A Guided Forest Bathe For An Urban Park

If you don't have time to experience forest bathing in an ancient woodland for 2-3 hours, here is a streamlined, secular version called ParkBathe, that you can do in your local, urban park. Join the ParkBathe revolution and experience deep relaxation and stress relief by following these simple, science-backed instructions. After 30-60 minutes of ParkBathing, you'll feel calm and worry-free and enjoy deep, restful sleep.

Transcript

This is a shortened version of Park Bathe,

Which is simply forest bathing in an urban park.

If you don't have three hours to wander leisurely through ancient woodlands,

Then this guide can help you slow down and connect to your senses in your own local green space.

Ideally,

You'd listen to this track in your local park,

And it is designed to literally guide you through an adapted forest bathing session.

Now,

The intention is not to have you plugged into your phone or a device,

But to help you unplug from our overloaded,

Overstimulated lives.

To that end,

I will give you prompts to remove your headphones from time to time,

So you can listen to and absorb the atmosphere around you.

At other times,

I'll leave you some space between the prompts,

So you can get a chance to bathe in the natural environment.

Depending on how long you wish to take between these exercises,

Your Park Bathe session can be as long as you wish.

Forest bathing is a natural health intervention that originated in Japan in the 1980s.

The Japanese government recognised there was a lot of technostress,

Which is too many people sitting staring at a screen,

And there were a lot of health issues on the back of that.

They devised a system whereby if you went to your GP,

You could opt to take medicine,

Or you could be prescribed forest bathing.

If you chose to do forest bathing,

You would go to an ancient woodland,

Of which there are many in Japan,

And would spend 2-3 hours wandering around,

Absorbing the natural environment.

So,

Head to a leafy or wooded part of the park.

It's best if there aren't too many people to distract you,

But it's not a problem if you come across others while on this walk.

As you head to a suitable spot,

You might want to pause this recording and take out your headphones until you reach it.

Forest bathing is clinically proven to improve our wellbeing in so many ways.

It can help with respiratory and heart conditions,

As well as sleep disorders.

It can reduce anxiety,

Depression,

And lessen that all too familiar mind chatter that tells us we should be on the go all the time,

And that slowing down is somehow failure or laziness,

Or just a bit weird.

It's really easy to be on the go all of the time,

And this means many of us spend too much time in our fight or flight mode,

Which is the sympathetic nervous system.

This helps us get things done and keeps us alert and on guard,

Which is good when we need it,

But it's important to allow our bodies to shift into the more soothing and restorative system too,

The rest and digest mode,

Or parasympathetic nervous system.

This is where park bathing can help.

The more you do these exercises,

The more conditioned your mind and body will become to relax.

Even 20 minutes a few times a week will have a boosting effect upon your immune system,

As well as lowering your stress levels.

Today we're going to slow right down and really look,

Listen to,

And feel the green space you're in.

Don't worry about anyone else.

They're far less bothered by what you're doing than you might imagine.

As we walk along,

I'll prompt you to look at,

And sometimes touch,

A fallen leaf or twig or stone on the ground.

Do this carefully and safely and avoid picking leaves from trees.

There's normally plenty to choose from on the ground.

Feel free to adapt these suggestions.

Because I'm not there with you,

Something else like a cool mushroom or a bird song might take your attention.

So just go with that.

I'm going to guide you through different exercises that will hopefully switch on your senses and help you feel connected to nature and your community,

And leave you feeling calm and grounded in yourself at the end.

If you need to stop and start over or go back on this recording,

That's fine too.

This is your experience.

And another thing,

If your mind objects to you slowing down,

Just acknowledge this.

It's very common,

As your mind is used to doing,

Like mulling over your to-do list.

It might take a little while for your mind to slow down.

So let's start with just standing still.

Stand tall and straight.

Feel your feet in your shoes.

You might want to roll your head slowly from side to side to iron out any kinks,

And maybe roll your shoulders forwards and then back.

Take three deep breaths in and exhale slowly in your own time.

And if you'd like,

You can close your eyes while you do this.

Starting slowly at the top of your head,

Scan your attention all the way down your body,

Pausing at your shoulders,

Then moving on to your chest,

Then your belly,

Your hips,

Your thighs,

Your knees,

And finally back down to your feet.

When you're ready,

We'll start to walk,

But we're going to walk slowly,

Really slowly.

As you step,

Just notice what the ground feels like beneath your feet.

Are you walking on grass or a path or maybe some gravel?

What does that feel like?

Can you vary what surfaces you walk on?

Do they feel different?

Do you prefer one over the other?

Think about why that might be.

As you walk,

Can you see evidence of the seasons?

What colours are there?

Look closely.

There may be more than you initially thought.

Remember to keep your pace slow.

If you find yourself walking quickly,

Try stopping for a moment and looking up.

Can you see a tree canopy,

The sky,

Buildings?

Use this stopping to pause your mind.

When you start walking again,

Try to slow yourself down.

You can repeat this exercise as many times as you need if you find yourself speeding up.

Walk for about three or four minutes or so.

It doesn't have to be exact.

Then I'll give you a few more prompts.

You might like to remove your headphones and pause the recording.

As you continue walking,

Can you notice any trees around you?

Can you see tree bark?

What does it look like?

You might pause to look at the different shapes and textures.

Is it knobbly or smooth?

Does it have eyes,

Creases,

Cracks?

Is the tree bark different from tree to tree?

Walk for a few minutes,

Noticing the other shapes and textures around you.

