Thoughts on Forest Bathing

What is Forest Bathing?

Forest bathing, also known as shinrin-yoku, originated in Japan in the 1980s. It involves spending time in nature, walking very slowly or being still, and using all five senses to engage with the forest environment. It’s based on scientific studies that show that spending time in nature has a positive effect on people’s physical and mental health.

It seems entirely appropriate that the idea of spending time in the woods, and being present because it is good for us, has originated in a country that has words specifically to describe the way light falls through the trees (komorebi), and when lots of petals float down from a tree in a gust of wind (hanafubuki), and going out for a walk to admireautumn leaves(momijigari).

How Do You Do Forest Bathing?

Forest bathing can be done with a group, led by a forest bathing guide, but it is entirely possible to do forest bathing on your own.

The thing that makes forest bathing different to hiking through a forest, is that the emphasis is not on the exercise, but on focusing on what is around you.

To do forest bathing, all you need to do is put your phone in your pocket (or leave it home if you feel alright about being uncontactable for a bit), then either find a spot to sit, or walk very slowly. Pay attention to what you notice. What can you hear, see and smell? What textures do you notice? How does it make you feel? For your taste sense, you could bring some water or a flask of tea. Moving slowly also increases the chances of spotting wildlife, if that is something you like to do.

Take a moment to take some deep breaths. You could close your eyes if you feel safe doing that.

It’s all about slowing down in nature and being present.

Do You Need a Forest?

No! You knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?

A forest is ideal. But if you don’t have a forest handy, a small patch of woodland, or even a park will do. It will be easier if there are less people about, so if you want to try it, choose a time when it’s not too busy.

My Favourite Forest

During Covid, I discovered that this village where I have lived for most of my adult life has a wood I didn’t know existed! It’s on the edge of the village, and takes me about 15-20 minutes to walk up there. Its name is the Millennium Wood, and when I mentioned it to my sons’ Scout leader, he said that he remembered them planting it, and asked whether they were full sized trees! Apparently it was planted to commemorate the millennium (honestly how was that 25 years ago?!). Trees can grow quite a lot in that time! It is obviously a young wood, and it is tiny, but there is enough of it for a little bit of forest bathing.

It’s mostly native deciduous trees, oak, birch, rowan, and hawthorn. There are probably others too, but I’m not very good at tree identification. I’ve noticed lots of birds and insects, as well as unidentifiable creatures rustling the undergrowth. It’s a thriving wood, even though it’s tiny, and a very slow walk around it once a week makes such a difference to how I feel. It’s often as effective as taking a nap!

How Does it Relate to Us as Creative People?

At this point you might be wondering why on earth I’m rabbiting on about forest bathing, when Wild Blossom Life is about creativity and exploring what it means to be a creative person. Forest bathing might be a nice idea, but how does it relate to being a creative person?

I think forest bathing does relate to us as creative people.

Nature is Inspiring

There is so much in nature that is inspiring. Often it is the colours. For those of us who enjoy crafts, even if you’re somebody who likes to use a pattern or a tutorial, a decision will still need to be made about which colours to use. Inspiration can come from anywhere, but just think for a minute about how often a colour or a group of colours remind you of something in nature, for example: a beautiful flower, the summer sky, the colour of the sea against the colour of the sand, autumn leaves or the colours of the moors.

So many of the things we might choose to use in a creative project already have a nature theme. I have a partially finished ripple blanket upstairs that I made using a pattern from Attic24. I couldn’t decide what colours to use (so many are beautiful there really is too much choice!), so I used a yarn pack that she had put together, inspired by the beautiful Yorkshire countryside near where she lives.

Looking at fabrics, there are so many florals, and in more recent years, things like owls, foxes and toadstools have become more common. And even prints that might seem more abstract could have started off as something from nature that was developed into an abstract pattern.

So in the woods, we can find inspiration for our own projects. Perhaps specific things, like colours or motifs, like leaves, but other, vaguer things, like textures and feelings, or the way the light falls through the trees.

The Woods Are an Excellent (and Free) Place For an Artist’s Date

I’ve mentioned The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron before. Lots of creative people have read it and found it helpful. I liked it and I found the ideas helpful, although it is a little bit prescriptive and difficult to do in my life as it currently is. To summarise, Julia Cameron says that in order to have creative ideas and make stuff that is good, whatever it is, we have to be regularly putting things in, and we have to practise. In The Artist’s Way, it is the artist’s dates that are an opportunity to put things in, and the morning pages are an opportunity to practise, especially if you are a writer.

Art galleries and exhibitions are nice to visit when you can, but if you don’t live in a city, have much time that is not already allocated to other things, or have the resources for fun things that cost money, going to the woods makes for an excellent artist’s date. As I’ve already said, there is plenty of inspiration to be found in the woods. Another thing about an artist’s date is that we don’t have to be specifically looking for inspiration. It’s about putting ourselves in situations where ideas will naturally spark, even if it’s not until afterwards.

Slowing Down is a Good Way of Getting Ideas to Flow

Nobody has their best ideas when they are stressed, and the opposite is equally true! Spending some time in the woods, walking slowly and paying attention to what is there is a lovely way to slow down. And when we slow down, it provides the right conditions for our brains to come up with all sorts of creative ideas, whether they relate directly to our surroundings or not.

So if it sounds like your kind of thing, I encourage you to try a little bit of forest bathing next time you are out in nature, even if it’s not a forest.