Otsego Park, Minnesota. Photo by Rose Heisel

Shinrin-yoku 

Shinrin-Yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere or taking in the forest through our senses. This is not exercise, or hiking, or jogging. It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.

 

What is Shinrin Yoku? (森林浴, しんりんよく)

You know that moment when you’re hiking in peace, and you can feel your soul and heart beating with bliss? That’s Shinrin Yoku. The Japanese feel as if they’re part of nature; they feel as if they’re one with nature when they connect back to the woods. What a soothing and spiritually deep practice for us to engage in and to connect back to our roots, to feel more energy, more love, more light. 

Shinrin-Yoku has become a cornerstone of preventative health care and healing in Japanese medicine.  They recognized the health benefits of spending time under the canopy of a living forest. 

All you do is to visit a natural green area/forest/bush and walk around. See the trees and greens around you, take a deep breath and feel relaxed as if you were soaking in a hot water. Bathing in a hot bath relaxes both your body & mind, and so does the forest.

Bench on the Mississippi River. Otsego, Minnesota. Photo by Rose.

What happens on a forest therapy walk?

You might be wondering what actually happens on a forest therapy walk. As forest therapy is about taking in the forest through all five senses, forest therapy walks usually last several hours yet only cover very small areas, often just a few hundred meters.

Forest therapy guides facilitate safe and gentle walks in which they give instructions – referred to as “invitations” – for sensory opening activities along the way. It's about having direct contact with the forest and experiencing it on a deeper level than ever before. Forest guides are trained in getting people to slow down and facilitating these sensory experiences that allow the forest to do its therapeutic work. Activities may include controlled breathing, aromatherapy and drinking tea made from foraged ingredients.

What we have always known about the healing power of nature

The idea that spending time in nature is good for us is not a new one. In fact, going out and getting some “fresh air” is something we are intuitively drawn to when we've spent too much time indoors or have been working for prolonged periods of time at our desks. Dr. Miyazaki credits this to the natural order of things. “Humans had lived in nature for 5 million years. We were made to fit a natural environment. So we feel stress in an urban area,” says Miyazaki. “When we are exposed to nature, our bodies go back to how they should be.”

Practicing Shinrin Yoku is peaceful slow walking meditation; it means to enjoy walking without any intention to arrive. We don’t need to be anywhere. We walk, talk, and enjoy what the forest offers us today.

 

 

 

What are the benefits of forest bathing?

Forest bathing has numerous benefits, including, but not limited to:

• A boost to the immune system, with an increase in the count of the body's Natural Killer (NK) cells
• An increase in anticancer protein production
• Reduced blood pressure and pulse rate
• Reduced concentration of the “stress hormone” known as salivary cortisol
• Decrease in sympathetic nerve activity, also linked to stress
• Elevated mood
• Increased ability to focus

                                  

How is forest bathing different to any old forest hike?

Forest bathing is much more than simply spending time in nature, or about hiking or mountain climbing. In fact, forest bathing guides will tell you it most definitely isn't the latter, which has more of a focus on achieving a goal or reaching a certain destination. Forest bathing is rather more of a mindful practice in which you ‘take in' the forest through all five senses. And, yes, that includes taste. Bark tea, anyone?

 

There are some points I require for the “Essence of Forest” for Shinrin-Yoku.
1. The color of Green needs to be rich and gentle
2. The forest has a ‘welcoming energy’ with an enough open-air feeling.
3. There is a creek/river (The sound of water is essential.)
4. It is important that the audience feel “calmness” and “I am in the forest” feeling,
without disturbing by the noise of car/household, etc.
5. There is a small picnic area where we can sit and talk.

 

 

 

Why the water is important?

Our body has around 60 to 70% of water. This fluid travels around our body like a flow of river. This creates a unique “rhythm” within our body. According to research, when our body’s rhythm is synchronized with the rhythm of the environment that surrounds us, we feel “comfortable”. Humans feel “relaxed” when they are near water, like the ocean, the rivers/creeks. This is because our rhythm is in sync with the rhythm of the water. Our body intuitively understands this feeling. So water elements are essential for the Shinrin-Yoku walk. Also, listening to the sound of water deeply relaxes you.  

 

 

 Why green is so important?

The plants and trees in Minnesota are very different from those in Japan. In fact, the varying colors of green are different. The vivid surreal green of plants and trees in Japan are so vibrant that they are almost overwhelming to the eyes, especially during the early summer. In Minnesota, the colors are different but to me I find my environment to be equally beautiful.

Once you start feeling this “color sensation”, feeling the depth of the vivid colorful palette, you are then experiencing the art of Shinrin-Yoku in the forest.

“Allow yourself to be like that pebble at rest. The pebble is resting at the bottom of the river and the pebble does not have to do anything.”  - Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Mindfulness of breath. 

Every moment, we are engaging in an act of life – breathing. By calling attention to each inhale and exhale, we remain connected to the miracle of the present – our life and existence

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ― Lao Tzu

Who acts in stillness finds stillness in his life.”  ― Lao Tzu

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”  ― ― Lao Tzu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rose Heisel, now retired, living on a small hobby farm with my grandchildren living next door. We have ponies and horses with a dozen chickens roaming around. I have been a dog groomer for 35 years; owned three grooming businesses, showed dogs, and now retired from all of that for 3 years. I am published in the Country Woman magazine and in the Groomer-to-Groomer magazine having an article about my grooming shop called, Mother Nature’s Outdoor Grooming Spa. I teach a Korean sword art called Haidong Gumdo; certified since 2011. Some great hobbies I do currently is outdoor photography, sword training, writing, and enjoying being a certified Shinrin Yoku forest therapy guide. For many years I have enjoy the Japanese culture and Japanese sword training.  Nature and people are a great combination to share this healthy approach of Forest Bathing to help create a happy relaxed life by connecting with nature; something I can share with many people. Today more than ever everyone needs to care for themselves, so that we can remain happy and healthy and in turn it allows us to go on caring for our loved ones more effectively and for longer in a much happier state of mind.