by Sarah Ivens
Lucy, 29
“It feels ridiculous writing this now, but toward the end of last year I felt I was heading for a breakdown. I was overwhelmed. The stress and pressure of work and home were tying me in knots and I couldn’t tell how I was going to be set free. Luckily, I met a new colleague during the peak of my anxiety who suggested that instead of hanging around our desks and gossiping or complaining during our one-hour lunch break, which was the office culture, we went for a walk and talked about anything other than work. Changing that mind-set, getting regular exercise and fresh air, and other tweaks I made to my lifestyle, really saved my life from getting very gloomy.”
Come on, get happy—not SAD!
There’s no denying that modern life has turned us into an indoor species—and it’s making us miserable, especially during the colder months. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) afflicts an estimated 3 million Americans per year—when sunshine and natural light are hard to come by—and the symptoms can run from a general feeling of lethargy to debilitating depression. Those suffering from it are told to embrace anything from prescribed light therapy (you sit a few feet away from a light box that mimics natural outdoor light) to antidepressants, to talk therapy. But could there be more to SAD than a simple lack of sunlight?
Richard Louv, an American author and co-founder of the Children and Nature Network, coined the term nature-deficit disorder (NDD) after analyzing the negative health effects when there is detachment from the great outdoors. Louv believes it’s a disconnection with nature itself—which is more exaggerated during the autumn and winter—that makes us feel sluggish and depressed, and not just the exposure to less sunlight. You won’t get a medical diagnosis for NDD, and doctors can’t prescribe a woodland hike and a swim in a waterfall—yet—but Louv has identified many shared symptoms between NDD sufferers—a lack of concentration, exhaustion and low moods—and those of the now widely acknowledged problem of SAD, giving us even more reasons to get outside all year round.
Hello sunshine!
We’ve all felt the warm glow of the sun on our skin, felt embraced by it like a warm hug, and felt happier and healthier because of it, but we’ve also been scared by the idea of getting too much sun, which promotes skin damage and, in some cases, skin cancer. These fears have almost justified our swing toward the exclusively indoor lifestyle we have today. If we work outside the home, we commute and rush to the office for eight-hour days, perhaps rewarding ourselves with a soulless, uninspiring run on a treadmill afterwards, before heading back to four walls and bed. If we’re at home, parenting or working, the chances are we spend more time in front of our washing machines than in our backyards, on a hamster wheel of domesticity and to-do lists; however, when exposed in a careful, considered way to the rays, the benefits are indisputable.
What’s the real deal with sunlight? We’ve become so cautious about UVA and UVB damage that the British Dietetic Association (BDA) is worried that our dwindling vitamin D levels are making people ill. They’ve taken the step of announcing a sunshine plan to follow, making getting outdoors three times a week for fifteen minutes to top up our “sunshine vitamin” as much a priority as eating our five fruits and vegetables a day. So, remember, limited sun exposure on short walks paired with the liberal use of sunscreen when you are outside for extended periods of time and/or during the hottest part of the day can increase your wellness. Here are three powerful reasons why:
1 Sunshine increases our levels of serotonin The “happiness hormone” helps with many common complaints such as depression, headaches and loss of appetite. Antidepressants are often the medical answer to increasing serotonin, but they often have undesirable side effects, such as giving us low libido and low energy. Luckily, Mother Nature lends a hand in the form of vitamin D, which helps to encourage serotonin production and release. Vitamin D is known as the “sunshine vitamin” because of the process that sunlight hitting the skin promotes in the body. The liver and kidneys absorb the sun’s rays and convert them into a biologically active form of this wonder vitamin.
2 Sunshine builds immunity to illnesses A Harvard University Medical School study outlines that while many vitamins are necessary, they don’t have the same great disease-fighting powers of vitamin D. Research suggests an appropriate level of vitamin D, from exposure to sunshine or by taking a supplement, may have protective effects against osteoporosis, cancer, depression, heart attacks and strokes.
3 Sunshine helps us to sleep better Exposure to the sun helps to streamline our body’s circadian rhythms, allowing us a good night’s rest. How much sleep we get—and how refreshing that sleep is—is affected by light, especially sunlight. If your body clock needs to be reset so that you can get some shut-eye at a decent time, getting outdoors in the early part of the day will improve your alertness and energy during the day, and it is likely to help you fall asleep at night.
Your prescription is ready!
In this chapter I’ve outlined the recognized health and wellness crisis going on today that our modern way of living is promoting: skyrocketing stress and anxiety, vitamin D deficiency, children with ADD (attention deficit disorder) and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), increasing obesity, jumping rates of depression, addiction to smartphones and not-so-smart prescription medication, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and nature-deficit disorder (NDD). Facts and figures are revealing, however, that a simple thing like taking regular nature walks and forming a meaningful relationship with the natural world can help to get us all back on the right track.
