Last month an old friend, who now lives in a retirement community in Concord, told me how he and several friends go Forest Bathing every week and how beneficial it has been to his recovery from cancer. I have read about Forest Bathing before. From the internet, I learned that it became popular in Japan over 40 years ago and involves taking deliberate time in forests to quiet and calm the mind and body and uplift the heart. Scientists studying forest bathing and similar practices of deliberate time in nature have found many benefits from this practice, including lower blood pressure, heart rate, and stress levels; improved mood; better sleep; and increased creativity.
In a recent article, a doctor in Oakland reported this interaction with one of her patients: “Dr. Hass, I can’t thank you enough for that prescription you gave me to ride my bike to the marina and watch the sunset. I have been watching that sunset almost every day. I can’t thank you enough!” The doctor said that she has been giving out old-school paper prescriptions for about two years now, where she prescribes non-pharmaceutical steps that have been proven to make people healthier. She said, "I had heard that nature can make people happier and healthier, but I assumed it would offer just a slight bump in the happiness quotient. That patient showed me that I had underestimated both the impact of getting outside and who could be helped."
Recently many doctors in Canada are writing prescriptions where the instruction can be as general as taking time in nature three times a week to going to a park near your work and standing in the grass for 10 minutes. A program with the British Columbia Parks Foundation has started offering health care professionals nature prescription files and codes, with instructions for how to prescribe and log their nature prescriptions. Over 5,000 physicians in Canada have registered for this program!
During the winter months of early 2021, I was recovering from an almost fatal aortic dissection. I was exhausted and my health was delicate, so my only exercise was walking slowly. For months, I walked almost daily on a one mile stretch of the path along the Ashuelot River which is about 200 yards from my house. The slow walking, coupled with my long-standing mindfulness practice, yielded so many amazing sights, sounds, and smells. My mindfulness practice on these walks consisted of bringing an intention of curiosity and of walking without expectations. I would begin by grounding my attention for the first steps on the path: feeling my feet on the ground and my breathing. Over time, inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer's writing, I also greeted the forest: "Hello old friend, I'm so happy to be with you again."
Every day that winter I saw something that I had never noticed before:
• amazing ice formations encircling the bases of trees
• delicate patterns of snow on two creeks
• at one spot in the river, the water close to the bank flowed upstream for over 70 feet
• a large pine tree, leaning at an alarming angle at the very edge of the bank, knowing that the next thunder storm could end its life; realizing a next dissection could end my life, and somehow taking comfort in that connection to the tree which I named Bobby McGee: "freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose"
I also noticed other things I had been aware of before, but now felt moments of quiet and sometimes exultant joy in seeing:
• patterns of light reflecting on the water in the river
• an ironwood tree, its bark almost as hard as a rock
• the tiny eddies and whirlpools on the surface of the river
• so many different bird songs
• so many different kinds of trees
In the summer, I enjoyed the noticeable drop in temperature as I entered the forest and the calming effect on my minds. I found quiet joys:
• the rays of sunlight filtering through the trees as I walked under the canopy of the trees
• the reflections of the trees and undergrowth on both banks of the river
• being mesmerized by the various tiny and large eddies and whirlpools at this spot and all along the river
• seeing the turtles lined up and sunbathing on a tree trunk that had fallen into the river
Like Dr. Hass' patient, I felt that these almost daily walks contributed hugely to my recovery: becoming more attuned to my body than ever before, so many moments of joy in each walk, and the calming and quieting effect on my mind.
Simply walking in the woods is clearly beneficial since so many people do it. When people talk about Forest Bathing, they are simply making the practice more deliberate, more intentional. Some common aspects of various descriptions include:
1. turning off your cell phone;
2. bringing the intention to be curious;
3. moving through the forest slowly and allowing yourself to experience the forest through all your senses: what do you see? smell? hear? feel with your hands and feet?
4. starting with a comfortable amount of time and building up to longer walks, an hour or so;
5. reflecting on how you feel at the end of the walk.
Try it. Who knows what you will notice!