Q: How Will Trends SHIFT after COVID-19?

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A. We will expect MORE

1. More: Awareness of our spaces and what our bodies really need
2. More: Willingness to make changes needed to thrive
3. More: Design to support our immune system. We’ll be looking to understand how and which colors, shapes, placements, and all aspects of the environment create our behavior and health. It’s already beginning.

Most of what the body requires is invisible

• Fresh, clean, moving air
• Fresh, clean, sparkling water
• Alkaline Sound & Acoustics
• Movement
• Appropriate Scent
• Appropriate Scale
• Appropriate Light, Darkness & Color
• Scale
• Relationships
• Happiness
• Beauty…

In this series, I explore with you the true NEEDS of the Body in the “built environment” and how to design for stronger, healthier, more satisfying lives.

Still the same after 200,000 years

When the true needs identified, and met, we experience more joy, immunity, health, vitality, better relationships, quicker thinking and creativity and an overall prosperous, effective life. Just like being “in love” we float and prosper.

The Body Knowing goes beyond the 5 Surface Senses

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute discovered that the body makes a decision up to 7 seconds before the thinking, rational mind. “Body knowing” is what funds immunity and health. Here and in my book, talks and classes, we explore the many senses the body has and we learn to design for them. There are at least 16 Body Needs, all of which I cover in my book: The Gentle SHIFT.

Body Need #16: Fresh, Clean AIR

Poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is more on the minds of the entire globe. As much as we may try, indoor Air is notorious for it’s lack of proper movement and proper filtration. We realize we must do better. Mold, bacteria, viruses (COVID-19), VOCs, and many pollutants that challenge health, including ozone produced from printers or combustion appliances, all live with us in the built environment.

Brain fog, emotional upset, clumsiness, and fatigue can be blamed on many other things like seasonal allergies, “something I ate,” a too-late night, hating your job, an unresolved conflict, when in fact those are symptoms of poor IAQ.

We often don’t recognize the cause until we, or a group of us, are seriously ill. But a serious trend to restore the nourishment in our lives through Nature’s wisdom is emerging.

If you know of someone working in Health Care wearing an N95 mask and experiencing fatigue, brain fog, and any of the above symptoms, recommend they have access to on-demand Oxygen, or at the very least walk outside and remove the mask for a breath of fresh air.

Nature’s systems are perpetual and thorough, and for nearly 3.5 billion years, Nature has provided the air we need to THRIVE. Through plants, trees, falling and splashing water, sunshine, darkness, wind and rain, Nature creates and filters air, diminishes viruses and toxins, and up-levels our immune systems to flourish.

How to design NATURE back into our lives in the Built Environment

2 Powerful Ways to Clean the Air

1 Open the windows Out with the bad, in with the good, and allow some sunshine to do its job too!

• Did you know that if you were in a sealed room, you would not die of lack of oxygen but an over saturation of CO2? CO2 levels in Nature range from 300-400 ppm (parts per million) and the built environment can have in excess of 800 ppm. Why is that not-so-good?

• A high concentration of CO2 can displace oxygen in the air. You won’t likely know you are slowly becoming ill because the symptons of too much CO2 are brain fog, clumsiness, emotional upsets, fatigue, rapid breathing and rapid heart rate. As less oxygen becomes available symptoms such as nausea and vomiting we might not associate with high CO2, but only the next phase is when we get alarmed: collapse, convulsions, coma and death can occur.

• Lower immunity is caused by higher CO2 levels. As CO2 combines with water, it forms carbonic acid, making the blood acidic, which sets up the body’s internal environment to support disease. Proper blood pH is vital for immunity, heart function, bone density, being brilliant. 🙂

2 Use Nature’s Filter Systems Waterfalls and plants filter air and provide the body with a sense of life and movement which is vital. A few mechanical filters, too, mimic Nature’s methods and don’t increase energy usage.

USE CAUTION: When using live Nature to filter air, be sure the plants and water are healthy, well-tended, properly draining, and be sure there is no mold forming. Nature is either growing or composting, and if it’s not healthy, it’s going to become food for the next generation and maybe take you with it.

• Water sheering, the Lenard Effect. Where water splashes such as a waterfall or fountain, the air becomes charged with negative and positive ions. Low ion-concentration allows indoor air pollutants and viruses to be longer-persisting. Just the splashing of water increases ion content of the air, making it healthier. Additionally the sound of water soothes the body, increasing emotional well-being.

• Mechanical Filtration: Filtration mechanisms that mimic nature’s atmospheric cleaning while maintaining the energy budget:
  • My favorite stand alone: Photo Electrochemical Oxidation (PECO) technology breaks down pollutants at a molecular level, including VOCs, bacteria, mold, viruses, and allergens, pollutants that are 1000x smaller than HEPA filter standards. Molekule owns the patent and these filters are even beautifully designed.
  • Mechanical systemic filtration that mimic Nature (biomimicry) can be found here at Bioclimatic.com
    • Bipolar Ionization (BPI) filters
    • Ultra-violet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI)

• Plants: A plant near your desk clears the air and has been shown to increase efficiency by 35%. Which plants? Check out this study by NASA for plants that improve Indoor Air Quality (IAQ).