Sometimes I wonder if there are good reasons to author an article or if it is the universe at play.
Ugh! The days are shorter now – light-wise. But at any time of the year, we know going outside is beneficial anywhere on the back roads.
Forest bathing is a relatively new healthy approach to taking in the benefits of being outside with the trees. It has nothing to do with soap and water. And it has a great deal to do with Vitamin N – a dose of Nature.
It is fortunate to connect with a few experts about these aspects.
Trees give
Forest bathing, what exactly is it?
Translated from the Japanese term “shinrin-yoku,” forest bathing also is known as forest therapy. It’s somewhat like hiking through the forest. It’s also like meditating among the trees. Yet it’s not exactly either.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger, the first to write about tree aerosols, says “tree compounds are released like rockets into the air.” (Listen to the New York Times interview.)
She is a world-recognized author, medical biochemist and botanist. It is fortunate to have a personal interview with her. She lives near Kemptville Ontario and does not utilize email or other social media. Beresford-Kroeger was elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2011. In 2016, the society named her one of 25 women explorers of Canada.
Beresford-Kroeger has a unique combination of Western scientific knowledge and the traditional concepts of the ancient world. She was one of the first to conceptualize what forest therapy really is.
“Tree air is loaded with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, antiseptics, antivirals and analgesics,” she says.
Trees and other plants produce hundreds to thousands of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These carbon-based chemicals easily evaporate from a liquid or solid into air at much lower temperatures than most chemicals, Beresford-Kroeger explains.
“For example, your nose is sensing VOCs when you smell pine trees.”
She gives us the reasons why trees are so beneficial for our health.
“Trees produce their own self-defence mechanisms,” says Beresford-Kroeger. “Trees secrete these compounds to protect themselves from insects and microbes. By simply being close to trees, we breathe in these antimicrobials. A growing body of research has shown that living close to trees has beneficial effects on mental health, as well as well-being, mood, cognition and lifespan.”
These airborne compounds increase immune system regulators while decreasing respiratory rates, stress levels, blood pressure and stress (adrenaline and cortisol).
Beresford-Kroeger has an ambitious bioplan encouraging ordinary people to develop a new relationship with nature, to join together to replant the global forest and be with nature.
“Like the brain, trees are an enigma machine,” says Beresford-Kroeger. “Nobody knows how they really work. Trees have more DNA than a human child. They communicate in two ways: One, by silent infrasound into the emotions; the other, in a chemical communication with the atmosphere. The drum of the tree beats a message to us all.”
Beresford-Kroeger encourages walks in all seasons. But a forest therapy guide is not a therapist, she emphasizes.
“The forest itself is the therapist,” she says. “The forest does all the work. My words simply open the door to the forest to help connect the forest with the person.”
Her simple advice: “Breathe deeply under its branches, and you’ll get a good dose of salicylic acid and 22 types of airborne molecules including lactones that have a resting, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect on the body."
That sounds easy enough, much like taking vitamins.
If needed, Beresford-Kroeger says you can be guided by certified professionals and Google will find programs for you.
“The guide’s role isn’t to explain the flora and fauna. Rather, the guide facilitates the contemplative experience, offering participants invitations to interact with the forest in a meaningful and healing way.
“How many of us really slow down and feel the different textures in the forest?” she asks.
Vitamin N
As an educator, I have promoted this book, Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life to countless B.Ed. candidates at Nipissing University and here at the Canadian Ecology Centre since 2005.
That is when Richard Louv’s groundbreaking book was published, Last Child in the Woods, a New York Times bestseller. He is the first to bring widespread attention to the alienation of children from the natural world, coining the term “nature-deficit disorder” and outlining the benefits of connecting with nature. The book links exposure to nature to boosting mental acuity and creativity, reducing obesity and depression, promoting health and wellness; and, simply having fun.
In 2008, he was awarded the National Audubon Medal. Prior recipients included Rachel Carson, E.O. Wilson and President Jimmy Carter. There is a succession of nature-benefit books by Louv. One of his books is entitled: ‘Vitamin N.’
Most times when I seek out a worldly author, I end up going through a step process with the publisher or the author’s agent. This takes time, appointments and patience.
