Shinrin-yoku, Part I

On an unseasonably warm February afternoon, my youngest daughter and I decided to go walking in the woods with our cameras in hand. This winter has been rather mild and brief, by comparison to most Midwest winters, and the last couple weeks, until today as I write this, have been borderline Spring. The robins are back, the daffodils and tulip trees all seem to be under the impression that the time has come to make their appearances. We both had had enough of being cooped up indoors, whether the cause has been school, work, or bitter cold winds, and since E had recently acquired a new camera she wanted to become more familiar with, we both headed down the road to one of our favorite woods.

(My daughter E, budding photographer herself, and walkabout partner that day)

The last couple of weeks, I have been wanting to explore black and white and monochrome more, and also become more familiar with my manual setting on my own camera. I admit to being a lazy photographer sometimes, relying on presets on the camera. This is mostly out of habit, I suppose, since much of my shooting has been on-the-fly softball action. I tend to set 'er in Auto, and forget about it. But as of late, I've felt driven to expand a bit, and challenge myself in some new areas, so b&w and manual are my latest.

Not too long ago, I read a couple of articles about shinrin-yoku, the Japanese term for "forest bathing". ( see http://www.shinrin-yoku.org ) The term came about in Japan during the '80's, although the practice has been a part of many cultures for centuries, I'm sure. The basic idea is, time spent in nature, or more specifically, in woods or forest environments, is healthful to body, mind and soul. Japanese scientists and doctors have proven it to be so through research. As humans, most of us instinctively know it to be true; we just allow life to hijack us away from opportunities to do so.

Basically, we were practicing shinrin-yoku this day. Even though our intent was to go out into nature and just observe, look for interesting photographic subjects, and spend a bit of time together, the hour and a half or so that E and I spent walking through the woods at a leisurely pace was extraordinarily refreshing and relaxing, to me. We came across unexpected finds (see the deer hoofprint photo, or in my next blog post, the cattle that were grazing on cornstubble). and had a lovely conversation. For me, it was wonderful time spent.

In my next post, I'll share some more shots from that afternoon, along with a few more thoughts on the subject of time spent in nature. Until then, here is another article sharing the experience and benefits of "shinrin-yoku", or "forest bathing". ( http://blog.rei.com/hike/shinrin-yoku-the-art-of-slowing-down/ , article by Ashlee Langholz) I can tell you from personal experience, it really is a healing experience, body, mind and soul. We should never allow life to keep us so busy that we have no time for self-care, and Nature Time is paramount to that self-care effort.