If you don't have trees,

You can look at the grass or the plants,

Whatever is around you.

Perhaps there's a shape of a flower or a leaf.

Or maybe you're just drawn to the colours.

Does anything take your attention?

If it does,

Why don't you go and investigate further and pause the recording again?

Move your attention back to your feet.

What are you walking over now?

How does this ground feel beneath your feet?

What can you feel on your skin?

Can you feel a breeze or maybe the sun on your hands or face?

Notice how it feels.

As you continue to walk slowly,

Notice how you are breathing.

If you'd like to,

You can take a couple of deep breaths in and exhale slowly through your mouth.

You might like to repeat this a few times.

This is a calming breath that will help your body shift into your restorative rest and digest system.

I'll leave you to walk slowly for another five minutes or so,

Noticing the textures and colours around you.

Maybe noticing how the breeze is moving the leaves or how the light is falling.

Why don't you take your headphones out now so you can really focus your attention on your surroundings?

If you pause the recording,

You can come back in a few minutes.

Try and find a slightly different part of the park now.

Perhaps there is a more wooded area or a place with wild plants.

As you continue to walk slowly,

Notice how many shades of green you can see.

As humans,

We have developed the ability to see more shades of green than any other colour.

You might like to pick up some fallen leaves in different shades of green,

Or anything else that is green that attracts your attention.

You might choose to make your hand into your own mini telescope.

Maybe you can see what that feels like to look through.

Or you can make your fingers into a frame,

Like you're looking through your own miniature picture.

Walk for a while and then find yourself a spot that's quiet,

Where you can safely stop for a moment.

If you'd like to,

Choose an area to focus your attention on that is in the foreground.

What can you see?

What is moving?

What colours and shapes are there?

Focus for one or two minutes,

Taking in every detail.

Now,

Shift your attention to a spot in the mid-range.

Again,

Focus your attention.

What can you see here?

Move your attention to the far distance.

What is there in this bigger picture?

What's moving?

How do the colours change?

Shift your attention back to the mid-range.

What's new that you didn't see before?

Has the light shifted?

Move your attention now to the foreground.

What's new that you didn't spot before?

Is there something you missed the first time around?

A different shape or creature or texture?

What does it remind you of?

Maybe there's a memory this scene is dislodging.

In your own time,

Start to walk towards another spot in the park that takes your attention.

If you can find a place under trees that has bare earth,

That would be perfect,

As you might like to dig in the soil a little.

As you wander slowly,

You could look out for a stick or a twig to pick up.

If there aren't any twigs,

Don't worry too much.

I'll offer different exercises depending on where you end up.

Unplug those headphones again if you wish and pause the recording until you find the right place to stop.

If you found yourself in a wooded area with bare soil,

That's great.

But any natural surface will do,

Even just a patch of grass.

You may wish to crouch down or sit as we're going to have a little dig about and smell the ground.

Now this may not immediately appeal.

As urban dwellers,

We've got used to not smelling as so many city odours are unpleasant.

But smell is one of the most primal senses we have and can be an evocative experience.

However,

Before we try to smell anything,

We can do a simple exercise to increase this sense.

Taking your index fingers,

Gently place them on your cheeks next to your nose and ever so gently pull the skin outwards,

Which will just open up the nostrils a little.

It's amazing how doing this really allows us to smell more.

You can also do a cat sniff,

Which is pretty much what cats do to smell things.

Here we take one sniff and then three quick little sniffs after,

As we tend to be able to smell more that way.

If you have bare soil handy,

You could use your twig to clear a space and rub the stick in the soil.

How does it smell?

How does it feel?

Does it remind you of childhood?

Try smelling any leaves that are around too.

Do they smell like you expected them to?

If you only have grass,

You can still gently dig the twig around and see what that smells like.

Or take a few strands of the grass and smell those.

You may be near moss or lichen on a tree.

That can smell good too.

Pause the recording and take your headphones out and have an explore and see what you can find and what you can smell.

For the last part of this walk,

You can choose what to do.

Perhaps you want to carry on smelling things around you,

Or maybe your attention has been taken by birdsong or the sound of trees blowing in the wind.

Try experimenting by taking 10 slow steps and then stopping and see what takes your attention.

Which sense has awoken?

You might try doing another 10 steps and just looking up.

What do you see?

What takes your attention now?

You can use these steps to take you in any direction and you can continue through the park or start to head back to the exit.

As we come to the end of this guide,

You may wish to walk towards the exit or you may like to stay longer and keep using these exercises.

If you wish to head home,

You might like to collect some fallen objects on your way.

Perhaps you can look for one object that makes you feel safe.

You could choose one object that makes you feel curious.

And one object that makes you feel excited.

There could be any reason for this and it doesn't have to make sense.

It might even be a story.

The objects might not even be fallen on the ground.

They might be a real thing you see along the way.

I'll repeat their suggestion.

You might like to look for one object that makes you feel safe.

Another object that makes you feel curious.

And a third object that makes you feel excited.

See what you can find.

I hope you have enjoyed this guide and feel more connected to yourself,

The people around you and the natural environment.

Forest bathing works most effectively when it is repeated.

Studies have shown that a few doses of nature a week will boost your immunity for a month.

Trees emit chemical compounds that can have a direct and positive impact upon your health and even help mitigate serious illness like cancer.

As you walk home you might want to revisit the trees you saw earlier and even touch that tree bark knowing the chemicals emitted are doing you good.

You may even wish to bring your family and friends and share these exercises with them and adapt them as you wish.

See you next time!