5 nature podcasts to tune into summer, from Meditative Story to BBC’s Forest 404

The hottest months of summer in a big city can feel debilitating. Too hot to run, walk or play outside except at the shoulders of the day and far worse, for me at least, is being imprisoned in freezing cubes of air conditioning thereafter. When we lock ourselves inside, scuttling as quickly as possible from office to shops and back home again, the loss of nature can feel immense. But as every happiness pod will tell you, dealing with uncomfortable environments is as much about changing your mindset as it is about secretly turning off the air con when no one is looking.

This is where the immersive quality of podcasts comes into its own, particularly for headphone users. No other medium gets as physically close to you, allowing words and music to be piped directly into your brain, changing how you feel. Not everyone likes this intimacy and that is probably why podcasts do not have the “penetration” rates of television. But for those who happily tolerate earbuds, here are several shows to transport you to cooler climes for a breath of fresh air.

As well as helping to tune out the heat and ambient clamour, sometimes it is just a case of refreshing your senses and giving you ideas to more fully appreciate nature the next chance you get to spend time in it. As Melissa Harrison, host of The Stubborn Light of Things, says, “If you live in a city and miss ‘nature’, the answer doesn’t have to be move out; it’s to tune in.”

1. Meditative Story

I love a title that tells you what’s inside the tin. Notable guests tell a life-affirming story from their past, interspersed with gentle meditation prompts from host Rohan Gunatillake, a well-being entrepreneur who also works for the National Health Service in Scotland. It could be described as a meditation podcast for people who don’t have the patience for meditation and, produced by former TED execs, each episode offers an accessible approach to mindful practices. Storytellers include author Isabel Allende, singer-songwriter Jason Mraz and comedian Tig Notaro but the episode from venture capitalist Tony Tjan conjures up his Canadian childhood amid the icy blasts of Newfoundland’s cliff tops and the open kindness of neighbours towards his newly immigrant parents.

2. The Walking Podcast

Some people will think this is a joke. Each episode of this award-winning podcast opens with the sound of someone pottering about, the swing of an (always squeaky) gate and footsteps before the host mutters, “Welcome to the Walking Podcast. I’m Jon Mooallem.” And that’s it. The rest of the episode records Mooallem’s measured footsteps as he tramps, quite quickly, through the woodlands around his home on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, in the United States. It is not as if the man can’t use words – he is a New York Times journalist and author – but the “no talking, just walking” format is peaceful and transportative. I fell asleep five minutes into my first episode but immediately went back for more. In this episode, the host also takes a short mid-roll break to answer the question, “Is your podcast a joke?”