Feeling blue? Take a hike
Gas prices, war in the Mideast, yo-yoing stock market got you down?
You might benefit from a little “forest bathing.”
The Japanese wellness practice has nothing to do with showering in the woods but is intended to provide a digital detox, an opportunity to disengage from urban trappings and pressures, and take time to appreciate all that nature has to offer.
It’s the equivalent of taking a walk through the woods and “bathing” yourself in the sensory experience: smelling the scents, listening to the sounds, touching the earth and foliage and breathing in the air. It’s nature’s version of aromatherapy.
And it’s all done with mindful intent. The goal is to be present in the moment in order to fully immerse yourself in your surroundings, absent of any thoughts or worries.
Forest bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, has been around since the 1980s, and is rooted in ancient Shinto and Buddhist practices that revered nature. According to a recent Associated Press story, the activity may help reduce stress, enhance the mood and boost the immune system.
In fact, just 15 minutes of walking through the woods can help relieve stress and anxiety, according to a 2019 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
In the AP story, certified forest therapy guide Shawn Ramsey led a group of “forest bathers” through the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, N.C.
“I invite you to really spend the next 10 minutes just exploring this area,” she told the group. “Really focusing on your breath, on your footsteps. All the natural sounds around you. Thinking about the forest’s natural rhythm …”
Participants were asked to crush conifer twigs between their fingers and smell them, or just touch trees, “all for the calming release the activity provided.”
Cleveland Clinic psychologist Susan Albers-Bowling said in a 2023 story on the hospital system’s website, the practice intends to “put people in touch with present-moment experience in a very deep way. The sights, sounds and smells of the forest take us right into that moment, so our brains stop anticipating, recalling, ruminating and worrying.”
While forest therapy isn’t a panacea for all of life’s ailments, it’s not going to hurt, either. At the very least, it will move you off the couch into the outdoors with the side benefit of getting in a few extra steps.
So if someone tells you to take a hike, don’t take it personally.
Take it, literally, and head for the woods. And leave your cellphone and worries behind.
It might do you a world of good.