First Lithuanian Outdoor Office Day 2025: "nature is in our blood."
Outdoor Office Day was a pioneering step in Lithuania. But a great one if you look at the large number of various organisations which embrace the idea. What did you discover about people, organizations, or even yourself by proposing and organizing such an ‘out of the box’ event? Can you also tell us more about the way you managed to inspire so many organisations to participate? And which are the learned lessons? This information will be extremely valuable for other like minded people trying to organize such events.
At the beginning, I was thinking of a research: is there a possibility to find at least 5 companies that would notice the need to be more outdoors during work. So I was just writing emails, making phone calls, meeting people from different kinds of companies, and asking them: are you okay with being indoors so much during work? How do you feel about this? Do you want to try moving outdoors, even for one day? It can be done in a creative way: walking meetings, Zoom calls in the park, or morning meetings in the park…
So when the first organization said, “YES, we are in, we need this,” I thought, that’s it. Let’s try and see where it leads. 25 companies and organizations joined this year. From March to June, we had monthly meetings online. One to three people from each company joined these meetings. They started to network, offering ideas and exchanging their mindset. And on June 12th, we had our first Outdoor Office Day in Lithuania. It rained in some Lithuanian cities that day, but some organizations found creative ways to deal with it, while others postponed it to another day.
After a reflections with participants, we decided to expand it to Outdoor Office Week in Lithuania, which will take place on June 8–12, 2026. I think the inspiration for Lithuanian companies comes from each other: meeting, listening, sharing, talking, and experimenting. People need to gather in a community and have space to share how they feel working in that “box.” Even if only two people from a company participate in these meetings, they empower themselves, get inspired, and bring that energy back to their company’s team. Secondly, public communication is also very important. People said that when they saw messages on social media that Company X or Y was joining Outdoor Office Day, they felt the need to be part of this community too. It awakened that wish as well. And the third thing, in my opinion, is that the connection with nature, with forests, is deep in Lithuanians’ blood. So when something awakens that feeling, nobody can stop Lithuanians — and the snowball starts rolling :)
All images in this article courtesy of #outdoorofficeday 2025 in Lithuania
Many of us see nature as a place to rest, but you position it as a place to work, create, and collaborate. What lessons does nature offer us that traditional offices cannot?
Walls can protect us from cold winds, but they can also block the most beautiful sunsets. So there should be a balance. For example, physicist R. Taylor, using eye-tracking equipment and devices that measure brain activity, studied what happens in our brains when we look at natural fractal patterns. He observed that we are instinctively inclined to respond to fractals found in nature, and that looking at these naturally recurring patterns can reduce emotional tension by up to 60%. People, did you hear that? 60%!
So, nature still represents relaxation and home to us. It gives us a sense of safety. Architectural forms, on the other hand — even though they are technically our “homes” — do not activate the relaxation centers in our brains when we look at them. So why not activate those relaxation centers during our work, where we need constant regeneration to maintain internal vitality and work efficiency? To sum it up: when looking at nature’s patterns versus city architecture, completely different processes occur in our bodies and brains. We just need to pay attention to this, to what our body is trying to tell us.
Change often meets resistance. What challenges have you encountered in encouraging professionals to embrace the outdoors as a legitimate workspace, and how have you seen mindsets shift?
You know, I think, that it is not about shifts or changing somebody's mindset. But holding space for experimentation when being different starts to feel natural. And it is related to inner viability. A way of doing becomes a way of being.
Of course we have a challenges in that experimenting.
Dead (or sleeping) creativity. When I speak with people about working outdoors, the first question mostly is: How? Many see only one option: take the computer and go outside. But our participants this year showed unbelievable creativity: walking meetings, coffee breaks, Zoom meetings in parks, strategic sessions outdoors, answering emails outdoors, company annual strategy sessions outdoors, and more.
Financial sustainability. It seems that the Outdoor Office work culture in Lithuanians is moving toward networking, work culture experiments, and educational platforms. Meanwhile, facilitating this takes a lot of resources. So, we need to focus on financial sustainability more, if we, Lithuanians, want to continue it and not remain at a temporary “fun initiative.”
Not ergonomic outdoor public spaces. Even when there are spots in parks or other public spaces, challenges include sun exposure, electricity, and Wi-Fi access.
Allowing experimentation. Some organizations want to try working outdoors but are afraid of what people will think. The challenge is not about a mindset shift alone, but about seeing opportunities instead of limits.
