FOREST BATHING – A PHOTOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE

These images are capturing a conversation with nature, for a moment we share the shame energetic frequency. 

Have you ever felt the presence of a wild animal before you saw it? It took me some time to realise that relaxed sensual feeling of being present in the forest could in fact be a form of meditation. Observing, listening, smelling, feeling, breathing, from that experience you can become energetically aware and find the frequency of the forest. I believe this is a lost art of humanity. We have now become accustomed to bathe in environmental toxicity, pollution and telecommunication frequencies.

“Humans are not separate from natures and have no free pass to escape the effects the traumas we inflict upon it. Healing of people and forests happens together or not at all.” – M. Amos Clifford, Founder, Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs.

Shinrin-yoku is also known as ‘Forest Bathing’. In Japan, there is a practice called forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku. Shinrin in Japanese means “forest,” and yoku means “bath.” So shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses. This is not exercise, or hiking, or jogging. It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Shinrin-yoku is like a bridge. By opening our senses, it bridges the gap between us and the natural world.

Also, importantly research has shown that there is a range of specific positive health outcomes tied to nature, including depression and anxiety disorder, diabetes mellitus, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), various infectious diseases, cancer, healing from surgery, obesity, birth outcomes, cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal complaints, margarines, respiratory disease, and others. Significantly, forest bathing provides a boost to the immune system. (University of Chicago, Ming Kuo, “How Might Contact with Nature Promote Human Health? Promising Mechanisms and a Possible Central Pathway.” Frontiers in Psychology 6, August 2015)

‘Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like leaves of Autumn.’ – John Muir