Learning about Forest Bathing

Over the weekend, I read the book Forest Bathing by Dr. Qing Li. I'd seen the book recently at a bookstore and was so intrigued by its premise on the necessity of spending time in nature and among forests, that I set out to save my cash and join the waiting list for it at my local library. The book didn't disappoint! In addition to being a medical doctor, Li is an expert in forest medicine, a medicine that I didn't know existed. The book focuses on how time spent quietly in nature and taking in the forest through all five senses (aka forest bathing) is necessary for humans.

The book was right up my alley as I love forests and trees. What I didn't expect to learn was how beneficial being among trees could be to one's mood and health. 

The author explores how more than half of the world's population live in cities, with the percentage expected to rise by 2050. After reading about his vast personal experience exploring and finding relaxation in forests, it was comforting to read that he now lives in Tokyo. Excellent ways to seek out forest bathing in urban environments were offered, including spending time in parks and green spaces, and to walk slowly to receive the full benefits of peace and tranquility in nature. 

I've often felt the greatest spiritual connection while in forests and nature, and reading about the health benefits and natural connection humans have to trees has encouraged me to continue pursuing outdoor walks near my rural workplace, to supplement some of my time at the gym for walks in nature, and to more frequently visit my favorite redwood groves on the weekends and when time allows. 

Two favorite lines from Forest Bathing:

"We love nature because we learned to love the things that helped us to survive. We feel comfortable in nature because that is where we have lived for most of our life on earth. We are genetically determined to love the natural world. It is in our DNA."

"Nature takes out breath away and breathes new life into us." 

Visiting Sequoia National Park

In mid-May, my childhood friend Carol visited California from New Mexico! We had lots of fun exploring coastal California, and she had hoped to see Sequoia National Park during her visit. I'd never visited, and it was great to learn and explore together. We were there for about 36 hours.

I had traveled to Yosemite and Tahoe before in the high and mid-Sierra range, but never Sequoia nor Kings Canyon National Park in the southern Sierras.

The drive through California's central valley can feel hot, dry, and rather boring, but arriving in the Sierras is magical. The elevation increases, the air smells fresh, and in our case, the trees grew taller and wider. We entered the land of no cell service and began exploring the two parks.

About an hour's drive of switchbacks gets you into the heart of Sequoia National Park from the town of Three Rivers, CA. It's worth the drive and views!

It was really incredible to see this first enormous tree and learn that it was only a teenager, and still had growing to do!

Their height and width was really extraordinary. They're the largest living things on earth!

Carol vs. trees!

Springtime in the Sierra

Kings Canyon came at the tail end of our trip and included a few more enormous Sequoias and this great view of the glacier-created canyon. 

I hope to explore more of the spectacular Sierra mountain range soon!

Green Forests

I returned to New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago for a week-long visit. It was rainy at first, and then cold, humid, bright, and sunny. I was happy to hear thunder, watch many sunsets, and feel the humidity. I caught up with friends and family, traditions and memories, and enjoyed a really restful time. 

I've heard of being homesick for two places at once, and I've felt that this year. In California this spring and early summer, I missed the green landscape, humidity, summer warmth and unspoiled emptiness of New Hampshire. While experiencing New Hampshire's summer rain and chill, I missed the predictability and warmth and the mountains and landscape of California. 

After the first couple of days back east, I noticed the news that the poet Donald Hall who lived about 20 miles away, had passed away. I first learned about him while studying in Scotland and recalled that I was excited to learn from so far away that he had been a U.S. poet laureate, wrote with the great poets of the 20th century, and happened to live in New Hampshire.

After reading his long obituary filled with his poetry and how he made a happy home and life in NH, I thought then and in the coming days on the quiet roads and forest paths of how Hall lived and wrote and died in a beautiful place that once again, I was happy to have roots in.

From the essay, Why We Live Here by Donald Hall about his home in Wilmot, New Hampshire

Late spring and early summer, the whip-poor-will wakes us at four-thirty. Gray light starts over the hills; thrushes sing from every branch; clouds snag like lamb's wool on blue Mount Kearsarge. Down by Eagle Pond, just west of us, pickerel leap for blackflies and when they splat on the still water wake frogs and turtles. It is a good hour for waking; we keep the green universe alone. But late September is the most beautiful time, and early at the road. Sugar maples flare a Chinese red; they combine with tweed on hills in the middle distance. I grant that winter causes pain -- in cold January sometimes I lie abed until six -- but even winter is gorgeous; when the moon is high, I wake at midnight and wantder through the farmhouse in gray, spooky light that illuminates every corner, the ceilings luminous with reflections from snowy hayfields.