Shinrin-yoku Part II

So, in my previous post, I shared some photos from my recent time spent meandering through one of my favorite wooded haunts with my daughter E, another aspiring photographer. In that post, I discussed the practice of "shinrin-yoku", otherwise known in Japan as "forest bathing". As I mentioned, the term shinrin-yoku came about in the '80's, coined by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19568835 ) . Subsequent studies have shown that time spent in the woods or forested places, mindfully walking casually, and truly experiencing one's surroundings with all five senses, can be a holistically healing and beneficial practice.

Although the term shinrin-yoku was coined over thirty years ago, this habit of spending time in nature or wilderness really isn't anything new. It is something human beings have intuitively sought to do for centuries, but moreso when humans were more agrarian, or hunter-gatherer inclined. With "progress" over the centuries, humans have found themselves with more idle time on their hands, which initially, would include time spent out of doors, enjoying nature strictly for the love of nature, or at least involved in outdoor pursuits that got them out of their buildings and in natural surroundings. But with progress, our idle pursuits evolved as well, and gradually have drawn human beings back into artificial environments and largely away from nature. Television, video games, iPhones....lots of stuff involving screens and living vicariously through images and stories produced by others, rather than getting up and out and creating their own adventures.

Now, don't get me wrong: I love, love, love to read, and I am not particular if it is a book, an article online, a newspaper, or a jar of A-1 sauce. (Yes, I have read it, and it does have raisins in it.) I'll read anything. And I am easily distracted by screens too. I try to be conscientious and monitor my time spent, but it's tough. And there are a few favorite tv shows, but I have weaned myself off of a lot of tv and interwebs, stuff that is a complete waste of time. I've even cut way back on my consumptiono f what passes for news these days. I'm doing well. And of course, I am writing this and posting my photos here. That is sort of a necessary evil, I guess, being as we live in a digital world anymore. But one has to view technology as a means to an end, not the end itself. Right?

....but I digress! On this balmy February afternoon, we strolled leisurely along one of the wooded trails here, drinking in the sounds, smells, and textures, and sights, and in the process, getting a few nice photos, and I, for one, definitely feeling more whole than I had when I left Cube World the previous Friday evening. We encountered some cattle browsing on corn stubble in a field adjoining the woods, and paused to watch them. The older ones didn't mind our intrusion, a couple of them looked up to see who had showed up, then returned to browsing the bits of early spring grass and kernels of corn from last autumn's harvest that were surely still lying hidden amongst the stubble. The younger ones seemed a bit alarmed. I'm sure no human ever pops out of these woods randomly, and being as they were not quite yearlings, in their limited experience, we were to be viewed with some suspicion, so a few of them trotted away hurriedly. But most of them went on grazing, offering a couple more photo ops.

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon, and something I need to do more of and more often. In the summer, we spend more time out here, fishing, camping, and such. In the fall, my husband and I are out here in the hopes of putting some meat in the freezer (no, not the cattle, the Odocoileus virginianus species), and the time I spend out here, hours at a time, in balmy fall weather, or freezing winter temps complete with north winds and sometimes snow, are always a balm to the soul, even if bug bites and frozen toes would say otherwise. In early Spring, watching the woods come back from its long winter slumber is always a joy as well, from the first hints of green tinge showing in the brush and brambles, as a sneaky green haze begins to appear day by day. Sometimes it seems as if the haze grows stronger hourly, some days.

In any season, time spent in the woods is a balm to my soul, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Shinrin-yoku is a very beneficial and necessary idea, whether you live in the city or on a farm. It is available to all who will seek it, and it is so much more affordable than all the medicine we can purchase with money. We live our "modern" lives too much in a fishbowl, in a cubicle, in a screen-world. Our very being calls out for more connection with nature, because, if you think about it, we humans are not so very special after all-- we too are part of nature. We have just allowed our ego and our minds to convince us that we are "above" nature, and for some reason, more "important" than time spent reconnecting with the very thing we are.

Go find your wild space. Find your inner self. Because that is the true self.