If you’re a hiker or a nature lover, chances are you’ve come across the term “forest bathing” before. If you haven’t heard of it, it doesn’t mean stripping off all of your clothes and dumping piles of forest leaves on yourself, although I’m sure some people have tried this. No, forest bathing is much more accessible than that. It simply means getting outside in nature and taking a “bath” in the company of trees. It means immersing yourself in the sounds of the forest’s residents and taking in the light that the forest lets through. And you do this to promote both your physical and mental health.
The Premise
The idea is that taking a forest bath restores your senses, which improves your overall well-being. And it works, but it’s important that you pay attention to the bath part of it. Forest bathing is not the same as going for a run in the woods or even going on a physically challenging hike: two things I love to do. Instead, the bathing part of it implies that you take your time. You soak up the environment and let it wash over you. You take a slow stroll, looking at everything with more intention. More awareness.
You look up at the trees. You study the leaves lining the trail. When you come across different tree types or fauna, you acknowledge them. Maybe you know their names, maybe you don’t. It doesn’t matter. What matters is you see them. You see their differences.
Room for Improvement
I could be better about spending more time with the exercise of forest bathing, but the problem is time itself. I don’t have much of it, and when I am able to get out on a trail, I’m usually using the opportunity to get some much-needed exercise. Or exercising my dog, who is definitely not interested in forest bathing. He prefers it the other way around.
But every once in a while, I make him wait for me and let him do his thing while I do mine. And I swear, as I stop and scan the scene before me, I can feel parts of me getting stronger. My vision gets clearer and my senses are heightened. Pausing to look up at a maple’s leaves, or trying to differentiate the bark of an oak tree from a mysterious tree standing next to it, the world comes into sharper focus and I feel an incredible sense of calm. It’s lovely.
And even though nature lovers have known the benefits of forest bathing since the dawn of time, it wasn’t until last year that I heard the term out loud. And wouldn’t you know, it came from a doctor. Not a laid-back Eastern doctor talking about chakras and alternative medicine, but a Western doctor who majored in writing prescriptions. I was stunned. To hear a Western doc suggest forest bathing as part of an approach, not only for mental health, but physical health improvement, made me think I was surely about to end up on an episode of Candid Camera.
I’m being filmed. I know, I’m being filmed.
– Steve Martin in L.A. Story
A Holistic Approach
But it was good to see. There needs to be more discussion in regular doctor’s offices about what options patients can incorporate into their lifestyle without having to pop another pill. Humanity survived and thrived long before modern medicine said you “need a pill for that.” If a Western doc can recognize the benefits of something like forest bathing, then maybe more holistic, individualized approaches are coming—not ones that replace Western medicine with alternative theories and supplements (several of which are more harmful than good), but a balanced approach that doesn’t limit a doctor’s role to writing prescriptions. We’ll see.
Forest bathing isn’t anything new, but it’s helpful—just one of many tools that can support physical and mental health. And unlike a pill, it can’t hurt!
Letting the leaves wash over you…