With promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep, we often forget that the woods are lovely, dark and deep. Thankfully, the Japanese forestry ministry in 1982 created a public health program called shinrin-yoku to remind us of the power of trees. Shinrin means forest and yoku means bath. Together, shinrin-yoku means forest bathing.
Forest bathing involves taking in the forest environment with our senses. We slow down to hear leaves rustling, birds chirping, and insects buzzing. We smell the freshness of the trees and the soil. We gently finger rough bark. We see the beauty all around us.
Forest bathing is not hiking or exercising. There is no rigor in forest bathing. Rather, forest bathing entails relaxation and stillness. Forest bathing does not require us to be physically fit; it merely requires us to show up and shut up.
According to botanists, trees emit phytoncide to defend against insects and germs. Studies show that human inhalation of phytoncide may improve immune system function. Research also has indicated that forest bathing can:
• Lower heart rate
• Reduce blood pressure
• Reduce stress
• Improve mood
• Increase ability to focus
• Aid recovery
• Increase energy
• Improve sleep.
Americans spend eighty-seven percent of their time indoors and six percent of their time in vehicles. That leaves only seven percent of their time to be outdoors.* I’m guilty of not spending enough time outdoors, myself. To chip away at my mole-like existence, I have dabbled in forest bathing. More precisely, since I live in the desert, I’ve explored what might better be called arboretum bathing. I bathe in the trees of Himmel Park, an urban oasis that is irrigated with reclaimed water. Over the years groundskeepers and volunteers have planted myriad trees there, many of which never would grow naturally in arid Tucson, Arizona.
Admittedly, I have been self-conscious about tree bathing; thus, I typically mask it under cover of walking my dogs. While Wilbur and Griffin are doing tree bathing of their own at the basal flare of an unsuspecting tree, I snort phytoncide and am transported to childhood days playing in the woods of Germany, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. For a few seconds, I am at peace. Then my self-consciousness creeps back in, and we continue on our way.
How about you? Are you willing to give forest bathing a try?
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present
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Links for sources for information in this post, additional reading, and resources:
Shinrin-yoku.org of the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs
The Japanese practice of ‘forest bathing’ is scientifically proven to improve your health, by Ephrat Livni on Quartz.com
‘Forest Bathing’ Is Great for Your Health. Here’s How to Do It, by Quing Lee on Time.com
Forest Bathing: A Retreat To Nature Can Boost Immunity And Mood, by Allison Aubrey on NPR Morning Edition (you can read or listen)
The mysterious Japanese art of shinrin-yoku is coming to Britain – but does it really improve your health? by Danielle Demetriou for The Telegraph, UK
‘Forest Bathing’: How Microdosing on Nature Can Help With Stress, by RAHAWA HAILE for The Atlantic
Why the Japanese Are Taking ‘Forest Baths’, by Cailey Rizzo for Travel + Leisure
Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing) and Nature Therapy: A State-of-the-Art Review, by Margaret M. Hansen, Reo Jones, and Kirsten Tocchini, in The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Effect of phytoncide from trees on human natural killer cell function, by Li Q, Kobayashi M, Wakayama Y, Inagaki H, Katsumata M, Hirata Y, Hirata K, Shimizu T, Kawada T, Park BJ, Ohira T, Kagawa T, Miyazaki Y., Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost
The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants, by NEIL E KLEPEIS, WILLIAM C NELSON, WAYNE R OTT, JOHN P ROBINSON, ANDY M TSANG, PAUL SWITZER, JOSEPH V BEHAR, STEPHEN C HERN & WILLIAM H ENGELMANN. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology volume 11, pages 231–252 (2001)
* Is spending a maximum of only 7% of our time outdoors consistent with lagom?