Shinrin-yoku

I have had a wonderful summer break. I’ve been away to the beach, gone on long daily walks with the dog, weight trained four times per week and eaten clean since 1 January. I’ve slept in, read books, made delicious healthy things to eat and caught up with friends. I haven’t seen a single doctor. I feel well rested. I have a tan. I am looking forward to the year ahead.

It turns out that one of my newish, post-cancer habits is incredibly good for my well-being. Since 2021 I have done a lot of walking. My favourite walks involve walking in nature, in amongst the trees or at the beach. It turns out that being in nature is an actual thing called forest bathing.

Forest bathing emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”). The purpose was twofold: to offer an eco-antidote to technological burnout and to inspire people to reconnect with and protect the country’s forests.

The Japanese quickly embraced this form of ecotherapy. In the 1990s, researchers began studying the physiological benefits of forest bathing, providing the science to support what we innately know: time spent in nature is good for us. While Japan is credited with the term shinrin-yoku, the concept at the heart of the practice is not new. Many cultures have long recognised the importance of the natural world to human health, including New Zealand’s own indigenous culture.

I am convinced that much of what is wrong with humans comes from our detachment from the natural world. We eat a diet of processed and convenience food. We are addicted to our devices. We are still creatures of the natural world just like lions and elephants, no matter how hard we try and distance ourselves from it. Most of us can’t smell a wind change, we don’t know what plants to use if we are sick, how to grow our own food, or how to use the stars to guide us. The people most in touch with the natural world now are probably farmers, gardeners and of course, Tangata Whenua, whose ancient knowledge has been passed down.

Forest bathing is not just for wilderness-lovers; the practice can be as simple as walking in any natural environment and consciously connecting with what’s around us. I do it on every walk with Stella. We always go through trees. I listen to the sounds of the birds, the wind in the leaves and the water running in the stream. I breath in that fantastic, musty smell of the forest. I appreciate the dappled light shining through the canopy. I didn’t know that I was forest bathing when I started doing it. I learnt about it as a concept from an RNZ interview. More recently I heard Kathy Willis speaking on the radio about how in the last 50 years, a large body of scientific evidence has built up about how contact with nature can regulate heart rate variability, blood pressure, cortisol and adrenalin. Anyway, I recommend it, it costs nothing and it is easy. This is how to do it:

Find a quiet place in some trees

Turn off your phone

Slow down and breathe deeply

Use your senses to observe nature

Notice the sounds, smells, and sights

Let go of thoughts about your daily life

And right about now my companion, Stella the Huntaway, sensing I am distracted, will find something disgusting to eat in the undergrowth, which I will then have to prise out of her jaws. The world is an all you can eat buffet for her: full of road kill, KFC chicken bones, McDonald’s wrappers, poisoned rats and other rancid things. But I digress.

I would like to recommend the book, Aroha by Dr Hinemoa Elder. A dear friend gave it to me when I was sick. I find myself flicking through it frequently. It is filled with “Maori wisdom for a contented life lived in harmony with our planet”. And finally, listen to the song

I AM by Stan Walker, which is many things, including a powerful expression of connection to the natural world.

So my message to you is go bathe in a forest my friend. Reap the benefits of immersing yourself in the natural world. You’ll thank yourself for it.