Forest Bathing
Imagine stepping into a set from a movie, a movie where the fantastical other world beings live in complete contentment. The trees stand tall and strong, completely rooted, their bases covered in lush, verdant moss. Dappled between the trees is a carpet of greens; lime, chartreuse, olive, sage, glacial, celery, pear. All working perfectly together to create this feeling of calm.
Quite often walking involves an A to B trek. Planning routes across fields, hills, valleys, mountains and forests. It is all about the miles, the distance and the speed. How far can I walk, how fast, can I do it quicker than someone else? Yet this process misses out a huge element. It misses out the looking and the seeing and the feeling of being in nature. Don’t get me wrong, I love a long-distance walk, for me it’s about the sky, the view and allowing myself the time to just amble along. However, there is a great deal to be said for being still, being slow and being the last one home.
When many people hear the words ‘forest bathing’, they think of swimming among trees. The truth is forest bathing, or Shinrin Yoku rarely involves bathing in water and yet, the air which one breathes while walking shares some similarities with water in many ways. The air moves in currents and flows; this can be seen in the countless patterns of floating clouds in the sky. The air contains so many eco systems including breeze-borne strands of insects and birds, pollen, soil, fungal spores to name a few. So technically, the air is like an ocean in which everyone bathes.
During forest bathing, you immerse your senses in the special characteristics of the forest. You take a slow walk through the woods while focusing your senses on the multitude of ways the forest surrounds and touches you. You are able to feel the breeze, hear the streams and rivers as they flow, hear the birds sing and see the trees move. By tuning in your senses, you are able to reduce the volume of melodiousness of your inner thoughts. This allows your senses to bring you in to the current moment where you can appreciate what the forest has to offer.
Shinrin Yoku is not hiking; the focus of Shinrin Yoku is connections and relationships. The term was coined in the 1980’s by Tomohide Akiyama in Japan and is backed by many scientific studies which show that Forest Bathing has both physical, and mental benefits which include; boosting the immune system, reducing blood pressure, improving inflammation, improving stress levels and raising antioxidants, improving cardiac function, decreasing blood glucose, improving mood, anxiety, depression, restoring attention capacity and improving cognition and memory.
Not bad huh? And not to be sniffed at. I think we can all take something away from this practice and implement an element of it in the everyday. Put the digital tech down and head down to the woods, because you can be sure of a big surprise…
And Watch This Space - as I will be running Escape Retreats and Walks this summer and beyond where you can come along for some guided nature connection, mindfulness and general good times in the beautiful Wye Valley…
