Forest Bathing

I took a 3-mile hike in the woods by myself the other day. It was a much needed break from all the busy-ness of life on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Unlike the hiking trails I used to go while I was living in the city, most trails around here are very quiet. Most of the time, even on the weekends, you’d rarely run into other hikers on the trail, which is what I love about it. The only couple I ran into was surprised to see me hiking alone. The woman said, “you’re so brave to hike by yourself!” I feel fortunate to know these trails so well that I feel safe hiking alone.

I had been working non-stop for days, and it was the weekend my husband went to his mens’ retreat. I desperately needed to spend time alone and do something to get recharged. I don’t remember when a term, “forest bathing” started. Even the original word, “Shinrin-yoku (森林浴）in Japanese wasn’t around when I lived there. I’ve read in recent years that forest bathing is scientifically proven to have positive effects on our health, which I’m sure those of us nature lovers know instinctively.

On this hike I found myself stopping to take pictures of “dead trees” in the forest. Many of them had turned brown during the recent drought years, and with the snow and rain falls of the last couple of winters the earth got loosened and many of them fell. Living here I’ve come to recognize it’s not the end of the story for those trees that dry up and fall. There’s a whole new phase of their life to serve the surrounding ecosystem when they turn brown and lay down on the Earth.

Just by being amongst the live and half-live trees, secretly dialoguing with them, and sometimes touching them on their trunks and branches, I knew I was being recharged. While I was feeling pretty exhausted and almost depressed that morning, by the time I was done with my hike I was feeling remarkably better. I have no doubt of the power of forest energy…