If you open your mind and the senses in your body, you can be touched by the forest in your heart. You can bathe in the healing energy of a forest and experience a feeling of physical and mental wellbeing. Here, I’ll give you 3 tips to support you along the way.
Find your inner balance through forest bathing
Find a forest in which you feel really comfortable. Hear the leaves rustle. Feel the ground under your feet. Breathe deeply in and out and enjoy the fresh and clear air. When you are tired, you can rest and relax at any time! ”These sentences describe the concept of Shinrin Yoku therapy, also-called Forest Bathing.
It sounds simple but it works profound wonders. Based of numerous studies and research, the Japanese have proven that time in nature is one of the most rejuvenating gifts that we can give ourselves.
In just a few hours per day (at least one) the forest can have a beneficial effect on the body, mind, and soul and ensure that we regain our balance, tranquility, and reclaim harmony with our lives.
The list of positive and beneficial effects is long and extensive. Very long, it’s been summarized as the “biophilia effect”. Just one day of forest bathing increases your immune system. In other words, just spend more time in nature or at the park, it’s as simple as that.
Pure medicine
It doesn’t take much to create this effect. When we go for a walk in the forest and open up all our senses, listen to the bubbling brooks and flowing streams, chirping birds, and marvel and gaze at tall majestic trees – or even hug them – then we relax on all levels both mentally and physically.
Yes, even the edge of the forest triggers this effect when we enjoy an early summer meadow that is covered with flowers and invites us to relax and dream more
According to Prof. Qing Li, the biophilia effect significantly lowers blood pressure, increases the supply of oxygen in the blood, reduces the production of stress hormones (like cortisol), and improves the elasticity of the arteries.
Fresh air also has a beneficial effect on the body. The air in the forest is more pure and filtered with fresh oxygen and essential fragrances and beneficial hormones, especially when compared to the polluted city air,
On the other hand, there are the trees themselves. For many thousands of years, they have symbolized life and protection for us humans. The canopy safeguards and protects us from the sun, while providing delicious fruits that nourish our body and mind.
The towering heights of the forest canopy offered us protection from both beast and man from neighboring tribes. No wonder, then, that our limbic system reacts immediately to trees with a feeling of relaxation and ease.
Support for our immune system
Life in nature is also beneficial to our health, including the birds, bees, coyotes and all the insects, they remind us of our wildness within. Flowers are also good for our health. It is not just thier beauty that gives the eye a sense of relaxation and calmness, but somehow flowers communicate with each just like the fungi and awaken our primal desires, they also release terpenes.
Scientists believe that terpenes help to activate anti-tumor proteins, and others help lower stress hormones and strengthen the immune system.
For me personally, “I don’t need to be convinced of the natures healing properties, I already intuitively know how divinely restorative it is”.
Just spending one day in the forest increases the number of immune cells in the blood by around 40 percent for seven days. And those who spend two to three days in nature strengthen their defenses for up to 30 days. In addition, forest bathing is a gift from nature to us. It’s absolutely free!
Tips for swimming in the forest
When you spend time in the forest you are guaranteed to become more relaxed and more peaceful.
Below are a few tips to help increase your enjoyment in the forest. Soon you will see how good they are for you.
Turn off your cell phone
The first exercise is perhaps the most difficult, but it is also the most effective. Turn off your phone and be in the moment. Take in the forest completely, with every cell in your body. Be fully present and enjoy the beauty that is revealed to you.
Enjoy the forest with all your senses
Open yourself to the various senses. How does the bark of the tree feel? How does the forest floor smell? How many birds can you hear, what song are they singing?
Meditate in Nature
Find a place in the forest where you feel particularly safe and comfortable. Lean against a tree or sit down so that you can lean and rest your back up against the tree. Next, close your eyes and meditate here for 15 minutes or so. Open yourself to the feeling of deep connection and oneness with the forest and all the beings around you and that dwell in the forest.
Harvest oxygen
Whenever you may find yourself in the forest or in nature, always remember to breathe fuller and deeper. Not only in your lungs and diaphragm but breath in through all of your pores. Simply become aware of your body, then relax and imagine that all your microscopic pores and open up, simultaneously as you inhale and exhale. Enjoy