Sempervirens Fund
Introduction to Forest Bathing
Join forest therapy expert Dr. Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller for a virtual forest bathing session filmed among the redwoods and creeks of San Vicente Redwoods neat Davenport, California. Produced with support by AllTrails.
Learn more at sempervirens.org/forest-bathing
hi I'm Dr Suzanne Bret hackin Miller and I appreciate you joining me today for some virtual Forest bathing Forest bathing is a term that is coined was coined and translated directly from the Japanese term shindin Yoku and it's a term that was coined in the early 1980s by a couple of doctors in Japan who noticed that their patients were increasingly suffering from mental health issues depression anxiety and even high rates of suicide and they wondered if just getting their patients out of the lights and sounds and stress of the city out into nature could be beneficial for them for both their mental and physical health so these doctors started experimenting with their patients and found in fact that getting out into nature just slowing down taking nature in through the senses was beneficial to their patients they did studies on their mental health they did studies of their heart rate variability their blood pressure their pulse their blood sugar they even looked at stress hormones in their saliva and found that after spending time doing this practice that their stress hormones went down quite a bit of research has now been published on the subject of forest bathing by these doctors and others around the world so Forest bathing Forest therapy we tend to use the terms fairly interchangeably is all about getting out in nature slowing down taking it in through the senses we try to make the case that it's not a it's not a hike for physical fitness it's not a nature identification walk it really is just for the purpose of being being in nature in Forest bathing we use a standard sequence so that we do the same thing every time with the goal of taking our participants deeper and deeper from our everyday monkey mind State into what we refer to as the Lial State and this allows us to just kind of shed the stressors of the day we use the term invitation and so I will be inviting you today to try the things that I suggest either at home um as you're watching through your imagination or perhaps try them outdoors in your own time so after each invitation we may pause and I may ask you to reflect upon what you noticed during that invitation and so I do hope you'll take a moment to pause perhaps jot down a word or a phrase or thought or something that you noticed during that invitation you might choose to share it with others you might CH choose to journal about it all of these things help to solidify the experience in our memory and we often say it's similar to having a dream and you wake up from a dream and if you share it with someone else or if you write it down you're much more likely to remember it than if you just jump out of bed and go about your day so there's something magical that happens we believe that's where the healing effects occur when we take time to share what we've noticed and really take this experience [Applause] in so the first invitation we do in the standard sequence is known as the pleasures of presence so I invite you to join me where you are and start by simply closing your eyes just close your eyes and start by taking some slow deep breaths taking these deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth as you you take these slow deep breaths just notice that the air that you're breathing in is the same air that's shared by all the other beings of this more than human world we're sharing this air with the plants the trees the animals and the insects that also share this space continue contining to take these slow deep breaths notice the way the air feels as it enters your nostrils notice first the temperature of the air is it cool or warm notice the moisture of the air does it feel different when it enters your nose as opposed to when it leaves your body do you notice any fragrances what else do you notice about the air and next I invite you to notice the way the air feels as it comes into contact with your skin notice the air on the top of your head maybe it moves your hair notice the way the air feels on your arms and torso maybe it moves your clothing maybe it's still notice the way your feet feel as they come into contact with your shoes or if you're Barefoot the way your feet come into contact with the ground imagine for a moment that you have roots that are growing out of your feet through your shoes and into the ground below your feet imagine that these roots are growing down down down down into the soil twisting around the roots of the other people the trees perhaps the Redwoods all of the other trees and plants and flowers and shrubs imagine that the animals and the insects also have roots and that all of these roots are growing down down down into the Earth and as they do they weave in amongst each other as we know the roots of the trees and the plants communicate beneath the soil creating a network an intricate Network below the Earth we know that all of these roots and their fungal networks are integral to their survival and just imagine Our Roots also joining this basketry as it continues down all the way to the Center of the Earth and when Our Roots get to the center of the earth imagine that they pick up the energy and the warmth and that this energy travels back up up up through all the roots traveling around each other intertwining and twisting until the roots bring the energy all the way back up into the the soil beneath our feet and that energy and warmth then transfers into our feet traveling up through the body first through the legs our hips our torso imagine that light and energy and warmth traveling all the way up to the top of your head and as you continue standing here begin to notice the sounds around you first start by noticing the sounds just inside your body perhaps you can hear your heartbeat