So(ul)journ!

I’m reading a book called Finding Focus: Own Your Attention in an Age of Distraction by Dr. Zelana Montminy. In one chapter, she talks about the importance of getting back to nature for at least a couple of hours each week and how doing so can significantly reduce stress and anxiety throughout the rest of the week.

She mentioned a practice known as shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing.” Now before your imagination runs wild, it doesn’t involve a bathtub hidden among the trees. It simply means spending time in the woods and letting the woods work on you.

The idea caught on in Japan in the early 1980s as a way to help people step away from the noise and busyness of life. It isn’t about conquering a trail, counting your steps, or making good time. It’s about slowing down enough to notice where you are.

It’s listening to the wind rustle through the leaves. It’s catching the scent of pine. It’s watching sunlight dance across a path. It’s feeling your shoulders relax without even realizing they were tense in the first place.

I suspect most of us have done a little forest bathing without ever knowing there was a name for it. We’ve sat beside a stream, wandered through the woods, or paused beneath a stand of trees and felt somehow lighter when we left than when we arrived.

We are camped in a forest of birch, aspen, and pine. I wish you could smell the air. It is so fresh. Next to our campsite runs Gore Creek, and it just so happens there is a change in elevation nearby. The water cascades, falls, and skirts around rocks and boulders as it makes its way downstream.

I sat on a boulder in the creek and put my feet in. Yikes! Talk about a cold plunge. The water quickly removes any feeling in my feet. Yet more than that, the creek just keeps flowing. It never fails to amaze me how much wonder there is in moving water. The force of it, the volume of it, seems endless. Taking time to enjoy it really is life giving.

The Japanese gave it a name: Shinrin-yoku. Forest bathing to the rest of us!  I think I’d like to call it spending some time in Nature’s Cathedral!

By the way, you’re not supposed to take any technology with you. You can see I broke that rule. Inspired by the surroundings and the idea of forest bathing, I wanted to share some photos as a part of this blog. So I went for another walk this morning without any phone or camera. You definitely are more aware of what’s going on around you. You notice a lot more!

Here’s an exercise for you to consider. Go for a walk in nature. If you can’t get out right now take a moment and meditate, pause, or just enjoy some of the following photos and videos 

Take a moment and listen to the flow of water. I simply want to encourage you to find a moment, step outside, and take a walk.

Who knows? Maybe some of that stress and anxiety are melting away as you wonder at all the marvelous things nature provides for free.  You might even discover you enjoyed this time and will commit it to a more regular practice. Maybe even post a video or photo of your journey through Nature Cathedral.