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Recently, I made a comment in the Forest Bathing Central Facebook group reflecting about how perfect the forest floor is, and I thought it actually warranted a thorough post.
Then, I went into the woods with my kids this past weekend and thought about it a lot more.
Have you ever noticed how perfect the forest floor is?
It’s got almost a wabi-sabi type essence to it. Perfect in its imperfect-ness.
The leaves seem to scatter in regular intervals.
The knobby tree roots poke out in the neatest patterns.
The patterns and the pattern-less parts.
The crooks and holes and dips and rises.
The twigs laid out in perfectly random scatters.
The strategic places plants and fungus pop out.
The paradoxical tidy-ness of the dirt.
The permanence of the forest, the impermanence of the biome.
Yes, perfection!
Perfect coloring. Perfect scattering. Live and dead, whole and disintegrated…
After contemplating about this for awhile, I decided to do a Google search on a whim for “forest floor poems.” I came across a neatly descriptive poem called The Forest Floor by Mariella Rossi. It got me to thinking more about the descriptive phrases you could use to explain the forest floor. Here are some of the most intense descriptions pulled from her poem:
A place alive with secrets and knowing
A place intent on living
Poly-rhythmic sway
Lichen-rough rocks
Soften pricked dendrites of moss cushion my knee
Find my place within its creeping, writhing breath
A perfect work of art. A spot that would “cushion your knee”
I love these word visuals (and visual visuals) to help you gauge what I’m talking about.
A little leaf cup accumulating water.
All decked out in moss, crinkly leaves, and pine needle confetti
This almost doesn’t even look real! Such true art!
Perfect symmetry in an imperfect asymmetrical mess. Green life and brown passing.
Couldn’t be more perfect! Live among death. Beauty among fallen trees.
Next time you’re out on a forest bathing adventure, take a few moments–or heck, an entire hour or longer–to marvel at the perfection of the forest floor. Really, this could be an entire forest bathing exercise to try: a meditation on the forest floor. Try it!
Take a tiny four by four inch segment or parts of the floor you can see for hundreds of feet. Step back and take it all in at once. Then, slowly narrow in on the details. Alternate between the nearsighted and the farsighted, marveling at the details and the full picture. Listen to its chatter under your feet. Make note of the cushion-y feel under your feet. Bend down and touch it. Run your fingers over it. Take it in like a piece of fine art (there is no finer!)!
Take time to appreciate the forest floor.
Over to you…
Come on over and share your pics in the Facebook group if you take any great images of the forest floor.