Forest Bathing (shinrin-yoku)

[dado potato]

Luckily I live with forest all around. After I send this I can take my my snowshoes half a mile from my doorstep to the nearest trail and "bathe" my senses in the forest. I especially enjoy pausing on a hilltop and listening to the breezes sighing in the needles of the red pines.

I recently heard of the Japanese practice of shinrin yoku. I have ordered Clifford Amos' book. Your Guide to Forest Bathing.

For a few years I have had a sit-spot in my yard, without consciously making a practice of forest bathing there. Nor did I leave my sit-spot in pristine natural condition. I planted some perennials in front (primrose, sweet woodruff. trillium, astilbe, lupine and day lilies), and behind it (bee-balm, coneflowers, etc.)

With this thread I hope for comments/experiences that all y'all would express regarding forest bathing, Nature and Forest Therapy, and related topics.

[razz]

Lucky you with the forests and trails so close to your home.

Forest bathing in my back yard among the trees and flowers has been my saving grace with all the covid restrictions. Walking my little dog through the large cemetery with its well-established tall conifers and deciduous trees, I have seen and met many walking daily. Trail walking on old rail tracks is very popular as well.
Going out into nature is a wonderful form of spiritual renewal.

[razz]

Double post

[Simplemind]

I was a believer before I ever heard of it. Although we live in the suburbs our house backs up to a huge greenway. We have creeks on both sides of the property and it is heavily wooded. We walk out there daily (miles of trails) without any feeling of being in an urban area. We have never fenced our property so we maintain it keeping an eye on preserving habitats and adding to them. Every year I add more daffodils to the outback. I love sitting in the spa before bed looking out into the woods and listening to the wind in the trees and star gazing.

[JaneV2.0]

I live close to a large nature park that borders on Lake Washington; there are also several smaller lake front parks nearby. And my property has plenty of trees and foliage, which is one of many reasons I will probably never live anywhere but a suburb.

[catherine]

I LOVE the concept of forest bathing. While we didn't live in a "forest" in NJ (far from it), our house being next door to a wooded park fit the bill for meandering, walking along the creek, just feeling embraced by nature. Ironically, I miss that in VT. Our neighbors enjoy the golf course look, so there aren't too many trees right on my street, so I go to one of two state parks on the island, both which are less than a 10 minute drive, to get my hit of forest bathing.

[Yppej]

I am a weather wimp so definitely am not forest bathing this time of year, but I have to say DP that you have the most unique posts here and get people thinking about different topics which is a breath of fresh air.

[herbgeek]

I made one of my January goals to spend at least 15 minutes a day outside, on days that aren't actively precipitating and I've been doing pretty well with that one. I have a large mostly forested yard, that abuts another forested lot, then State Park. I put in several (short) walking paths through the woods that I try to walk most days. In the summer, I had 3 Adirondack chairs at various points on these paths. Since pandemic, and not being able to go out as usual, I started an afternoon ritual of enjoying an adult beverage from the views of the 3 chairs, and calling it "progressive drinking".

I've been exploring the trails in my town- my spouse prefers walking on the street to the woods, and for years I've done it his way. This year, I have started solo hiking. Its pretty safe and I'm only intending to go locally and these are paths I know or have a map for. I did start humming loudly the other day when I heard some wildlife foraging not too far off the trail. We have lots of bear, and while they /should/ be hibernating this time of year - you never know and it really hasn't been all that cold yet.

[rosarugosa]

When I first heard of forest bathing, I thought it exactly described what we do in the woods, really soak up all the sounds and sights and smells of nature. We don't abut woodland but we have a nice 2200 acre wooded park that is about a 5-minute drive from us.
Herbgeek: That sounds like a delightful ritual!

[lmerullo]

I love being surrounded by nature.

Like herb and others, I've tried to make time in my day to just be outdoors. Mostly I sit and daydream, but some weekends I'm out most of the day. Dh isn't used to this, and asks me what I'm doing, and I tell him the Wi-Fi reaches the chairs (adirondak, too).