Please don’t let the weather stop you from going Forest Bathing.
One of the main questions I get asked when people want to come on a forest bathing experience with me is
Does it get cancelled if it rains? The answer is no.
I don’t know who said it first but there is the saying, “There is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing. This is so very true.
There are only two types of weather when I’ll bring it to a stop and that’s thunderstorms and winds gusting above 30mph, both for safety reasons. I always check out each route we take the day before to see what changes if any have occurred and again a few hours before the start of every session. Safety is paramount for my participants.
You see the forest is ever changing. Seasonally, on a monthly, weekly, daily basis, every single minute will be different. We all understand to a degree why the leaves burst from one vibrant green to a golden glow into warming browns. We feel the earth beneath our feet soft and bouncy and warm in the summer, gradually shift to knobbly, crevasses as the soil dries, shifts and splits, with a dusting of frost on its peaks.
With each change we have a new experience, a new texture to feel, see and hear.
Our senses are taken on an altering journey.
The way you see, and feel may resonate with you differently, depending on you as an individual, what’s happening in your life and what you feel within on the day.
Apart from colours changing, you may notice different aromas from one season to the next. Or during Spring rainfalls or later in the year when the air is fresher and cleaner when it rains, you can breath easier and it helps boost your mood. Read about more of the benefits of walking in the rain here on the VeryWell Health website https://bit.ly/3MHENZn
Fresh sweet dew fed grass, varying scents from the leaves or the parched soil. And then the rain comes, the ground soaks it up, wakes up and boom, there it is the forest releasing its fragrance.
Petrichor – The fragrance that’s released when it rains onto a dry woodland area. It is sublime!
Allowing the trees natural oils Phytoncides to be released in abundance, which in turn give us so many health benefits. I’ll talk more about this in a future article.
Feeling the waxiness of springs new leaves, to the crunch of the crispy leaves. The smell of the newly sprouted daffodils, to the chilly air tingling your nostrils.
The dense lush greens, yellows and varying shades of the canopy, with the cool blue sky peeping through the branches. Leading into twisting, spindle like branches, bare and rustic.
You see we are meant to connect with nature, its in our DNA. We’re not meant to be shut away in concrete, brick modern buildings, with all the electronic devices and gadgets deafening our senses.
Its wonderful to see the forest and woodlands in a way you’ve probably never seen before.
It’s a real sensory adventure, a different way to interact with it, coming into nature from a different angle, literally, as you may wish to sit or lie down when viewing its parts.
Remember as a child when you thought it was great to actually see your breath being released from your mouth into the frosty air. The swirling patterns it would make. As an adult, it just signifies how cold it is and we scuttle along at a quicker pace.
Maybe on a car journey you’d find animal shapes in the clouds. Hold a buttercup under your chin and see its reflection on your skin. Throw the biggest stone you could find to make the biggest splosh in the pond.
Can you see as we grow in years the joy and simplicity that nature has to offer diminishes and fades away. That doesn’t mean that during a forest bathing session I want you to act like kids again, but I do want to guide you back to its beauty, its ease and tranquillity. It hasn’t gone away, we have.
If you’d like to find nature again then please click the link to find locations and dates for Hampshire Forest Bathing with me https://theforestbathingcompany.com/the-events/
