A Reiki Masters Guide to Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku)

Last week my family traveled to the Olympic National Forest to enjoy our first wedding anniversary. We wanted to step into nature and step out of city life for a few days; relieving ourselves from the everyday stresses of city life and enjoy the Japanese healing of Forest Bathing or (Shinrin-yoku).

What is Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku)

Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku) is a high sensory experience of a forest.

How Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku) Heals

Forest bathing as a medicinal practice in Japan goes back to the 1980s. Japanese studies have

shown Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku) improves sleep quality, mood, your ability to focus, and reduces stress on your body. Prescribed Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku) in Japan has led to a healthier lifestyle for people of all ages.

How to Experience Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku)

Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku) is all about awakening and tuning into your senses. This is your time to sit and soak in all of the sounds of the forest: twittering birds, rustling bush, trickling streams. Breathe in clean, fragrant air and soak in the sights of the textured ground and the shapes of the leaves in the sky. Touch the soft, green moss carpeting the shaded stones, or the rough bark on the trees. Let the stillness around you influence your state of mind and make you forget the constant motion of everyday life.

This is a sensory experience and you can go as deep as you allow yourself to. Feel into this experience fully and completely. Breathing in to the count of four and exhaling to the count of four.

History of Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku)

Dr. Qing Li, MD, Ph.D. is a doctor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, president of the Society of Forest Medicine and author of

Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness. He estimates we spend 93 percent of our time indoors. He identified a nature deficit disorder in society, which contributes to negative feelings about life, but can be significantly improved by just a few hours of forest bathing.

In 1980’s japan there was and still is to this day something called “green-poor”, meaning, there was little to no trees or nature around in cities. At all. So with the stress of everyday life living in a city with no nature, Dr. Qing Li quickly realized the importance of nature for one’s wellbeing.

Being in a forest and paying attention to our surroundings stimulates the senses enough to ease the drive to do something, yet is calming enough to allow us a moment of peace. Allowing overstimulation to ease.

This was the birth of forest bathing as a medicinal practice and Dr.’s continue to prescribe forest bathing to this day and patients continue to report its benefits.

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Kathryn Hull is the Owner and Master Healer of Akasha Healing. She is an Accunect™ Practitioner, Sound Healer, Healing Events Coordinator and Facilitator, a Registered International Center for Reiki Training Master/Teacher, Usui/Holy Fire lll/Karuna Reiki Master/Teacher, and a RYT 200 Yoga & Ayurveda practitioner Registered with Yoga Alliance.