The Japanese Art of Shinrin Yoku, Part 1
I’m so excited to write this post because I’ve been wanting to write this for the longest…omg. Even before I finished reading this book, I just could not wait to share this with the world because I have been doing forest bathing for years now. However, in the past recent years, it’s gotten to be less frequent after I stopped living in the forest up in northern California, Santa Cruz. When I was doing my undergraduate program at UCSC I had the pleasure of living in the middle of a Redwood tree forest. So I forest bathed every single day, and to be honest with you…I miss that sooo much because the kind of environment that I live in now is a desert. So, you can only imagine how different the landscape is, It’s the opposite. It’s way more flat, it’s a lot drier, and the scents around me are completely different too.
I love the desert, I’ve learned to adapt to my current environment, but…my favorite will always be the forest. Any kind of forest, no matter where I am. That is my preferred environment because I feel the most happy in a forest. Which now, leads me to the topic of this blog post.
Today, I’m going to be introducing the Japanese art of forest bathing. Um… and I also didn’t find out that this was actually a thing until after I graduated college and came to live out here in the Antelope Valley.
I came across “The Japanese Art of Shinrin Yoku Forest Bathing” by Yoshifumi Miyazaki last year in 2023. So, eventhough it was something that I had been doing for years, and I had only heard a little bit about what the term meant, forest bathing; for Yoshifumi’s book, what I really enjoy in every chapter are the beautiful poetic quotes in between the pages.
what I want to begin focusing on now when it comes to forest bathing, is how much it has helped me throughout the years in my life. And I want to share this with you because I know it can help you too, and it could help bring you some positive health benefits which is a major plus! I found out after reading this book, that forest bathing or nature therapy in general, reduces stress, boosts your immune system, and it builds upon creating new pathways in the brain. It expands your perspective in other words.
The first quote that I want to share with you is a great way to imagine yourself forest bathing and being present in the moment
“Imagine taking a walk in the forest right now. You feel the Earth and leaves under your feet. The snap of twigs, you listen to the birds song and look up through the breaks in the canopy to the sky above. Noticing how the light filters through to a point just further along the path. You breathe in deeply, you smell the distinct forest aromas moss, sap, Earth, and wood…you take it all in.” p.8
Shinrin Yoku is becoming more and more popular as time progresses. What’s also great is that there is more research being done about nature therapy as a whole and its mental and physical benefits.
“In Japan, there is a notable preventitive medicine that is being practiced by increasing numbers of the population. although it was born out of inuition, this medicine is now being supported by a growing body of scientific research which endorses its many benefits. The word “Shinrin Yoku” was coined in 1982 by Tomohide Akiyama Director of the Japanese Forestry Agency, it can be translated literally as “forest bathing” and is used in a similar way to “sun bathing” and “sea bathing”. You don’t literally take a bath, but you do bathe in the environment of the forest, using all your senses to experience nature up close.” p.9
So you might be wondering, what exactly is Shinrin Yoku? “Simply put, Shinrin Yoku is the practice of walking slowly through the woods in no hurry for a morning, an afternoon, or a day.” p.10
You might be thinking also, why do we need Shinrin Yoku or any kind of nature bathing right? “Well, in recent years, stress related disease have become a social problem on a global scale. Without even realizing it, we are overstimulated and stressed by today’s man-made world and that makes our bodies more susceptible to disease. It is not suprising that attention is turning to Shinrin Yoku as an example of a natural and low-cost way to alleviate this problem.” p.12
Can you just think for a moment, how much digital content we consume each day? When it comes to social media and how it distracts us from our day-to-day duties (if we allow it to). When it comes to Television, binge watching series, programs, films, and how we rely so much on GPS when we travel too. Our phones have become one of our biggest distractions, period. As soon as we wake up, the first thing we go to is our phone, to check our messages, emails, to text someone back from the previous evening. It’s become instinctual and we’ve become cyborgs in a way.
a great way to balance out our daily digital consumption would be to forest bathe; To participate in activities that allow us to bask and emerse ourselves in the natural world.
“There are currently more than 60 official forest therapy trails in Japan designated for the practice of Shinrin Yoku by the Forest Therapy Society. There’s also a growing number of doctors who are certified in forest medicine.” p.12
*
That is amazing and I love that the Japanese people are taking this very seriously, as a natural medcine alternative. It’s like going back to our roots, going back to the natural world.
Thank you for reading this far! I’ll be writing more for part 2 next Wednesday so stay tuned.
Love and Light,
Sandra Fernandez
Leave a Reply