Have you ever been Forest Bathing?
Have you ever been Forest Bathing?
Last weekend I had a lovely walk around Heartwood Forest, a site owned & managed by the Woodland Trust.
Until 2008, this 347-hectare site in Hertfordshire was just agricultural land, now it makes the largest continuous new native forest in England, with 600,000 native trees planted by volunteers. In addition, there are precious pockets of ancient bluebell woodland, old hedgerows, wildflower meadows, wonderful bird life and open grassland.
I spent a couple of hours there, meandering around the trails, enjoying the woodland areas, young & old. It was a pleasure to listen to the birds, watch the squirrels, eat the blackberries, feel the breeze on my face.
Forest Bathing
At a business meeting recently, I was introduced to the concept of forest bathing.
First developed in Japan in the 1980s, ‘shinrin-yoku’ is not about wild swimming in tree-lined ponds (you don’t need to pack your swimsuit), but more about walking in woodland, slowing down and immersing yourself in the forest...