views of the courtyard were discharged almost a day earlier, received less medication, recorded fewer complications and consequently had  lower medical bills.

In the cubicle world that we live in, where the probability that you have an office with a few and in the hard times that we’re experiencing economically employees are encouraged to work longer hours to pick up the slack for those that have been laid off.  With that being said, vacations are at an all time low and travel is down significantly over the last twelve months.   How then can you reduce your stress and introduce the effects of nature into your daily life? 

 My Blu Horizon was created primarily to fill that gap.  We provide high definition nature videos in a variety of formats.  We have them available as .exe files to install as your computer screensaver, you can put them on most digital picture frames that will play .avi videos and they’re also formatted to play on Iphones/Ipods.  I hope that they will provide you with some relief from the every day stress. 

If you can’t make it to the any one of the National or State Parks any time soon then get a copy of Ken Burns: National Parks – America’s Best Idea, it’s a great documentary.  Don’t try to watch the entire thing in one day.  Enjoy the history of our National Parks, visit My Blu Horizon and Escape Your Reality.