If your provider gave you a prescription to spend 20 minutes/day or 2 hours/week outdoors in nature, would you? What would you do?
What if being outdoors lowered your blood pressure, decreased anxiety and stress, improved sleep, elevated your mood, and reduced overall systemic inflammation (a driving factor in chronic illnesses and autoimmune diseases)? Would you schedule a walk?
Shinrin Yoku, which translates to "forest bathing" in Japanese, is a practice that was first introduced in Japan in the early 1990s. However, immersing oneself in nature is not new, as our evolutionary history suggests that humans were meant to spend time outdoors rather than being confined within buildings. Scientific research has shown that when we engage all our senses in nature, our physical bodies respond positively, whether it's through a simple walk in the park, sitting under a tree, or hiking.
As you engage with the outdoors, take a moment to observe your surroundings using your senses.
Look around and notice the shapes, patterns, textures, and colors you see.
Listen carefully and try to identify any sounds, such as birds chirping, crickets singing, or trees swaying in the wind.
Take a deep breath and smell the area's soil, trees, and flowers.
Finally, touch the bark of a tree, the branches, or the petals of a flower and feel their textures.
Remember to appreciate the beauty that surrounds you.
Forest bathing is an activity that is accessible to everyone regardless of occupation, income, or age. So, get outside and enjoy the experience!
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
By William Wordsworth (1807)
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
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