Forest Bathing, A Powerful Rewilding Practice for Fathers
What is Human Domestication?
If you have never heard of forest bathing, it is Japanese innovation, which involves slow, mindful, walking in a forested environment. The idea is to soak up the beneficial qualities of the atmosphere that trees create in their own natural habitat. Forest bathing is a gentle and receptive practice, so the question I pose in this article is “can it be considered a rewilding practice?” Yes, I believe it can. I define human rewilding as a transformational process through which a domesticated human, a person whose life is dominated by indoor experiences and whose methods of survival (shelter, water, heating/cooling, food) are outsourced through complex systems and supply chains. The journey of rewilding is a gradual process through which a person begins to remember and reclaim ancestral skills and practices that help them shift their center of gravity from an indoor, domestic life, to a life with a greater connection to their natural habitat, the outdoors.
What is Forest Bathing?
Forest Bathing, or shinrin yoku, is a practice that originated in Japan in the early 1980’s as a public health intervention to help urbanites dealing with chronic stress. Japan, having a deep and ancient tradition in Shintoism, of reverence for nature and places of healing on the land, turned to forest bathing as an easy and accessible practice for alleviating the effects of what I refer to as “domestication illness” or what Richard Louv calls, “Nature Deficit Disorder”. The idea being that as human beings, our natural habitat is the outdoors and that if we are removed from that habitat, especially for prolonged periods, the results are physical, mental, and I would add, spiritual harms.
We owe a lot to scientists in Japan and their forest bathing experiments. Prior to their inquiry, evidence for the benefit of time spent in forests was sparse. The evidence they compiled is compelling and supports the idea that many of the physical and mental problems that modern humans face is a direct result of isolation and removal from our natural habitat. Some of the benefits of just a 45 minute, relaxed walk in a forest include:
12-14% reduction in the stress hormone cortisol.
Elevated natural killer cell count indicating a positive effect on the immune system
Reduced heart rate and blood pressure indicating a parasympathetic nervous system response (rest and digest vs. fight, flight, or freeze).
Improved mood
Increase vigor
Improved sleep
Most of these benefits have been associated with the unique quality of the air one breathes when in a forest. Trees secrete volatile organic compounds called phytoncides, into the air. These essential oil compounds, when inhaled, have been shown to trigger the benefits shown above. The theory behind all of this is that we evolved breathing in this type of air, so our bodies respond positively when reintroduced to the conditions we evolved in.
Forest bathing is defined most elegantly by researcher Yoshifumi Miyazaki as simply “opening all of our senses to the forest atmosphere.”
That’s it. No exercise involved. Nothing too wild or extreme. Just a relaxed stroll through a forest with no particular end goal. The practice is allowing yourself to go slow and notice everything that you find interesting, fascinating, or beautiful. It is similar to taking a magnesium salt bath or sitting in a sauna. You don’t have to go anywhere, you are just soaking in the nutrition that is there. In forest bathing, the medium is the forest. The nutrients may be things like:
The sound of the wind in the trees
The movement of the leaves as the wind blows and the light dances
The smell of the earth, the trees, and the air.
The feeling of the cool earth or the grass on your bare feet.
The sound of the birds and the insects
The texture of tree bark, moss, and stones
Spiderwebs glistening with dew in the morning light
There is no end to the things we can notice when we slow down and allow ourselves to rest in our original habitat.
Rewilding might sound extreme at first, but many of the steps in the transformational journey are very gentle and subtle. Forest bathing is not only a wonderful and accessible way to begin your rewilding journey, it is a profound practice that can permanently transform the way that you engage with the earth.
Forest Bathing for Fathers
As a father, forest bathing has been a profound portal of healing, self care, and attunement for my senses. When I feel burned out from too much screen time, or when my senses are out of whack from being in the house all day attending to domestic chores and responsibilities, forest bathing offers a doorway to a refreshed nervous system, cleansed senses, and oftentimes a feeling of peace and contentment. Even just a 15 minute barefoot stroll in the woods can make a huge difference in how you feel. When we give ourselves permission to be still and notice all the ripples of life energy that are pulsing in the forest, we touch something in ourselves that is ancient and still very much needed in our modern lives. We can feel that web of inter-being of which we are a part. This lived experience of being connected to something bigger is essential for our spiritual well-being. And its out there right now, just outside your door.
May the forest be with you!
Micah