you might hear your breathing maybe your stomach growling try to isolate just the sounds that are inside your body and next start to notice the sounds that are maybe within just about five to 20 ft of your body see if you can is isolate the sounds within 5 to 20 ft of you imagine that you're bringing those sounds into your body and then finally notice the sounds from as far away as you can hear expand your awareness to notice all of the sounds and now imagine that you're bringing all of those sounds into your body and finally with your eyes still CL closed if you're standing and if you're Outdoors start to slowly turn in a circle until you're called to stop in a particular direction if you're watching this video just notice if something in particular calls to you to notice it stop in that direction with eyes closed and in a moment I'll invite you to open your eyes on the count of three and when you do open your eyes as if you've never been here before as if you're seeing what you were drawn towards for the very first time on the count of three you may open your eyes 1 2 [Applause] 3 as you open your eyes find something to gaze upon and take it in as if for the very first first [Applause] time our next invitation is known as what's in motion so you're invited to join us just simply noticing what is in motion if you're joining us Outdoors you may may walk and I encourage you to walk very slowly as you take nature in you can also do this sitting outside in nature so as you're noticing what's in motion just try to keep your attention focused on that if you get distracted by a sound or something else that is distracting you try to gently just return your attention to noticing what is in motion you might notice water moving you might notice the leaves as they move in the trees with the wind you might see some insects or birds or animals just be open to noticing whatever you see that's in motion sometimes it helps to get close up and look underneath things you might want to crouch down and see what's lower you might look up uh just be open to noticing all around what's in motion our next invitation is all about exploring our sense of touch in nature so I invite you to look around see if something in the forest draws you toward it it might be a tree it might be some running water it might even just be the ground I invite you to make yourself comfortable get close to your object and see how you can tally explore it in this case I have a tree and I invite you as you're watching to imagine that you are standing next to a tree or that you have your hands in the water or maybe on the ground somehow physically coming into contact with your your natural element and and just start by noticing the way it feels perhaps first noticing the temperature is it hot or cold or cool or warm is it the temperature you expected it to be then maybe noticing the texture is it smooth is it crumbly is it rough what kinds of textures does it have is it uniform throughout or are there areas that feel different what about the girth how does that feel imagine that you were leaning into this tree does it feel sturdy does it feel like it's moving is there any vibration deep within the tree take a moment to feel what that feels like or imagine what it might feel like if you were leaning into a tree of this size is there any motion is there any sound and then you might just spend some time spend a good 5 minutes just being with your object in nature sometimes you might even decide to pose a question to the tree and imagine that for just this moment that perhaps the tree has an answer for your question notice how you feel do you feel supported do you feel grounded how does it make you feel what else are you noticing you can spend as much time as you like with your tree and I like to thank the tree when I'm done for this experience the next invitation is known as gazing up a tree and we will invite you to start at the very bottom of a tree and slowly move your gaze from the roots of the tree upward up the trunk all the way to the crown of the tree see if you can take as much time and really slow down for this process so you might take some time to to focus in on the smaller aspects of the tree and then bring your gaze back out to take in the entire tree but slowly slowly slowly capturing the tree from the roots to the crown for in the spirit of shindin Yoku we end each Forest bathing session with a tea ceremony and so today we have gathered some of the needles from the forest and place them in our jar and we'll go ahead and add our water and allow it to steep for a few moments here you can just tell that the color is coming out um our tea will be infused with the properties of Evergreen which include antimicrobial antibacterial antifungal properties we even know that the fight insides which come from the essential oils of the trees confer benefits both to the trees and helping them fight against bacteria and viruses those properties actually are transferred to us when we consume the tea um if you think about things like pinea we've known for a long time that we can get antimicrobial properties from Evergreen teas so we'll also be able to um get vitamin C from this tea and we'll just allow it to steep for about 5 or 10 minutes here before we go on all right so our tea is done steeping we'll go ahead and take our lid off so anytime that you're foraging in nature a few rules apply you always want to be sure that you have permission to forage you always want to be sure that you know 110% what plant you're taking that it's safe uh for human consumption and we also practice the spirit of wild tending which means that whenever we take something from nature we also give something back and so it might be that we even just sing a song we might um actually offer something back which we'll do again in just a moment so we'll go ahead and pour our tea and for today I just have two cups I wish you could smell this we always pour one more cup than the number of people we have in our group because in the spirit of wild tending we always give