Forest baths – „shinrin-yoku”
Forest treasure hunts are probably something all parents are familiar with 🙂 But as far as ‘shinrin-yoku’ is concerned, I suspect there might be a bit of confusion… From Japanese, ‘shinrin-yoku’ can be translated as ‘forest bath,’ but not literally in a creek, puddle, or pond – although all of these can be enjoyable and believe me, they happen during our outings 🙂 It’s a pleasant bath for our senses – in the forest’s sounds, colors, scents, shapes, and flavors!
- You could say it’s a sensory SPA, a remedy for stress, a way to achieve deep relaxation. It’s a forest walk during which you immerse yourself in the present moment, forgetting about problems, tasks, and the outside world.
- It relaxes your mind, loosens your body, rests your eyes, your hearing delights in the silence and friendly sounds of nature, and your sense of smell recalls natural scents while creating new olfactory memories.
- Your mind gets a break – it becomes quieter, stops analyzing, pondering, and planning, and instead, it can evoke pleasant memories and create new ones.
It sounds a bit futuristic, doesn’t it? But trust me, it’s really enjoyable and works wonders for our bodies and minds.
So, abandon all fear and apprehension, for I will be your guide on this new journey and lead you through it safely. 🙂
And besides, you don’t have to do anything; instead, you can try everything during our forest adventure.
However, I am convinced that after our forest encounter with “shinrin-yoku,” you will definitely want more and more often 🙂
Forest baths – impact on health, wellbeing and development
Scientific studies confirm the positive effects of forest baths across a wide spectrum. They show that just about an hour of mindful time in a forest setting can boost our immunity for the entire week! The forest air is rich in phytoncides, which increase the activity of natural killer (NK) cells and the production of perforin, granzymes, and granulysin by immune cells (for combating pathogens and tumors) in our bodies.
During “forest baths,” our stress levels decrease, and we also build resilience to stressful situations. The levels of cortisol and adrenaline significantly decrease, and our blood pressure normalizes. Forest baths also help with fatigue, support the processing of trauma, reduce anxiety and depression, and enhance a sense of vitality.
In children, such forest activities help prevent attention disorders and depression, increase creativity, and stimulate the imagination. Their self-esteem also increases. Attentive time spent in the forest positively influences their cognitive and emotional development, supports the development of healthy risk-taking skills, nurtures their sensitivity and empathy, and helps in building a connection with themselves.
And there are many more positive consequences of forest baths that could be listed here, but for more, please visit my website and profiles on Facebook and Instagram.
Forest treasure hunting
Your child plays with the forest, often with other children and parents, and at the same time unconsciously learns to be attentive to what is inside it and what is outside. They get to know the forest land, develop and sensitize their senses, form a bond with nature, create forest compositions, open up to the world, and become aware of their emotions.
All of this, in addition to the pleasure felt “here and now,” will be germinating, budding, or otherwise developing, growing, and maturing within them. It’s an enormous multidimensional internal resource that will be of great help to them many times during their adolescence and adulthood.
Forest workshops
And the combination of treasure hunting and „shinrin-yoku” during my workshops is:
- following the forest path and cross-country
- searching for hidden forest correspondence
- creative thinking and creating
- deep feeling
- noticing what was previously invisible to you
- perceiving and getting to know the forest with all your senses,
- encounters with inhabitants of the forest,
- commemorative original photographs and forest treasures,
- forest tea 🙂
- and of course, great fun and relaxation.
A lot happens during such hikes. Sometimes it may be difficult for you to find a letter from the forest hidden under moss or in the roots of a tree… And sometimes the task that the forest proposes to us will be challenging. For some, the challenge will be ‘doing nothing’ even for a moment, while for others, it might be finding wonder or building a house for a forest fairy… 🙂
And when you feel like you want more, or when I sense it’s the right moment, you can draw a card prepared by the forest ‘especially for you.’ 😉
Our forest meeting is also just a pleasant time spent with loved ones while being in close contact with nature. Shared experiences, emotions, and true presence in the ‘here and now’ are the foundation of close, healthy relationships, building and strengthening family bonds. And this is not my advertising text, but the result of numerous scientific studies.
So, shall we have fun together?
I warmly invite you!
AnaKONDA
forest and inner guide
psychologist
Explorer’s Passport
- you’ll receive a stampt to the Passport of the Explorer of the Land of Extinct Volcanoes for the participation in forest baths and hare and hounds organised by Ana
