Nature as medicine with Madeline

Madeline is a medical student based in Auckland, while also directing a community charity, Neighbourhood. Alongside this, she’s a huge advocate for exploring our beautiful country and using nature as medicine. We chatted to her about how she balances it all… 

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to where you are today. 

Hello, Kia ora! My name is Madeline. I am a Swiss-British immigrant to Aotearoa almost 20 years ago now - I feel deeply grateful for my life here and I feel deeply rooted within this beautiful country. Day to day I am a medical student at Auckland city hospital and in any other spare time I can find I direct the community charity Neighbourhood and am a fitness coach. As I get older and finally realise that there is more to life than moving fast and external accomplishments, I have begun devoting more time to slowness and stillness. My life now is equal parts full of cooking whole food, learning holistic healing philosophy, being within nature and around those that I love as much as possible. 

You talk about wellness being multidimensional - can you tell us more about your wellness philosophy? 

I’ve spent the last 7 years learning incredible (and somewhat insane) quantities of knowledge and clever advancements in the field of science and health. I am so grateful for my opportunity to walk in this field, but, as a friend put it the other day, the very fact that all of this learning has come from a textbook is emblematic of the fact that it is somewhat fixed and static. Our world has changed profoundly, even in my own short lifetime, and I truly believe we need to look both backwards, inwards and across to access new ways of knowing how to keep ourselves well in modern times. For myself, beyond an acute / emergency context, I truly believe that the best tools to keep us well are embodied by our connection to the earth, eachother, ourselves, our food and all the intangible and sometimes indescribable “knowings” within us. It spans far broader and far deeper than wellness packaged within a hospital, a gym or a supermarket. It’s cellular. Sometimes it’s beyond physicality. It’s simply, yet complexly multidimensional. 

Running Neighbourhood and studying medicine must make for a busy schedule! How do you navigate stress and overwhelm?

Oh, for sure. It squeezes a lot from me in terms of empathy and outward offering but it is truly the greatest blessing and privilege to do what I do. I love that this question honestly asks about the heavy and hard feelings that inevitably arise when we are busy. I think our modern world does a great job of “coping” with these feelings but never truly addressing or healing them. I have coexisted with huge amounts of stress, overwhelm and anxiety for years and always thought the antidote was an early night, a deep breath or a paracetamol when they arise, but this year I started to change my life to prevent these feelings in the first place. I was told a beautiful and resonant thing this year which simply was, “doing the right thing takes losing something”. I think this can be applied in many contexts - doing the right thing for your energy levels and physical health may be saying no to the invitation to a late night out with friends, or to prevent chronic stress and inflammation in your body you may have to sacrifice rapid career progression. Ultimately, if you truly view your health and your body as a blessing it will mean sacrificing something somewhere else in your life. In my opinion, this is never not worth it. We are all on a treadmill chasing the illusion that abundance is possible in all facets of our lives - most of us never stop running. It’s empowering to know that we have a choice stop and find abundance within ourselves. 

What are your must have items for every adventure?

I try and give back to nature just as much as it gives to me, an easy way I do this is by leaving no trace and packing no waste, so 1. Would be my drink bottle and Dawny coffee cup 2. My film camera and 3. Good company (friends and fauna alike). 

What's your top 3 spots around NZ for adventure seekers?

Northland for its accessible beauty from Auckland - gosh we are lucky to have those forests, beaches and great surfing so close. 

Opoutere is my favourite campground in the entire country and the East Cape is so sacred and silent if you ever need time to realign and just be with your thoughts (and many wild horses).

Best spot for a Dawny mission in NZ? 

I love the Tutukaka coast, around Matapouri and Sandy Bay. Ocean Beach sunrises in Hawkes Bay also softened me in some hard times during the 2022 lockdown, too.