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Shinrin-yoku aka Forest Bathing

For those who haven’t heard about it, Shinrin-yoku, the Japanese practice of forest bathing, has nothing to do with water and everything to do with getting close to our ancient green friends. The more obvious benefits of bush-walking or hiking are infinite, but making an intention to take in the forest atmosphere can be highly beneficial at an unseeable level. Forest bathing is said to improve our health by exposing us to phytochemicals released by trees that boost our mood and build up our immune system. If nothing else, an afternoon spent getting exercise on the trail is hard to argue with.

Sit-Spot Meditation

Sit-spot meditation is a fancy term for finding a space to sit alone in nature free from agenda, conversation, and a spinny mind. The goal of the sit-spot is to simply notice and experience your surroundings without analyzing or making judgments.

A great way to sit-spot is to go walking until the mind becomes quiet or tired, and then plop down in the most comfortable spot within visual range. Knowing that there is no right way to choose or to be can help put you at ease. Lay yourself out on a comfortable mattress of moss or squat beside the shoreline and don’t get up until you’re ready. Too often we spend our days racing time with our mind as the frontrunner. This is an opportunity to pull it out of gear and let your body take over.

Being still can help your brain settle when paired with a mild sensory environment, but if being completely still is stress-inducing for you, it can be helpful to interact with your environment. Try squishing the ground in front of you, picking up handfuls of gravel or sand and letting it fall through your fingers. Kids love it, too. Getting to be alone in a spot of their choosing without an objective comes naturally to them. Checking out without a plan is a practice that benefits you and your company.

Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy uses water at different temperatures to improve wellbeing. Though water therapies in nature look far more rustic than the ambient private disco of a fancy indoor float tank. Ocean floating, polar bear dips, and kicking up silt at the bottom of a natural hot spring are all examples of using the precious resource to restore health.

The best areas to soak are in mountainous regions where the water goes from glacial at high elevations, to nearly warm enough to steep your tea in geothermal valleys. Relaxing in a hot spring post-scramble is satisfying, not to mention the fact that natural springs are often loaded with organic matter and minerals that help relieve sore muscles and exfoliate the skin. The more sludge from the bottom, the better.