one cup back to the Earth so with that I will offer this cup of tea back to this beautiful space and next I invite you to imagine that you're bringing this cup of tea up to your nose first and just taking the fragrance of the forest in through your nose into the body and as we've been been doing through this whole invitation of forest bathing today will'll end the experience with taking nature in physically into the body through our sense of taste so everybody here as if we had a group of people we would go ahead and raise the glass to our mouth and bring nature into the body in this way Seer virant fund acknowledges that Redwood forests in the Santa Cruz mountains are among the ancestral lands for many indigenous peoples who cared for these lands for Millennia until they were forcibly removed we are grateful to work with their descendants including the Amma muten tribal band and the MMA olone tribe to restore their cultural and traditional relationships to these magnificent lands you do not have to be good you do not have to walk on your knees for a 100 miles through the desert repenting you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves tell me about spare yours and I will tell you mine meanwhile the world goes on meanwhile the sun and the clear Pebbles of the rain are moving across the Landscapes over the Prairies and the Deep trees the mountains and the rivers meanwhile the wild geese high in the clean blue Air are heading home again whoever you are no matter how lonely the world offers itself to your imagination calls to you like the wild geese harsh and exciting over and over announcing your place in the family of things wild geese by Mary Oliver we'll conclude our tea ceremony today with one final simple invitation and that is that if a word word or a phrase arises in your mind having completed this virtual Forest bathing walk allow that word to formulate and feel free to share it back to our group and my word is gratitude for having the opportunity to spend this time with you today thank you for joining us for virtual Forest bathing in the San viente redwoods
#Introduction #Forest #Bathing
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“The woods are so human,” wrote John Foster, “that to know them one must live with them.
An occasional saunter through them, keeping to the well-trodden paths, will never admit us to their intimacy.
If we wish to be friends we must seek them out and win them by frequent, reverent visits at all hours; by morning, by noon, and by night; and at all seasons, in spring, in summer, in autumn, in winter.
Otherwise we can never really know them and any pretence we may make to the contrary will never impose on them.
They have their own effective way of keeping aliens at a distance and shutting their hearts to mere casual sightseers. It is of no use to seek the woods from any motive except sheer love of them; they will find us out at once and hide all their sweet, old-world secrets from us.
But if they know we come to them because we love them they will be very kind to us and give us such treasures of beauty and delight as are not bought or sold in any market-place.
For the woods, when they give at all, give unstintedly and hold nothing back from their true worshippers.
We must go to them lovingly, humbly, patiently, watchfully, and we shall learn what poignant loveliness lurks in the wild places and silent intervales, lying under starshine and sunset, what cadences of unearthly music are harped on aged pine boughs or crooned in copses of fir, what delicate savours exhale from mosses and ferns in sunny corners or on damp brooklands, what dreams and myths and legends of an older time haunt them.
Then the immortal heart of the woods will beat against ours and its subtle life will steal into our veins and make us its own forever, so that no matter where we go or how widely we wander we shall yet be drawn back to the forest to find our most enduring kinship.”
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I had my first in person Forest bathing guided experience in February, 20 degrees F. My guide liked that I took time to make a snow angel; she made one, too!
Thank you ❤
Enjoyable and informative introduction into what forest bathing is.
That this was started by doctors in the 1980's is technically incorrect! Shinrin yoku is an ancient tradition in line with Zen Buddhism, many centuries old. Give credit to the Ancients for systems completely alien to Allopathic medicine that promotes a pill for every ill.
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Thank you
My word is Thank you ❤
This was amazing and so helpful in so many ways.
This is so beautiful!
The power of nature is incredibly powerful.
Oh, we do that all the time. We live 5 min from Jed Smith SP we have
a Wrangler and like to go exploring the Six Rivers NF. We just got
back from a trip to Mt Ashland Ski which is in the Siskiyou NF.
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Powerful thoughts, take another human being along with you 😊
So well done 🙏 thank you ❤
Forcibly removed? The lands were all ceded by treaty.
Ancient truth..
You can also do an act of kindness and invite someone who does not have access to transportation to ride to the forest with you. Many POC's who are not close to a nature site and don't have transport would really appreciate a lift/ride along. <3
An invitation to put down mobile phones📲, get outside to our mother nature and reconnect with it.
Nature healing for good mood relaxation, strong immunity, being present here and now….
ThankYou ThankYou ThankYou
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Saved my life…
That was wonderful! Thank you!
Awesome vedio ❤❤❤❤..thanku 💕
Thank you learning about nature. Water and trees 🌲🌳🦜🌊🌱
You can say about yourself because it's your own opinion
Thank you so much. I loved this experience, really calming. Please can you share what did you put in the tea? What species of evergreen?
Thank you for the video Doc🏕🌲
Thank you for the introduction to forest bathing. Looking forward to experiencing it.