Shinrin-yoku
Forest Bathing
What is Forest Bathing?
Forest bathing, Shinrin-yoku, is a slow-paced immersion in nature where your senses connect to the natural world.
Shinrin-yoku originated in Japan in the 1980’s as a response to the nation’s health crisis. Physicians began prescribing nature to aid in overall well-being and began noticing profound effects. Ongoing research has concluded that time in nature can in fact promote health and wellness due to the organic compounds (phytoncides) and negative ions in the forest air and floor. Even the simple sights and sounds of nature have been proven to instill a sense of calm and focus.
The benefits of forest bathing are vast and can include:
Improving overall immune response through enhanced
Natural Killer Cell activity
Improving cardiovascular functioning,
regulating blood pressure and heart rate
Improving sleep
Improving respiratory functioning
Improving blood sugar regulation
Improving attention and overall cognitive functioning
Improving mood by reducing cortisol levels and boosting oxytocin
Where can you do forest bathing?
I’ve been asked many times in Austin how I can do forest bathing in Central Texas. I think people have a preconceived notion of what a forest is or looks like, and therefore, question what forest bathing is. And, I can understand how it can be confusing. We don’t have the majestic tall evergreens of the Pacific Northwest or the pines of the Smoky Mountains. But, we have oak trees and ashe junipers tickled with prickly pear cactus and tall grass. And the plants, the limestone, the fossils hidden in the earth still invite us to slow down, to notice, and to connect. During a trip to the Baja Peninsula, the land really helped me understand and put into words that the simplicity of “forest bathing” is truly just connecting with nature.
Nature is all things. It is the beings that make up this earth. Each plays a role to sustain the world we live in – not just the forest and the green, but the reds, the blues, the white sands, and the blackened roots of burnt remains. We can learn so much from all things. We can learn about ourselves, our edges, our comforts. Each ecosystem has its benefits, its role in healing. Each offers us an opportunity to look within, to notice where nature’s pulse lands within our body, our ethos.
Nature truly is medicine. So, whether we call it “forest bathing” or “nature bathing” or “being outside”, I invite you to LET GO of expectations. ALLOW the land to guide you. And, JUST BE you.
The Face of Dulcinea's Forest - Ileana Herrin
My journey to becoming a certified Forest Therapy Guide and Nature as Medicine practitioner has taken many twists and turns like the branches of a tree. I found this path during a time I needed to turn inward and heal. The land listened to my beckoning call, and in return, I now long to share similar connections and experiences with others.
Over the years, I have worked as a professional stage actor and an occupational therapist (OT). As an OT, I specialized in brain injury rehabilitation, focusing on neurobehavior management, spasticity management, disorders of consciousness, and sexuality and intimacy. My passion for helping people runs through my veins, but I recognized that there is only so much I can do within four “sterile” walls. I always had a love for the natural world and escaping into the forest. As my training and understanding of the health benefits of the land grew, I realized that my continued purpose in life is to help people heal through a collaboration with nature.
Whether you are looking to heal, looking for answers, or simply looking for an momentary escape from the demands of the modern world, the land is ready for you. I will guide you through a sensory journey with the land to foster a connection and perhaps help you begin to find what it is you are looking for.
Time to unwind is always provided; Ah-ha moments not guaranteed
The Meaning Behind Dulcinea's Forest
Dulcinea is an imaginal character, seen only in the eyes of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote de La Mancha. In truth, Dulcinea is a peasant woman named Aldonza who has come to terms with her raw and unruly situation. Alonso Quijano, an aging nobleman who becomes lost in a world of chivalric romance novels, escapes the mundaneness of reality and reinvents himself as Don Quixote, a golden-helmet wearing knight who slays dragons. The world in Don Quixote’s eyes is nothing short of extraordinary. And, Aldonza? To Don Quixote, she is the most beautiful and pure woman in the land. She is Dulcinea.
Forest bathing allows you to enter an imaginal space where glimmering sunlight through the trees becomes morse code. Birdsong becomes Beethoven’s next symphony. Trees and rocks become friends. Reflections on water become mirrors. For a moment, life may become the clearest, purest, most captivating it has ever been.
That to me is Dulcinea’s Forest. A place where time stands still, and everything is possible.