WELL-BEING
contentment. Does being out in nature also leave us with body memory lasting after we have come back indoors? Forest bathing is a practice, not an event. It doesn’t include hiking, jogging, or getting wet. Its only requirement is simply being out in nature. Being still. Opening up your senses to what is around you and noticing as your body responds to your surroundings. Perhaps you wish to meander down a certain path. Or stop to notice
FOREST BATHING: Our Connection with Trees
the patterns made under a snow-covered bush. Following your desires of exploration is part of the beauty of forest bathing. It is an activity that can be enjoyed year-round as each season has its own unique personality and offers us an abundance of natural gifts from observing the opening of the spring buds to experiencing the quiet of a snowfall. We are encouraged to
Written by Lisa Mikulski
take our time. There is no destination or end goal. According to Dr. Qing Li, one of the world’s leading experts in shinrin-yoku, in Japan, both official religions
THERE IS A CONCEPT, KNOWN AS BIOPHILIA, introduced by American biologist
–– Shinto and Buddhism –– believe that the forest is
E. O. Wilson in 1984, that humans have an innate need to connect with nature.
the realm of the divine. For Zen Buddhists, scripture is
Wilson believed that because we evolved in nature, we have a biological impera-
written outside in nature. In Shinto, it is believed that
tive to be close to it, and this affinity with the natural world is fundamental to our
spirits reside in nature. Nature is not separate from
health and well-being.
mankind, it is a part of us.
Experts in forest therapy say that being in the forest reduces stress and blood
In Scandinavia, the forest is also revered. A Scandina-
pressure, strengthens your immune and cardiovascular systems, and boosts your
vian lifestyle includes an abundance of outdoor life. In
energy, mood, creativity, and concentration. In addition to the philosophy of forest
Finland, seventy-five percent of the landmass is covered
bathing, or what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, there is some compelling science
in forest and many regard mushroom hunting and berry
behind it as well.
picking as lifestyle activities. Forest bathing, although
I am reminded of my own experiences in nature –– in my youth, running through the woods behind my childhood home, later enjoying the Swedish forest, and most recently my trips to Jamaica Pond and the Arnold Arboretum in Boston.
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not previously known by that name, has always been a way of life in the Scandinavian countries. Ninety-seven percent of Sweden is uninhabited,
I’ve always been drawn to trees and found them to be somehow soul healing.
and national parks and reserves cover one-tenth of
As I write this article for Venü, my body seems to remember the way I feel in nature.
the country’s landmass. More than eighty-percent of
My breath slows and deepens. My muscles relax and my state of being is one of
Swedes live within five kilometers of a nature reserve
CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE
