Category: forest bathing exercise

August 30, 2018

ASMR Foot Friction Exercise

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I feel like I just talked about feet.

And I’m here to talk about feet again.

For some reason, the subject keeps coming up.

No, I don’t have any sort of foot fetish; quite the opposite actually.

But our feet are such significant portals into the natural world.

Yet for some reason (you know, germs, ankle support, etc) we keep them covered most of the time.

Our feet give us so much more information about nature than we allow them to with shoes. Our feet:

Harbor countless nerves
Contain a large portion of our body’s pores
Need air to breathe
Are crucial to proprioception, balance, and body mechanics
Are the limbs that touch the earth
Absorb healthy negative ions

They wiggle and feel and create pressure and thereby offer a more information, a more comprehensive experience with nature.

So, point #1: take off your shoes when it’s safe during your time in nature

Now, let’s talk about one other way we can use our feet to explore our worlds.

The Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. ASMR for short.

If you look up ASMR on YouTube, you’ll find myriads of videos showing people combing their hair, whispering, tapping their fingers, and other interesting things.

The whole point of ASMR is that it’s supposed to trigger a feel-good response and give you the tingles. Pleasurable tingles.

Like the feeling you get when someone massages your scalp or lightly scratches your back.

There isn’t a whole lot of science behind ASMR yet because it’s so new. But I bet there will be.

ASMR stimulates both a positive physical (tingles) and an emotional (pleasure) response.

And you can use your feet and the grass to acquire that response. You also get all the benefits of grounding to go along with it.

ASMR Foot Friction Exercise

Find a bench or a chair to sit in out in nature. You need a seat that’s the right height to be able to run your feet through the grass.
To start, rub your feet back and forth or side to side over the top of the grass.
Get into a good rhythm and continue for 30 seconds or more. Really tune in and listen and feel the grass.
When the time is up, lift your feet and come to an abrupt stop.
Take a moment to feel that sensation. You can still feel that tickly stimulated sensation.

This quick exercise serves as a reminder of how receptive our feet are and how pleasure in nature is accessible anywhere, even just outside your work building.

It’s also a different way to experience grounding and the ASMR response at the same time.

This tickly massage:

Stimulates the nerves in your feet
Awakens your sensory cells
Provides a repetitive, rhythmic, meditative quality
Causes that positive physical and emotional ASMR response

I hope you’ll take 30 seconds out of your day today to experience nature in this quick way. Then tuck this exercise in your back pocket the next time you need a mini break.

I also filmed a video explaining the ASMR Foot Friction Exercise:

Let me know in the comments:

Have you tried getting the ASMR response before? What are other simple ways you enjoy nature?

June 19, 2018

9 Minute Nature Meditation with Cypress Essential Oil

*This post contains affiliate links which affords me a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Cypress essential oil.

One sniff and you can understand why people use it to clear their airways.

One drop to the skin and you can understand why people use it to relax muscle cramps.

It feels icy.

That minty cooling effect feels good on the skin and in your lungs.

Some quick research points to some of the benefits of cypress essential oil.

Cypress essential oil packages up some of the magic of the forest in a bottle.

Dr. Qing Li used Hinoki cypress essential oil when he performed some of his forest bathing medical research. If you haven’t met him yet, Dr. Qing Li is THE leading researcher on shinrin-yoku in the world. If there’s a forest bathing study, Dr. Li was probably involved.

So, as you can imagine, there’s something to cypress, or the forest in general.

Benefits of cypress essential oil:

Respiratory support
Promotes calm energy
Antibacterial and antiseptic
Immune support

Respiratory support

If you’ve ever breathed cypress essential oil in, you’ve experienced the invigorating effect it has on your lungs. You can feel it floating around in your lungs.

It’s great for breaking up coughs and congestion when you have a cold.

It also helps you take big, deep, cleansing breaths. You almost feel like you can take deeper breaths when you inhale it. It feels like it cools and expands your lungs.

Energized calm

Cypress oil is also calming and energizing at the same time, so it’s perfect for mental clarity. It’s both invigorating and relaxing. If you’re working on a big project at your job, for example, take a quick breathing break to breathe the oils in and notice how it helps you transition from a distracted frenzy to a calm focus.

Antibacterial and antiseptic

With its antibacterial and deodorizing properties, cypress essential oil is perfect for freshening up your feet and armpits when diluted with a carrier oil. It helps heal wounds and prevent infections elsewhere on your skin too.

