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The Forest Bathing Concept of Nature Cleansing

Another word for nature cleansing

 

Do you ever feel like you’ve been cleansed after you’ve been out in nature, particularly under the sun?

I’ve noticed that my house just has a cleaner quality after I come in from outside.

As though being in the sun and dirt has transformed my perception.

As though nature has made me feel cleansed from within and outwardly.

 

In the same way as you might put your bed sheets or towels on the line to bleach in the sun…

…You expose your body and soul to the natural elements to be cleansed.

 

I was trying to see if there was a word in the English language for this concept of nature cleansing, but I couldn’t find one.

As an English scholar and nature lover, I feel like it definitely needs its own word.

This sense of cleansing is a bit different than shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. Forest bathing is a sense of immersion in a natural environment, which doesn’t quite encapsulate the quality of returning from nature feeling cleansed.

So, I went looking at Greek and Latin words for the concept of nature cleansing or nature purification.

 

Side note: in my search, I did find this neat Pinterest board with all kinds of meaningful nature words, and the nature word nerd in me nearly threw a party.

 

So, here’s what I found.

  • Physi means nature
  • Hagnos means to cleanse or purify

Put ’em together and you have exactly what I’m talking about. Physihagnos…

Um…that seemed a little clunky, so I kept searching…

  • Renewal in Latin is irae
  • Nature in Latin is naturae
  • Purgatio in Latin is cleansing or purging

Getting close.

I suppose I could invent a word with those, but I wanted to see if a word existed already out there somewhere.

So, I turned to Scandinavian terms.

Nature cleanse in Swedish is naturen renar and nature cleansing is naturrening. Nature purification is also naturrening.

The Norwegian translation of “nature cleansing” and “nature purification” are naturrensing.

I’d love to hear from our Swedish and Norwegian folks if naturrening and naturrensing carry the meaning we’re trying to encapsulate here. These terms flow off the American tongue quite easily and contain the recognizable “naturre” prefix.

I love how the concepts like hygge, ikigai, lagom, wabi-sabi, and friluftsliv have become popularized. Sometimes, the English language is insufficient at explaining these things.

That’s true for nature cleansing.

So, maybe we can borrow a Nordic one.

Naturrensing

Cool nature words: Naturrensing Norwegian word for nature cleansing

Today’s forest bathing invitation: get outside today, get your hands dirty and expose your (sunscreened) skin to the sun. Then, pay attention to how you and your environment seem cleansed when you go back inside.

 

Tell me in the comments…do you feel the same sense of cleansing after being in nature? Do you have another word for it?

The Message in Forest Bathing: You Need to Get Out More

Forest Bathing Message

Today’s forest bathing message:

 

You need to get out more.

It’s the message that’s been pressing on me for a few weeks now.

Now, I say this completely tongue in cheek because I should be the one to talk! I really don’t get out much at all. Haha.

I work from home and love being at home, so I don’t have a whole lot of reason to leave most days.

Except when it comes to nature exposure. (And pee-wee football practice;)

 

We spend a staggering 90 percent of our human lives indoors!

I mean, think about it…

You get in your car to drive to work and maybe spend 3 minutes outside on your way from the car to the building.

You maybe get outside for a quick 15-30 minute walk on your lunch break, if you force yourself.

You get 3 more minutes outside on your way back to your car.

You spend maybe an hour outside with the kids or doing yard work after work.

Even on weekends, you maybe spend up to 3 hours outdoors.

Then, in the winter, in colder climates, you may spend mere minutes outside.

 

{Source}

 

That statistic makes me want to run away to Ferngully!

Seriously, so alarming, especially when we consider how much we love being outside.

Being outside obviously doesn’t come natural to most of us.

It’s a habit we need to cultivate and learn to appreciate.

In order to free yourself from that statistic, you need to make a point to get out more!

 

So, this week, I tried that.

I was able to get outside for a run, rather than the treadmill, because my husband happened to be home for the kids.

And on my run, I noticed a few really cool things that really roused an emotional response in me:

  1. The doe and fawn that I startled from sleep, bounding off. Mom took graceful bounding leaps while baby humorously tried to keep up with her, three steps to mom’s one. It made me laugh.
  2. The myriad of monarchs in my neighborhood, including two that swooped down so close to my ear, I could hear their wings. The sound of monarch wings, you guys! Do you know what they sound like?
  3. The field of yellow wildflowers at the top of the hill I had never noticed before in all the times I’ve jogged that hill.
  4. The cicada making its electric buzzing noise across the pavement.

One measly half-hour gave me all these gifts!

 

And it made me think of all the crazy rare things I’ve seen out in the country since we started living here. Things I never saw in the city and never would’ve happened upon if I weren’t “getting out there.”