Images taken in the historical garden Schoonoord, Rotterdam
When we met in Rotterdam, during a long walk we discussed the role of nature in our every day life. Looking back, how did that dialogue connect with your own path and plant seeds for what became Outdoor Office Day in Lithuania?
Our meeting in Rotterdam laid a solid foundation for the very essence: asking the question ‘why are we so disconnected from nature during work hours’? After all, we created this kind of culture ourselves, which means we can also examine, explore, and change it ourselves. It was also very important that during the meeting we discussed the different needs of various countries when it comes to reconnecting with nature at work. What works in one country does not necessarily work in another. For example, Finland is in one climate zone, Germany in another, and Lithuania is still different. The national culture of each country also varies. This opens up space to explore and experiment with our identities as countries. Who we really are? Based on the climate we live in, our roots, what our country’s culture needs, and how we can shape it ourselves according to our inner needs for vitality.
9 zuikiai brings together nature, creativity, and community. Sandra, could you tell us more about the personal experiences or turning points which shaped your belief that nature should be part of our daily work lives?
I was born in a country - Lithuania, where connection with nature, with soil and forests is deep in my roots, but I muted it by focusing not on my inner, but on my outer facade. I got caught up in a system that is based on a constant desire to prove to someone that I am enough. And for this I choose consumerism, exploitation, but not inner vitability. I was smiling outside, but dying inside. Everything started from my personal burnout after long hours sitting in front of the computer, working long hours and trying to prove that I am worth enough when I work a lot, have a lot, and am accepted by others. I was working in such a mode for about 8 years after finishing my studies at the university. But after solo travel between huge cities like New York and Los Angeles and raw national parks with one backpack on my shoulders, I started to notice that I have less, but I am more. I feel more, I am enough, and I don’t need anyone to prove anything. Especially in a natural environment. And I started to dig more into what this feeling is about.
Studying the environment and health, and how they affect human abilities, as well as organizing meetings with communities, helped me focus on regeneration. And it is about inner viability, where daily connection with our biological nature is based on how we experience nature's services through our sensory system. Around 90% of urban human life is spent indoors, separated from each other and from living systems in nature. I ask people, and many of them working in offices say that they want to be more outdoors. Why not try to change the work culture through creativity and create one that is more connected to nature, not just on weekends, but every day?
How does this philosophy translate into practice at 9 zuikiai? What kinds of activities or approaches do you use to help people reconnect with nature in their work and everyday routines?
We provide educational training and programs for business companies. Creative outdoor education for companies and organizations pursuing sustainability, focusing on environmental, well-being, and nature intelligence topics. Education, programs, hikes, inclusion, experiences, experiments, explorations, facilitation, and process design. It includes unmuting the human sensory system through different kinds of practices, as well as educational workshops on how ecosystems work. For example:
Human well-being dependence on biodiversity;
What kinds of services and raw materials humans get from nature and what is the cost of it for human health, productivity, creativity, and inner vitality;
Sensory overload in the tech age. What do artificial and natural intelligence have in common?
Future modeling using 3.5 billion years of existing intelligence — developing technologies inspired by the microscopic world of nature.
Workshops and training for companies can range from a few sessions of 3–4 hours to programs of 1–2 years. We use participatory design, experiential learning, future thinking, and design thinking tools. After every session, you can see initiatives emerging from the bottom within an organization’s work culture: from morning work meetings outdoors to healthier work habits overall. People experience the environment through their senses, so what really works is including its awakening in the work culture.
If we look 5–10 years ahead, what part does 9 zuikiai hope to play in shaping that future?
I hope that in 5–10 years, Lithuania will be part of the European network of Outdoor Office Culture, serving as a strong example of human and nature connection. Just to let you know, the participants of this year have already begun to loudly express the need for international networking. :) It is not about 9 Zuikiai, but about people’s needs in work culture. What do they really need: to stay in the “box”, or to connect more with nature during work? Maybe 9 Zuikiai could be a very, very small part of this big mosaic, acting as educational weavers in our country. But the most important pieces of this mosaic will be the companies and organizations that continuously create the shape of Outdoor Office culture from the bottom up. With this in mind, policymakers, decision-makers, municipalities, and urban planners will plan and design ergonomic outdoor spaces to support an Outdoor Office culture.
On a personal note, what do you gain when you step outside to work in nature?
Inner vitality, sense of self-worth and being yourself, being a part of something huge.
