Igniting Our Senses: Connecting Nature, Well-Being, and Community

Bloedel Reserve is continuing to examine and explore ways in which nature can support and enliven the spirit and enhance well-being for our guests. This June, surrounded by the abundance of the blooming summer garden, a sensory workshop came alive, inviting community members with memory loss into a vibrant experience full of connection and discovery.

The scent of lavender, crushed rosemary and mint drifted through the Residence Living room, awakening memories as hands explored the textures of warm water running over smooth stones. The sound of tree frogs making their music and the movement of swaying grasses in the breeze were captivating to hear and watch. Sunlight filtered through the leafy vines of the David’s grape and poured through the windows, as guests were invited to explore various types of sensory engagement. Memories were not just recalled but experienced in the current moment, coming alive with color, sound, touch and scent.

This layered multi-sensory experience was created by Judith Rayl, an interdisciplinary artist, physician, and 2025 Bloedel Community Creative. The Living Memory Workshop© offered a joyous sensory engagement for community members from Bainbridge Senior Living’s Madrona House. The workshop synthesized Dr. Rayl’s environmentally themed photographs, videos, soundscapes, poetry, and readings captured at the Reserve, and included tactile experiences with herbs and flowers selected with care by the horticultural staff at Bloedel. This comprehensive hybrid program offered connection via sensory, cognitive, social and emotional elements, contributing to a gently immersive experiential journey.

In designing her creative offering, Dr. Rayl was inspired in part by the VARK (Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) learning styles inventory which acknowledges and considers different preferences for engagement and learning.

Bloedel Reserve’s Nature and Well Being group continues to look for ways to highlight and nurture the connection between nature, health, wellness and the community here in the garden…please join us to share in one of our upcoming offerings!

–Written by Well-Being Program Manager Tara Wittrup Moyer

Photos by Star Rush and Kasia Saito