  1. The bald eagle that grabbed a fish right out of the water and took off with it. Seriously, I hadn’t seen an eagle in probably 10 years before moving out here. Now we see them regularly.
  2. The two bucks we saw, standing on their hind legs, fighting each other out in a field.
  3. The hawk hunting blackbirds in our backyard.
  4. The entire life cycle of a monarch from tiny white egg to breathtaking butterfly.
  5. The hilarious view, over the four-foot growth in the field, of just the mom, dad, and fuzzy baby sandhill crane’s heads. Another laugh-out-loud moment.

I could go on and on…

 

But I think you get the point.

The more you get out, the more you get to see. The more life you get to experience!

It just makes me think about all the beauty that’s out here for the taking. Right now!

It’s all around us.

But we can’t see it unless we open the curtains, swing open the door, and step outside.

Will you do that today?

 

Your invitation: get outside today one extra time and find a comfortable spot to observe. Just look around and notice what blessings you would’ve missed if you were inside.

 

forest bathing quote

 

 

I recorded a video with more of my thoughts on this, if you’d like to have a listen….

 

 

{If you’d like three free forest bathing invitations and a forest bathing starter guide to help you make more of your time in nature, click here to grab the PDFs}

 

Please share the lovely blessings you got to see while being outside today in the comments. I’d love to hear!

The Health Benefits of Grounding and Negative Ions

Health benefits of earthing and negative ions

Why the heck am I talking about grounding and negative ions on a forest bathing site?

Stay with me, here.

I promise, it’s relevant and fascinating!

By the end of this article you’ll understand how negative ions affect your health and wellbeing and how to cultivate them.

You’ll also have the indelible urge to kick your shoes off and walk through your yard.

Hopefully…;)

 

So, before we go any further, let’s break down the science of matter, ions, and grounding. A little middle school chemistry and physics lesson. It will help you understand this so much better.

Let me just tell you, I’m a huge skeptic when it comes to pseudoscience-y type stuff. I’ve been known to scoff at salt lamps and crystals.

Grounding though?

Completely rooted in science.

If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here.

 

Science of grounding and negative ions

 

The Science of Charged Particles

Like you learned in school, everything on earth is made up of matter.

All matter consists of atoms, which consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons.

If an atom has more protons than electrons, it has a positive charge.

 

Now, even though we tend to appreciate positivity in an emotional sense, when it comes to atoms and our health, negative is actually better.

 

Negatively charged particles abound on the earth’s surface, and you can get negative electrons by planting your feet on the earth.

Everyday items that emit a positive charge, on the other hand, include cell phones, televisions, pollution, and Wifi.

High concentrations of positive ions are actually detrimental to your health.

You can remove any charged state by grounding.

Grounding your feet is the same process as grounding a gasoline tank to keep it from exploding.

The only way to ensure electrostatic energy (static) doesn’t explode the gas is to connect it to the earth and neutralize the charge.

You can change your own charge by getting a transfer of electrons from the earth too.

The human body, when connected to the ground, creates a closed circuit for energy transfer.

The earth literally supplies you with electrons to neutralize your charge.

 

So, does your charge really have any effect on your health?

According to science, it totally does!

 

 

The Health Benefits of Grounding

Earthing, or grounding with your feet, has significant research-backed scientific benefits. Don’t take it from me, take it from the research on the benefits of grounding. Essentially, negative ions are antioxidants; they neutralize oxidants, or free radicals. They allow your body to achieve equilibrium or homeostasis at a cellular level.

Negative ions:

  • Reduce inflammation, which contributes to chronic disease
  • Improved sleep
  • Reduced cortisol levels
  • Relieve pain
  • Faster healing
  • Calms the sympathetic nervous system

I don’t even like to limit these amazing benefits to bullet points, but for the sake of readability, I will. We could go into depth about each one of those! They’re not just a side note, they’re the headlines!

As the study authors state, the Earth’s surface is “the ‘battery’ for all planetary life.”

Another study of the effects of earthing indicates how “earthing the human body may be an essential element in the health equation along with sunshine, clean air and water, nutritious food, and physical activity.”

Real scientific proof that we need to reconnect with the earth.

 

Best Ways to Neutralize Your Charge

So, just like you exercise and eat healthy, you should get your negative ion infusion every day.

Your morning routine is a great time to practice earthing. My personal morning routine consists of spiritual time, journaling, personal development, and now grounding.

Shoes are an insulatory shield against the negative ions, so kick ’em off.

According to my research, the areas with the best saturation of negative ions is near water, grass, or sand.

To get the most effective dose of negative ions:

Doesn’t that sound rather spa-like?