I reached out to Richard Louv by email and he replied, to my complete surprise, almost immediately as “Rich.” I tell about this current story. He cares. He offers advice needed beyond reading between the lines.
“Nature can reduce depression and improve psychological well-being. Researchers in Sweden have found that joggers who exercise in a natural green setting feel more restored and less anxious, angry, or depressed than people who burn the same amount of calories jogging in a built urban setting,” he told me.
“This is not only about us and what we stand to gain in terms of mental health, and even physical health and spiritual health, but also the preservation of these species that are all around us,” Louv says.
“The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.”
A guide
So then I found a more localized guide, also very qualified and someone who has faced life-changing experiences.
EcoWisdom is an Ontario based non-profit, it provides virtual and onsite services that facilitate human connection to the natural world. It uses the forests near Algonquin Provincial Park
It includes processes such as forest bathing mindfulness meditation, contemplation, and education.
Kari Krogh is one of the founders. Her programming, offered in collaboration with co-facilitators, weaves together foundational knowledge in neuroscience, psychology and mindfulness with a commitment to inclusion, compassion, community building and sustainability. She is well qualified holding a PhD in Human Development and Applied Psychology as well as being a University Professor in Critical Disability Studies and a Doctoral Internship in neurology at the Hospital for Sick Children.
“Ultimately, we believe that what is good for us as a human species is that which nourishes our home, Mother Earth. By fostering a deep relationship with creation, we hope to support bringing humans back into a state of balance within themselves, their communities and as a part of the earth’s ecosystem.”
She says, “We are a constellation of things in a single moment. I am a researcher, promoter of community health, an advocate for equity and an environmental conservationist. Everything in my history has brought me to this place of deep commitment for evidence-based forest medicine (shinrin yoku/forest bathing) practices to build physical and emotional resiliency among the most vulnerable members of our society. I am also committed to using these practices to foster community resiliency and environmental conservation.”
She acknowledges her life-changing experiences.
“While working as a professor of Disability Studies, I myself acquired a severe disability affecting many areas of function and all aspects of daily living. I went from living with an easily managed chronic illness as a professor and new parent to living with a very complex condition that repeatedly brought me to the precipice of life or death. I lived with chronic severe pain, ineffective medical professionals initially, and social interactions that exacerbated my experience of isolation and suffering.”
Fast forward.
“I received a call from a good friend of mine who was exasperated as he was trying to support 500 members of a disability organization as Executive Director at the peak of the pandemic pre-vaccine. I proposed to my friend that we pilot a virtual forest bathing program which was a success, eventually, my personal experience, training and community service projects led us to a place where EcoWisdom now has its own unique model for providing powerful nature therapy.
Within the EcoWisdom training, they celebrate uniqueness.
“We encourage our Indigenous guides in training, for example, through Indigenous-led mentoring, to weave in cultural identity and wisdom that can be brought into their work as nature therapy guides. Our intention is to use mindful nature connection practices to care for self, one another and the earth. My daily life on the forest preserve is modelled as one way to live out a commitment to the earth and we invite our community members to foster land-based attachment to the forest preserve and the land upon which they live, wherever that may be."
She says the land has helped heal.
“The forest community of interdependent beings has taught me the value of feeling settled into a state of wholeness and belonging rather than desperate grasping for a cure. The white pines have taught me through a language conveyed by wind. For all of this, I am incredibly grateful and remain committed as a caretaker of the land and dedicated in my work of service to our disability community and beyond.”
What’s next for you?
If you have noticed I have missed a couple of weeks of regular Village Media submissions. It is good therapy to pen this one.
More, recent surgery, because of past challenges now there is a new right hip to improve the gait.
First day and every day, post-operation doing the progressive walking and exercise here within Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park (Canadian Ecology Centre). I practice what I have learned about being “with” nature, embracing the benefits of healing through the senses. The mild fall has helped and I stand by my weather prediction. Now I foresee walking better than post “Super Bug,” my gait will be better.
How about you? Just get outside on your own terms, create the opportunity to immerse - and reconnect with – nature, especially look up at those trees.
Good enough reasons anywhere on the back roads. I am grateful for Vitamin N.