Immune support

Cypress essential oils contain phytoncides. Phytoncides are the oils that the trees disperse into the air in the forest. Dr. Qing Li’s research uncovered that it’s these phytoncides that provide a major boost to the immune system. They also lower your stress response. Winning!

I got some cypress essential oil with June’s forest bathing Go Love Yourself Box, which btw I contributed to (the workbook features snippets from our Forest Bathing Immersion Library), so I thought I’d put it to good use with a mindfulness meditation.

If you’re wondering what to do with cypress essential oil, this is a good place to start.

And I’m sharing it here so you can try it too!

Cypress oil mindfulness meditation

Since cypress has a pine-y, earthy smell and comes directly from the forest, it’s perfect for a forest bathing meditation, no?

It’s even a great way to practice forest bathing when you can’t make it to the actual forest. Since the essential oil contains the same phytoncides you find in the forest, it proves effective too!

Finally, this meditation is the perfect “Threshold Exercise,” or a practice to help you transition from your normal everyday routine into your forest bathing practice. It slows and deepens your breathing, it refocuses your attention on the present moment, and it changes your mood.

You never want to go straight from the office into the forest without leaving your baggage and distractions at the entrance.

BTW, if you don’t have cypress essential oil, you could use a pine, spruce, peppermint, or another minty oil. I suppose you could even use peppermint tea if you have no oils available;)

Without further ado, here’s your Cypress Essential Oil Mindfulness Meditation.

Take a moment afterward to gauge how the meditation made you feel. Then, come back here and share in the comments.

February 2, 2018

50 Ways to Uplevel Your Forest Bathing Experience

If you’re one of the many people that can appreciate the subtle nuances that make forest bathing so satisfying, you’ll enjoy these strategies to take your practice a step further.

Or, you can use each one of these as a starting point if you’re just beginning to forest bathe.

These strategies help you mine the cracks of your forest bathing practice for gold.

Try these 50 ways to uplevel your shinrin-yoku experience:

Bring a magnifying glass. Check out nature in even more up-close detail.
Bring your journal.
Bare your feet
Use a walking stick. Make it a game to find the best one.
Use your imagination to build a fantasy story about your surroundings in your head a la Bridge to Terabithia or Where the Wild Things Are.
Bring your child with you and ask them general questions about the forest to see what they say.
Bring along a local field guide.
Go forest bathing at sunrise.
Leave your technology behind completely.
Pray.
Do a handstand and observe the trees from a new perspective.
Touch interesting textures with something other than your hands: your knees, toes, or nose.
Dig a hole.
Bury a burden in the hole you dug.
Carry parts of the forest with you as you walk, such as a pinch bouquet.
Leave a gift, something of yourself, for the forest (without littering). A kiss. A lock of hair. A prayer written in the soil.
Go forest bathing at sunset.
Read a nature poem before you go to set the tone.
Leave your worries at the forest entrance.
Smile.
Skip.
Do some stretches with the support of a tree.
Burn a mental snapshot.
Sing.
Set an intention for your walk before you go.
Lean in.
Look around and locate more things to be grateful for.
Bring your dog. See the forest through the eyes of your pet.
Try to scope out secret hiding spots like you would as a kid.
Look inside hollow trees.
Perform a one-word walking mantra meditation.
Take a moment to actually read the informational signs.
Follow the length of an entire vine with your hands.
Veer off the trail a tad.
Walk backwards for a short distance.
Try to decipher the answers to life’s biggest questions in the forest.
Stare intently at something interesting.
Take in the view of the forest on your back.
Follow the trail of an ant.
Find a high spot to look out over the horizon on.
Give back to the forest: pick up a piece of trash or send a mental blessing.
Put your feet in the water.
Write a message in the soil.
Leave a message in a hollow tree for someone to find.
Sway or do some Tai Chi moves.
Let the little kid inside of you dance when you feel compelled.
Listen for rhythms.
Make note of natural symmetries and patterns.
Learn one thing about how to survive in nature.
Take a moment to appreciate how tiny you are inside the forest from the Google-eye view.

Here’s a pinnable version to pin for later!

I hope this brainstorm helps you get more out of your next forest bathing experience. Let me know how it goes in the comments below!

January 3, 2018

Microdosing: The Solution When it’s Too Cold to Forest Bathe!

It’s been in the negative digits this week in Wisconsin. It’s rather unpleasant to be outside, even for a few seconds. It literally hurts your face to open the door. Even inside, we’re using space heaters to try and keep up with the chill in the air.

