Forest Bathing Guide

The state of our mind, designs the state of our life. Forest Bathing is the gentle art of turning to nature to recharge your mind, revitalise your body, and come home to yourself. In this simple forest bathing guide you’ll discover: what is forest bathing, how to forest bathe, and where to practice it.

You’ll also learn about a wide variety of forest bathing benefits for your mind, body, relationships. Fascinating insights from Japan as a society show us why forest bathing has become specially relevant in these turbulent times and how we can apply it to improve our lives.

*At the end of this article you’ll find free forest bathing activities to download as well as a link to our best nature connection activities from around the world.

Forest Bathing

Forest bathing is the practice of immersing yourself in nature in a mindful way, using your senses to derive a whole range of benefits for your physical, mental, emotional, and social health. It is also known as Shinrin-yoku. ‘Shinrin’ means forest and ‘Yoku’ stands for bathing. The idea took birth in Japan in the 1980’s and proved to be a very effective tool to overcome the ill effects of a hectic life and stressful work environment.

Forest Bathing allows the stressed portions of your brain to relax. Positive hormones are released in the body. You feel less sad, angry and anxious. It helps to avoid stress and burnout, and aids in fighting depression and anxiety. A forest bath is known to boost immunity and leads to lesser days of illness as well as faster recovery from injury or surgery. Nature has a positive effect on our mind as well as body. It improves heart and lung health, and is known to increases focus, concentration and memory.

Certain trees like conifers also emit oils and compounds to safeguard themselves from microbes and pathogens. These molecules known as Phytoncides are good for our immunity too. Breathing in the forest air boosts the level of natural killer (NK) cells in our blood. NK cells are used in our body to fight infections, cancers and tumors. So spending time with these tree is a special form of tree bathing.

An intangible outcome of forest bathing is enhancement of emotional intelligence and self confidence which leads to improved relationships and better social health. Something that we know intuitively is now getting scientific proof and validation through research.

What is Forest Bathing | Shinrin Yoku

Forest Bathing and Japan: Japan is among the most developed nations of the world, and yet this progress and development is not bereft of challenges. The island nation has one of the most demanding work environments. In fact, they have even coined a specific term for death by overwork (Karoshi). The performance pressure from jobs is so high, that there’s very little time left for a personal life. The marriage rates in Japan have fallen drastically in the last 30 years.

The urban cities of Japan have a hyper digital culture and a peculiar obsession with technology. In the age of internet many Japanese people are spending more time online and having fewer social interactions. It is leading to higher incidents of anxiety and stress. Depression and loneliness are also on the rise. The country is also prone to devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, such that the Japanese have had to face a disproportionate amount of trauma. In Japan, neuropsychiatric disorders are estimated to contribute to 24.6% of the overall burden of disease (WHO, 2008)

Fortunately, over 70% of Japan is still covered in forests. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries came up with the idea of shinrin yoku in the early eighties. Shinrin yoku or forest bathing created different activities for enjoying the forest atmosphere in order to reap its health benefits. Due to the relentless Japanese work culture, the stress levels of Japanese employees was already running rampant then and the forestry department saw a wonderful possibility. And so forest bathing was born.

How To Forest Bathe

You can practise forest bathing in any safe nature space. The main principles are to go in silence and go slow. Use your senses to find things in nature that bring you peace and happiness. Through nature connection activities and sense exercises, you can alter your mood and energy levels resulting in a host of benefits. Recommended time for forest bathing is at-least 2 hours a week.

Meditation is difficult when you try, easy when you don’t.

Forest Bathing Meditations

Attention: Beginners and young children start with simple forest bathing activities which focus on objects in nature to hold our attention and slow us down. By directing and controlling our attention we are training to control the direction of our thoughts and feelings.

Awareness: Once we are able to reach a calmer state of mind, we can grow our awareness. In the depths of the forest, one can sense the cycle of transformations that all life goes through. Things that we were. Things that we are yet to become. Just like a seed in the ground. Growing our awareness is growing our connection to all life.

Answers: Our mind gets a much deserved rest so that it can apply itself with renewed energy and come up with surprisingly creative solutions. It begins to ask the right questions rather than simply seeking answers. The forest provides the light to spark new insights and learning which can give us a deeper understanding of life.

Forest Bathing: How To

Let us guide you into the art of Forest Bathing and show you how to forest bathe in any nature space close to you.

Forest Bathing Meditation: The simple act of sitting and focusing on your breath can be quite difficult if you are not in the proper frame of mind. A large number of people give up meditation due to a frustrating experience in their initial attempts.

