Nature & Forest Bathing

Our practice of nature and forest bathing is a weaving together of threads of influence from multiple practices. It is is part-inspired by the Japanese Shinrin-Yoku, and significantly also Deep Ecology, Jungian psychology, Joseph Campbell’s psychology, Way of Council, and Native American Vision fasting (a.k.a. Vision quest). It is a heart-centred pathway to health and wellbeing for both humans and the ‘more-than-human-world’.

• Shinrin-Yoku was developed by the government in Japan in the 1980s as an antidote to over-work. Shinrin means forest, and yoku means bath, and this is the inspiration for the name of our practice, ‘forest bathing’. The main focus is the physiological health benefits – stress release, relaxation, cardiovascular and mental health benefits. The Japanese government and healthcare providers recognise it as a legitimate form of healthcare and prescribe it as preventative and complementary therapy for a range of conditions, including anxiety, depression, and chronic stress.
• Carl Jung described the process of individuation; a lifelong journey that involves ongoing self-reflection, self-awareness, and self-acceptance; a path towards psychological wholeness and a greater sense of connection with the world around us. Joseph Campbell talked about a ‘hero’s journey’; a journey beyond the familiar where a person returns with the gifts of wisdom and healing.
• The fields of deep ecology and Native American vision fasting, or vision questing, take us further into a relational practice of connection, of reciprocity. We focus very much on developing relationships with Nature; the “more-than-human-world”. This naturally leads us to a deeper (re)connection with ourselves and others, and a sense of belonging to this web of inter-being; experiencing ourselves as part of nature, not separate from it.

Many surviving indigenous and traditional cultures, such as Aboriginal, Native American, African and Japanese cultures naturally have a connection and relationship with nature to this day.

• Aboriginal people of Australia consider that people belong to the land. They have a connection and kindredness with all living beings, as well as what we might consider ‘inanimate’ objects.
• Japanese people have a cultural underpinning of Shinto and Zen, and that naturally disposes them to seeing all parts of the landscape, such as trees, rocks, streams, mountains, the ocean, etc., as having a life force, and as beings they can connect to.
• Saan Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa and the Hadza people of Northern Tanzania have a spiritual connection to nature and feel that everything in the world is interconnected.

We are all descended from indigenous people; people connected to Land, and we knew nature as home. Most modern cultures don’t have this cultural foundation anymore. Some elements of this walk will give us a chance to explore these connections.

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” – Khalil Gibran