Forest Bathing India : Shinrin-Yoku Forest Therapy India : Forest Bathing Walks

About Forest Therapy India - Forest Bathing Walks And Retreats India

When was the last time you indulged in an activity that involved all your senses? Probably, it would have been a while. Urban city life doesn’t really give us a lot of opportunities to be completely present in the moment. The concrete jungles that we built for ourselves, silently took away that liberty. Time and again, our body and mind give us signals, to slow down a bit, maybe even take a pause and understand the power of now, the benefit of mindfulness.

Shinrin-Yoku also known as Forest Bathing is one such activity that allows our mind and body to open up to the relaxing benefits of Mother nature. It’s an ancient Japanese art in which the practitioner visits a natural area and is mindful of the all the 5 senses i.e. Sight, taste, smell, hearing and touch. They completely detach themselves from the gadget driven world for the entire duration. Idea is to immerse oneself into a holistic experience of feeling nature as close as possible. To hear every little sound, the divine smell of the greens and a sight which you hardly get to behold in a normal day to day life is not just blissful but has therapeutic effects too.

So, the next time your mind feels cluttered or your body askSo, the next time your mind feels cluttered or your body asks you to halt for a while, just take a leisurely walk down the forest or a leafy park in your neighbourhood without having an ambition to reach somewhere, allowing the smell of the tiniest leaf to brush past your nostrils, touching them once in a while, looking at the beautiful and diverse colour palettes that nature has to offer and hear the birds chatter in their own unique ways. Ideally this activity should be done for 2-3 hrs to derive maximum benefits, but again, don’t stress about the duration, just be mindful as long as you want to.

The scientific logic behind this ancient practice is that when you immerse your senses completely while walking through nature, you are actually defeating cortisol, which is nothing but a stress hormone. You read it right. It’s the same hormone that leads to high blood sugar levels, takes a toll on your metabolism and gives mood swings you can’t handle. Even 20 minutes of practice can show significant change in mood and help achieve a sense of self. Studies have shown that Forest Environment can subsequently increase intracellular anti-cancer proteins in lymphocytes. And you don’t really have to be feeling down or wait for a symptom to start practicing Forest Bathing. It’s an excellent preventive measure to keep your heart healthy and your body to remove toxins which in turn is responsible for a long and healthy life.

The benefits of Forest Bathing we can count upon are:

• Reduced Stress
• Lesser mood swings
• Optimized blood pressure
• Better sleep patterns
• Balanced blood sugar levels
• Increased count of NK Cells (Natural Killer cells that fight cancer)
• Better intuition
• Rush of energy
• Enhanced interpersonal relationships

It’s high time we as a society realize that our health is not just an outcome of internal factors but is also dependent on a host of other outside factors, we have little control over. Factors like culture, employment, social isolation etc contribute a lot to our collective health and mental conditions. It’s a general tendency to take prescription medicines even when we clearly know that it’s a social problem and needs a fix at a much broader level. Health practitioners across the globe are trying to teach people the healing power of nature and how to make the most out of the resources we already have. Nature enthusiasts and forest therapy guides are coming out to the forefront to take us back to our own roots we forgot long back. Its time we stop by and “Just breathe”.