You can now add grounding to your list of benefits of forest or nature bathing. Next time you’re in the forest or out on your back lawn, kick off your shoes and let nature have access to your body.

I was going to say, “hey, try this, it couldn’t hurt,” but I think that would belittle this entire article and all the science behind it.

No, I think you should definitely try it! And I think it definitely helps!

 

If you’d like to learn more about grounding and negative ions, check out these resources:

More earthing resources

*For a full list of earthing studies (to prove its benefits), check out these resources from the Earthing Institute.

If you’re a visual person, these thermal images show pain reduction after grounding in real time.

And if you’re a total science nerd like me, or still a skeptic, you can even check your own voltage with a voltmeter before and after earthing.

Try this ASMR foot friction exercise to get your daily dose of grounding and negative ions.

 

What do you think?

9 Minute Nature Meditation with Cypress Essential Oil

cypress essential oil guided meditation

*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!

 

indoor forest bathing

 

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.

All About Forest Bathing Sit Spots

 

Have you heard mention of Sit Spots in the forest bathing community yet?

Perhaps you’re wondering what they are, why they matter, and how to use them.

That’s precisely why I put together this video and related post. To help answer those questions and give you some more personal insight into sit spots.

 

 

 

Like I say in the video, don’t make a production of choosing a sit spot. It’s not complicated, but I do have a few tips to help you make the best of it.

 

What is a sit spot?

“Sit Spot” is just a fun term for an inviting spot you can sit down and rest in nature.

Remember back to when you were a kid and you had a secret hiding spot or a place you ran away to when you were mad at your mom?

Yeah, that would be your kid version of a sit spot.

As an adult, you want a similar place you can run and hide when you need to get away.

Or just a place you can find solace or rest.

 

A Sit Spot is an inviting spot where you can sit down and rest in nature.

 

Forest bathing sit spot

 

What do you do in your sit spot?

Your Sit Spot is the ideal location for your forest bathing practice. The place where you practice your exercises and “just be” in nature.

It can also be a wonderful place to:

  • Bird watch
  • Pray
  • Meditate
  • Read
  • Draw
  • Journal

I use my sit spot for all kinds of tasks. I love going to my sit spot even for menial tasks, because it’s a better place to work than indoors.

 

How do you find a sit spot?

Just walk around and get a feel for the area you want to explore. Keep your eyes out for a place that looks like it would be a good place to sit.

An inviting space.

A comfortable seat.

You probably want to choose a sit spot that doesn’t get much traffic so you can be alone. You don’t want to feel weird and exposed when you’re deep in concentration.

You want to feel uninhibited when you do your forest bathing practice.

That’s why I suggest a spot slightly off the trail. Not far enough to get lost but far enough removed from foot traffic.

 

 

Where should you have a forest bathing sit spot?

I suggest finding a sit spot in your yard, for sure. Or close by your home, if you don’t have a yard.

You should have a place you can return to easily, that doesn’t require a trek.

I also suggest finding a sit spot in each of the woods you regularly visit. A place you can return to. A familiar place. A place you know by heart, with your heart.

 

Benefits of returning to your sit spot

The first reason why I suggest a sit spot in each place you regularly visit is because it can enhance your forest bathing practice.

When you forest bathe, you attune yourself to all the sights, sounds, and smells around you. You tune in with all your senses.

The cool thing about a sit spot, is that you get to investigate all the subtle changes that happen in one single area of the woods.

You notice all those subtle changes in the environment that you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t return to the same exact spot.

The second reason why you should have sit spots in your favorite places is that it makes each place feel more like home.

More familiar.

More inviting.

More comfortable and safe.

The more “at home” you feel there, the more intimately
connected to nature you start to feel.

 

How do you prepare your sit spot?

You don’t need to do, bring, or prepare anything special to use your sit spot.

Some people like to wait until the forest “invites” them in.

Others like to allow their intuition to guide them.

Still others thank their sit spot for its hospitality.

I just go to my sit spot and enjoy it.

You do you.

There are a few practical ways to make your sit spot more comfortable though.

If you don’t want a wet, dirty bottom, you may want to bring something to sit on–here are 8 ideas!

If you have a sit spot in your yard, make sure to keep it mowed, clean out the prickers and brush, and keep your pets away from it;)

If you have a sit spot in a public forest, make sure to leave no trace.

 

That’s it! Like I said, doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

 

I hope this article inspires you to find and use a sit spot for your forest bathing practice.

If you want a free sit spot forest bathing exercise, check out this enlightening guest post I wrote for the ANFT.

For access to my full Forest Bathing Immersion Library, check it out here.

 

Tell me a story about your favorite sit spot in the comments!