However, I have this burning itch inside me to experience nature every day. Can you relate?

I try to spend time in front of sunny windows or at least run to the mailbox to get the mail. That’s about all I can handle, but it’s better than the alternative of not getting any nature exposure (the horror!)

So, that’s why I thought it would be helpful to discuss how micro-dosing is the solution when it’s too cold outside to go forest bathing.

What is nature micro-dosing?

Micro-dosing on nature is about getting little bits of exposure to nature whenever you can. A quick walk outside with the dog, a quick snowball fight with the kids, a quick jaunt outside to fill the bird feeder… It’s getting outside for even just a few minutes when it’s otherwise impossible to be outside.

What are the benefits of forest micro-dosing?

You might think, why bother if I can only be outside for a few minutes?

Studies show that just by looking at plants or having a nature window view, you experience positive benefits, so you can imagine the advantages of forest bathing in microdoses.

Just 5 minutes of activity outside is enough to improve mood and self-esteem (and help you stay warm).

Even if you think going outside for a few minutes wouldn’t matter, it does! You should even be able to notice how you feel different when you skip it for a few days. You start to crave it!

How can you get your micro-dose of nature?

Even if you can’t get physically outside, you can view it from the window or sit in a sunny patch.

Gaze out a window at the glistening snow-covered branches.
Curl up in a sunny patch on the carpet like a cat. Or Make Your Own Sunshine!
Get as bundled up as you can and go lean on a tree for a few minutes.
Pay attention to one of the green flourishing house plants. Touch, smell, and view it.

This is how I like to micro-dose on -20 degree days:

Find a sunny spot on the carpet with a view of our treeline.
Set the 2 minute meditation timer on my Fitbit.
Follow the Fitbit deep breathing exercise with my chin tilted toward the sun.
When the breathing exercise is over, stare out the window at the trees for a few minutes longer.

Otherwise, I like to put as many layers on as possible and walk along our treeline and back.

It’s enough to fill my lungs with a quick hit of fresh air, change my scenery, change my perceptual input for a few minutes, and get natural sun and nature exposure.

Here’s a quick view of what micro-dosing looks like at my house:

I hope this inspires you to get outside, even just for a few minutes. I’d love to hear from you:

How are you going to get outside today? Do you notice a difference when you do versus when you don’t get outside every day?

December 13, 2017

A Christmas Tree Forest Bathing Experience

One of the best opportunities to go forest bathing? When you’re looking for your Christmas tree. Christmas tree forest bathing.

Even the sign at the front of our local tree farm educated us about the purified air around us.

But that pine smell…

You know what I’m talking about.

That pine smell that clears and refreshes your lungs…

That represents stability and reassurance…

That instantly smells like Christmas…

That maintains the residue of life in a winter forest void of leaves…

And when you bring that sweet tradition into your home, how your home presents that same refreshing comfort…

Can you feel it just by reading it?

The weekend after Thanksgiving, our little family went to find our Christmas tree.

We visited a new tree farm this year because of logistics, so it gave the experience a newness.

Since we were looking for the perfect tree, we were very in tune with the sights, sounds, and smells of the place.

We took our time, allowing for exploration…

…for our three-year-old to talk to the quail wandering around the property.

…for her to notice a hawk feather.

…for her and our nine-year-old to peer into a few animals’ dens and wonder at its inhabitants.

…for us to wander down a path on the property and look around.

…for the four of us to stop on the bridge and appreciate the trickle of water that ran through the farm.

…to appreciate all the pinecones underneath one of the trees, and find the biggest one to take home.

And I realized…we were forest bathing. Christmas tree forest bathing.

And we got to bring a remnant of that experience into our home, to smell the purified air every morning when we get up, to signify a season of new birth and warm spirits.

We get to do our own form of indoor forest bathing when we sit under the tree to read Christmas stories and sip hot chocolate.

Remember, forest bathing is a simple exercise in mindfulness and sensory exploration…

All it takes is a stand of trees and a little time to wander and wonder.

Shopping for your Christmas tree is the perfect time to try forest bathing.

***Here’s a great way to preserve some of that festive charm for months after Christmas. Use the needles from your pine tree to make this DIY Pine Needle Body Oil.

Do you cut down your own tree for Christmas? Have you ever stopped to “take in” all the pine-y wonder around you? Do you plan to go Christmas tree forest bathing this year?