Shinrin-yoku: Forest Bathing - Japanese
In the arms of nature, under the healing umbrella of the forest
To live alone and free like a tree
and brotherly like a forest…
Nazım Hikmet
There are three things in nature that seem the most magnificent to me: a high mountain, a gigantic whale floating in the ocean, and a vast forest.
I can forever bow before the majesty and power of these three. Showing them would be enough to tell a person who doesn't know what the earth is like. They are like the representatives God has placed on earth to show us his power. They are so real, so big, and so natural that there's no need for them to desire to be anyone else.
The forest differs from the other two in that, whereas the other two represent individual power, the forest represents great unity and protection. Togetherness, collective power, peace, infinite green, mother nature's womb, all living things' home on the planet. Forests are like the world's mothers. It guards us, wraps its lush arms around us, and heals us.
The Japanese began to use the forest's calming power as a healing tool. Shinrin-yoku is Japanese for "forest bathing." In reality, you are not taking a shower in the forest; rather, it is an abstract, imaginary shower with the peace and presence of the forest.
Shinrin-yoku, an ecotherapy method used by Japanese culture and public health administration since the 1800s, is still used as a system guided by people's ailments. While it was previously thought to be beneficial to one's health intuitively, a 2004 study by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries discovered that shinrin-yoku increased the number of immune system-boosting cells known as human natural killers and anti-cancer proteins.
Shinrin-yoku does not require you to run, hike, or engage in strenuous physical activities. You can simply sit in the forest, read a book, or simply observe. It is also critical to use all of your senses during this experience. It is requisite to smell the forest, see the green, touch the leaves, trees, or soil, listen to animal sounds—in short, to be completely immersed in the moment. As a result, you become one with the forest's existence.
Notes & Reads:
Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, written by Dr. Qing Li, an expert in Forest Medicine and Immunology who is also very active in expanding forest bathing as a way of healing in Japan, gives key information. He also gives brief information in his article.
Shinrin Yoku: The Japanese Art of Forest Bathing and Walking in the Woods: Go back to nature with the Japanese way of shinrin-yoku written by Yoshifumi Miyazaki who is a Environmental Researcher and Forest Therapy Proponent.
Mikazaki also has a TEDx event speech about Nature Therapy, flowers and nature’s healing effects.
Tara Tiger Brown, who is studying the connection between forests and human health while also serving as a certified Forest Therapy Guide and Earth Charter Educator, has participated in a shinrin-yoku event in Japan and shares her experiences there.
Next week, we will turn our attention from nature to human psychology.
Have a great weekend!
— Gulsun
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