Many focused on the impermanence of their present pain. As one athlete told herself, “Sooner or later, the last lap will be done.” This mentality wasn’t simply about imagining a pain-free future. It was also about savoring a present moment that included both pleasure and pain. One athlete pretended that whatever lap he was swimming or mile he was b

This was something of a revelation—how much the individual psychological benefits of physical activity rely on our social nature. How so much of the joy of movement is actually the joy of connection.

And the more physically active you are, the more rewarding these experiences become. That’s because one of the ways that regular exercise changes your brain is by increasing the density of binding sites for endocannabinoids.

When the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society turned over two hundred vacant lots in Philadelphia into green spaces by clearing debris and planting grass and trees, the incidence of depression among those who lived nearby dropped by 42 percent.

When you are absorbed in your natural surroundings, the brain shifts into a state called soft fascination. It is a state of heightened present-moment awareness.

According to Rosati, this need gave rise to mental skills she labels foraging cognition. Just as natural selection favored anatomical changes—like longer legs and powerful gluteal muscles—that helped humans hunt and gather, it also reinforced mental abilities that helped our ancestors find what they needed.

Often we are drawn to physical activities that reveal a new side of ourselves.

Outsiders cannot understand the appeal; this is a joy for which spectatorship falls short. Like any nature-harnessing phenomenon, it doesn’t make sense until you’re in the middle of it. Then suddenly, endorphins flowing and heart pounding,

Green Gym’s unofficial tag line is “physical activity with a purpose,” and this is how managing director Craig Lister typically pitches the program. “Rather than go to the gym to lift things that don’t need to be lifted, give us three hours of the week. At the end of each session,