At the southwest edge of Vancouver Island, perched on a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific, SookePoint offers something that few places on earth can: uninterrupted immersion in wild, awe-inspiring beauty.
In a landmark 2004 experiment, researchers placed participants in brain scanners and showed them beautiful paintings. A specific brain region—the orbitofrontal cortex—lit up instantly. This dedicated neural real estate, sometimes dubbed “the beauty center,” implies that beauty appreciation is hardwired into our cognitive architecture. Moreover, our brains recognize beauty in milliseconds, long before conscious thought has time to form, triggering a cascade of physiological benefits. Stress levels fall. The nervous system calms. Blood pressure drops. The immune system strengthens.
At SookePoint, every day begins and ends in the embrace of nature’s grandeur. Imagine waking to the rhythmic crash of surging surf just below your feet. Look out and you’ll see hundreds of square kilometers of open sea stretching to the horizon—where orcas breach, humpback whales spout, and sea lions bark in chorus with gulls and eagles. The shoreline comes alive with sea otters and seals, while cormorants and flocks of seabirds sweep through the air above the thick forest fringe of the protected wilderness park.
Across the strait the dramatic snow-capped Olympic Mountains rise 7,900 feet into the air, lending an almost mythic quality to the view. It’s a panorama that never tires, a living canvas that changes with the light and the seasons.
But this isn’t just scenery—it’s medicine.
Modern research is revealing what humans have intuitively known for millennia: beauty heals.
It doesn’t matter if the beauty comes from the Sistine Chapel or from sea otters playing in the kelp below your deck—what matters is that your brain recognizes it, and your body responds.
A study in the 1980s by Roger Ulrich found that hospital patients recovering from surgery healed significantly faster when they had a view of trees rather than a brick wall. Those with a nature view needed less pain medication, had fewer complications, and left the hospital sooner.
Additionally, the Blue Mind Theory explores the calming and restorative effects of being near, on, or in water. It suggests that water can trigger a mild meditative state by engaging our senses, lowering stress hormones like cortisol, and increasing “feel-good” hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.
Many people experience mental and physical benefits when they have frequent or sustained views across water, including reduced anxiety, enhanced creativity, and improved emotional well-being.
At SookePoint, you’re not just looking at the beauty in nature—you’re surrounded by it, infused with it. From your window, patio, or coastal trail, you’re continually immersed in figurative “living art,” the kind that research suggests has a deeper, more enduring impact on health than abstract stimuli. Like classical paintings or harmonious music, wild landscapes provide both structure and novelty—pleasing patterns infused with surprise and movement—that keep the mind engaged and the soul soothed.
And it goes even deeper. Exposure to natural beauty has been shown to enhance emotional resilience, boost mood, and even influence the body at the genetic level. A 2024 paper suggested that awe-inspiring experiences—like watching whales crest the ocean’s surface or standing before a vast mountain range—might affect DNA methylation, a process that helps regulate genes involved in stress and immunity.
Beauty also encourages presence. In a world driven by noise and distraction, SookePoint offers space to slow down and simply be. As neuroscientist Anjan Chatterjee notes, beauty often hides in plain sight, but we need to quiet the mind to see it. Whether it’s the intricate pattern of driftwood on the shore or the silhouette of an eagle gliding overhead, SookePoint invites you to be still and notice.
And for those who do—those who engage, who marvel, who allow themselves to feel awe—the benefits can be transformative. One study found that consciously appreciating time in nature can increase life satisfaction by up to 25%.
In Plato’s Phaedrus, beauty was described as a reminder of something higher, something eternal. That sense of elevation—of the spirit lifting, the soul remembering—is what people can feel when viewing out to sea from SookePoint.
This is not just a destination; it’s a daily encounter with the sublime. And perhaps, in a world hungry for healing, that’s the greatest luxury of all.