However, forest bathing makes it easy to reach a peaceful state of mind. By paying attention to our senses and moving in the forest mindfully, we not only get all the benefits of meditation for our mind, but also boost our immunity and create good health for our body. And the beautiful bonus is the friendships these activities help us cultivate. It’s because in forest bathing we are guided by the greatest teacher of all – Nature.

Forest Bathing Near Me

Not everyone has an access to a forest in their backyard. In fact most people who live and work in cities will have to travel a fair amount to get close to the woods. But nature is all around us. You can consider forest bathing and the sense based exercises in any urban park near you.

While traditionally, monks in India, China and Japan, traversed long distances to meditate in nature, in the recent decades the idea of headspace creation has become known as restoration in psychology. The Attention Restoration Theory and its closely connected Stress Recovery Theory state that our recovery from stress starts within minutes of entering a green space.

For people who are unable to go out into the urban parks, or are restricted due to disability, the sense based nature therapy activities can be carried out even in the confines of the their house. Just bring elements of nature indoors. You can use your creativity to build the nature connection even in a closed enclosure.

Here are links to some interesting activities which you can try on your own:

* Mindfulness In nature offers you a wide range of activities that will transform your world in wonderful ways. For those of you who wish to dive deeper into the art of forest bathing, please visit our Nature Calm course>>.

Forest Bathing Benefits

It is important to understand the different benefits that forest bathing brings to our lives. Knowing these facets will help you apply the activities to your life in a more efficient way. Forest Bathing benefits can be grouped into 3 major areas: the mind, the body, and our relationships. Here is a simple explanation for each:

Forest Bathing benefits for the mind:

• Learn to overcome anger, anxiety and sadness.
• Higher self esteem and confidence.
• Improved ability to handle fear, self doubt and impatience.
• Avoid stress and burnout.
• Manage moods and switch off unwanted thoughts.
• Strengthen will-power to control cravings, give up addictions.
• Find peace and happiness in the present moment.
• Enhance creativity and problem solving
• Build empathy. Improve relationships.
• Find answers for important questions and decisions.

Forest Bathing benefits for the body: As discussed earlier, Forest Bathing has a positive impact on one’s immunity levels. Also the body’s sleep cycle improves and we are able to get better rest. Heart, lungs, muscles – they all benefit from the outdoor activity. Movement in nature is a wonderful antidote to lifestyle diseases that come with sedentary lives. It is a great way to recharge and renew your energy levels. The benefits of a 2 hour walk can last through the week.

Forest Bathing benefits for our relationships: Forest bathing has shown positive results across age-groups – from children to the elderly. It’s extremely helpful for parents as well as working professionals. As a company welfare program, forest bathing can be used for employee recreation, new employee training, and mental health management. Forest bathing when done with family of friends, yields deep connections and meaningful bonds. It is a beautiful way to grow love – for self, others, and nature.

The Science: In forest bathing we use the senses to train the nervous system which is intricately linked to our endocrine system and the immune system. When the physical body has started to calm down – blood pressure stabilises, stress hormones in our blood decrease, muscle tension decreases – the mental health benefits also kick in. We start thinking more clearly, our feelings of vitality increase and our mood starts to lift. The time needed in nature has been narrowed down to just 20 minutes a day in order to manage our mental health.

Forest Bathing – Why?

Our mental health is a very precious gift. For most people, the real value of our mind only becomes clear when things fall apart. Once a person becomes affected by any mental health issue, the road to recovery can take a lot of time, effort and money. Finding the right help and guidance is not easy and on top of that there is still a lot of social stigma attached to mental disorders.

Forest bathing offers a time tested approach. A large portion of the human evolution has taken place in nature. Nature connection is intrinsic to our behaviour, and is inscribed into our genetic code. It’s only during the last 200 years or so, that we have reduced our interaction with the outdoors. Going back to nature can bring us to a heightened state of sensory awareness and a feeling of alert calm. It is akin to a feeling of returning home and gives spontaneous rise to peace and happiness.

Forest Bathing works best as a form of prevention and a way to retain a healthy mind and body. It is not a replacement for medical advice or counselling for those who are seriously ill.

The rise of forest bathing in Japan teaches us that material wealth and economic progress are not enough to create a healthy, happy life. To find balance and harmony, we must focus on our inner selves first. And the whole journey starts with the mind. After all, the state of our mind, designs the state of our life.

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Download a few forest bathing activities and meditations at this link. | *In case you post any of our forest bathing resources, a link back to this page would be deeply appreciated.