Walking in the Woods: Go back to nature with the Japanese way of shinrin–yoku

 

 

'It is clear that our bodies still recognize nature as our home...' - Yoshifumi Miyazaki

'Forest bathing' or shinrin-yoku is a way of walking in the woods that was developed in Japan in the 1980s. It brings together ancient ways and wisdom with cutting edge environmental health science.

Simply put, forest bathing is the practice of walking slowly through the woods, in no hurry, for a morning, an afternoon or a day. It is a practice that involves all the senses and as you gently walk and breathe deeply, the essential oils of the trees are absorbed by your body and have an extraordinary effect on positive feelings, stress hormone levels, parasympathetic nervous activity, sympathetic nervous activity, blood pressure, heart rate and brain activity.

In this wonderful book, by the leading expert in the field, science meets nature, as we are encouraged to bathe in the trees and become observers of both the environment around us and the goings on of our own minds.

Yoshifumi Miyazaki is a retired university professor, researcher and the deputy director of Chiba University's Centre for Environment, Health and Field Sciences. He has published several books on the effects and benefits of forest therapy, and the concept is spreading with dozens of forest therapy centres now in existence and growing in Japan. In 2000 Professor Miyazaki received the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Award for clarifying the health benefits of wood and shinrin-yoku, and later an award from the Japan Society of Physiological Anthropology in 2007.