I still remember the moment when it all came together for me. It was in Mexico in 2008 when I arrived for that life-changing week’s retreat as a husk of a professional person with a slow-beating heart, addicted to my email account and exhausted from my insomniac tendencies. I was frazzled and nervous about my future. Time away from the distractions and stresses of the high rises of Manhattan, and staying in a place where BlackBerries and other mobile devices were banned, forced me to think and to analyze what was important.
The camp where I was staying didn’t have electricity, so I rose with the sun and went to bed with it too. I took silent beach walks and biked to swimming holes. On the last bike ride of the trip I felt lighter and brighter, and I remember belting out the Elton John song, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” the whole way home, even when the heavens opened and I got soaked, or maybe especially when the heavens opened and I got soaked—something I would never have done before this resetting of my life. (I have a terrible voice; the other vacationers probably hated it!) That moment is still one of the happiest of my life; a moment so simple, not as momentous as my wedding day or the birth of my two children, but charming because the joy came from having sun on my skin, blood pumping around my body and my eyes dazzled by the turquoise water of the coastline and the emerald green of the palm leaves overhead. Nature had taught me lessons about my nature that I needed to adopt and nurture.
How tempting this new nature-filled way of living is then, to bathe our senses in the beauty of our universe, to listen, feel, smell and touch it, rather than locking ourselves away in a human-made world. How powerful knowing that our mental and physical health, stress levels, moods and relationships will all improve in nature—and we’ll look younger (fresh air and rosy cheeks are guaranteed rejuvenators). In the next chapter I’ll discuss ways for you to get outdoors more without it feeling like a struggle.
MINDFULNESS MINUTE
A simple one to start. Take a minute in your yard, in a park or in a forest and repeat to yourself: “I inhale the future, I exhale the past,” breathing in and out slowly and deeply, in time with the sentiment, eyes open softly.
2
A Walk in the Woods
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is close
d, but Nature’s sources never fail.
John Muir
First things first—don’t freak out. This is a simple practice that works for all ages, fitness levels and lifestyles. Like yoga, getting some forest therapy and outdoor moving into your life is a non-competitive practice to be taken at your own pace, with an agenda you can physically and mentally handle but also enjoy. Be kind to yourself. Think about all the benefits you’ll get. Very soon getting outdoors and engaging with nature will become, excuse the pun, second nature.
Seize the day
There are little tweaks you can start doing immediately, even if you don’t have an hour spare to go for a nature walk. Small things such as waking up and not just checking your weather app to see what you should wear that day, but actually looking out the window (radical, huh?), checking the movement of the clouds, how the wind is pushing through the trees, and listening out for local birds beckoning in the morning with a gleeful chorus. At night, don’t go straight for the glare of a television screen or YouTube page. Take a moment to look outside, notice the sky changing color, the visibility of the stars, the sounds of night. It never hurt anyone to disengage from their day with a quiet minute, breathing in the cool night air, calmly preparing for bedtime away from the barrage of entertainment that crowds our lives.
Forest therapy for beginners
You just have to put one foot in front of the other, isn’t that how everything starts? But even that can feel nerve-wracking. It’s like when I stare at a blank page, all these ideas, stories and characters flourish inside my head, but I have no idea how to write them down, or get them out. So, I nervously tap away—edit and delete—until the right way starts to present itself. I felt the same trying to reconnect with nature after ten-plus years of living, loving and working in concrete, wound-up, grey cities. Engaged again, I knew that the smooth surface of a blade of grass felt good between my fingers and the wash of jasmine on a breezy day sweetened my soul, but I didn’t know how to harness them. How would I make nature fit into my life when I already had a long list of other priorities? Over time I realized I couldn’t, and shouldn’t, try to make nature fit into a schedule like a chore. I had simply to notice her, embrace her and welcome her in every aspect of my life: my exercise routine, my parenting, my relationships.
We can’t master Mother Nature and get the most from her. We simply have to go with her flow and at her pace, relinquish control, respect her unpredictability. With her as my guide and common sense as my safety net, the wonders of the great outdoors were easier to grasp. My plans could get rained on. I’d deal with it.
Remember what forest therapy is versus what is isn’t
It is more about melatonin and less about adrenaline.
It is more about calm and less about competition.
It is more about natural wonder and less about human-made entertainment.
It is more about noticing the weather and less about whining about it.
It is more about mental gain and less about weight loss.
It is more about slow healing and less about quick fixes.
Motivators to get moving
1 Set an easy goal to start Don’t tell yourself that you have to get out every day or there’s no point and that if you miss one session you might as well give up. This isn’t marathon training. Once a week is a great way to begin. Once a month is better than nothing.
2 Leave yourself notes and photos around your house to remind you of the beauty and stillness that could be yours. Instead of the ancient photo of you in a bikini you might stick to the fridge to keep you from stress eating during any given diet, pin up the most glorious vista, a magical view of treetops, or put a picture of a verdant mountain landscape next to your toothbrush.
