Forest therapy

[scoutldr]

Growing Evidence for the Healing Power of ‘Forest Therapy’

[skeptic]

 It seems to me that while this is great to have been studied, it is certainly not new.  Most of us that have spent any amount of time in the forest wit or without youth likely experienced similar benefits.  Also, I can definitely suggest that a few youth with whom I interacted came back from a weekend in the forest with a more positive attitude, and if they continued in participating showed, or at least seemed to me to do so, a real change in their personality.  A similar effect is likely found in simply sitting on the shore of ocean or a sea with waves, alone in the early or late quiet of nature.  It reminds me of a discussion my nephew and I had on our porch in the Mojave Desert where we have a family retreat of sorts.  He works with troubled kids in an Orange County school district, and as we sat there in the dark at almost midnight, the only sounds that of unseen desert denizens a peace settled in and we just sat and watched the sky with little talk.  Then he mentioned that he wished he might expose some of his youth to this experience.  That he suspected most had never heard the quiet, as he called it.  In the city, even late at night, there is little or no real silence.  Simon and Garfuncle come to mind.  

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

3 hours ago, skeptic said:

It seems to me that while this is great to have been studied, it is certainly not new.

Definitely not. The word 'forest bathing' may have been coined in Japan, but the observation that people in general feel calmer and more connected to the Universe in nature is old and universal. This is also why some of the old ways linger around even today, despite centuries of attempts to get rid of them.