3 Tell people what you’ve discovered about forest therapy, feed off their energy and commit to this lifestyle change publicly. You might even attract a few suitable fellow foresters in the process.
4 Keep a journal Note how you feel now on all levels: mentally, physically and spiritually. Read through Chapter 1 again and know that things can only improve with this lifestyle change. Keep the journal up to date and register how you feel differently as your forest therapy goes on. (See also Mindfulness minute here.)
5 Sign up to join a nature walking group if you think that will help. Before you even step foot outside, they will be sharing exciting information and encouraging anecdotes about the positive impact forest therapy has had on the other members.
6 Be compassionate—to yourself. Imagine you are talking to your best friend or sibling. What would you say to them if they were in a funk and talked about the idea of starting forest therapy? You’d encourage them, wouldn’t you? You’d look forward to hearing how they were doing. Think about being your own BFF.
7 Visualize the new you happier, more creative, less anxious and with stronger thighs. You can see it, can’t you?
8 Promise yourself a reward Give yourself a loose time frame and make a promise that if you really do spend more time outdoors and less time indoors, valuing the important things and turning off the television more, you’ll make a treat of it—book yourself a weekend camping (or preferably glamping), or a picnic with friends, or buy some new plants for your garden.
If you go down in the woods today…
• Before heading out for a fruitful forest therapy moment, consider the weather—not to stop you, just to prepare you for all eventualities. Soggy shoes, sunburn or goose-bumped skin will take away from your ability to enjoy the aromas and sensations you discover. Plan ahead by packing relevant weather gear in your backpack. It’s always a good idea to pack water and a snack too.
• Although hard-core tree bathers advise against taking a phone, for safety reasons I suggest you might want to—just be stern with yourself and leave it in a pocket. No checking emails or Facebook—and even taking photos should be kept to an absolute minimum; your camera should only be unleashed for truly unique sights. Selfies can be shelved.
• If there’s anything that can’t wait on your to-do list, get it done before you head into nature or it will suck up all your mental energy. You’ll find it easier to switch off and reclaim these minutes for yourself even when you have things on your mind in time, but when you first start getting into the practice of tree bathing, you’ll need to clear your mental inbox first.
• Once you arrive—at the park, the forest, the woodland trail—remind yourself that you are not here to hike or race. You are here to breathe and restore a sense of peace within yourself, your relationship or your family. Set an alarm if you need to be somewhere at a certain time. If not, let Father Time take a backseat to Mother Nature.
• If you are sharing this experience with someone else, agree before you set off to make this a silent walk, and that you can share stories and observations during intermittent breaks or at the end. Shush is necessary. Choose your fellow forest bather carefully.
• Silent walks won’t be possible if you’re walking with children, but you can still set a “sixty second silence” challenge, adding time as they get used to it. Kids love a game, especially if there’s a reward at the end.
• If you are taking this walk alone, observe all usual safety precautions.
• First walk. Tread ahead at your own pace, stop and stroll whenever you want to. Listen to your body and let your feet guide you—what are you gravitating toward? How does your body feel? Breathe steadily. Fill up on those phytoncides.
• Then sit. Find a good spot and go into a restful state. Let thoughts pop into your head and pop out without allowing anything to linger or niggle. Check out the big things—ancient trees, the sky above—then focus on the small: a leaf, a stone. Breathe deeply. Feel the phytoncides flow through your body.
• Observe the usual rules: Don’t litter. Don’t destroy. Don’t take anything that doesn’t belong to you. Don’t leave anything that could be dangerous to woodland life.
• Away from the woods, look back on the experience and wriggle aroun
d in your skin and soul to feel for lasting effects. Were there any? What was your favorite part? Was it worth it? Would you like to do it again? Congratulations. You’re officially a forest bather.
Merijayd, 42
“Recently, I was in a period in my life where I was working intensely to get a new business off the ground, bringing in just enough income to stay afloat while my husband, who was laid off, looked for a job. I was giving and spending much energy on everything and everybody else—I was depleted. So, I decided to go to my mother. Mother Earth, that is. I put up a hammock in my back backyard and made myself stay put and do nothing for a little while every day. I let the gentle swinging and the breezes soothe my mind. The gentle compression of the hammock was like a comforting hug. The colors of the blue sky, fluffy clouds and rich green leaves of the pecan trees took me to another place. It was a place where I was a child running freely in the grass, making forts in the woods and feeling the support of nature. I knew that my mother would always give me the peace and the time and space to heal as long as I let her.”
Sensational senses
A huge part of reconnecting with nature is the chance it gives you to open up the five senses. As you head into Sylvania, focus on everything around you and how it makes you feel inside. Meander or recline and think about the following:
