Ever go for a walk in the woods and feel that energy thing – you know, that thing when you begin to feel a tingling in your body, and everything out there starts to morph to more vibrant colors and mysterious and magical forms. No synthetic mind altering drugs here. It's simply what I call the green induced energy woods walk experience. GIEW WE! for short.
The Japanese have a word shinrin-yoku ,that was
coined by the Japanese government in 1982. In Japanese shinrin means forest, and yoku here refers to a “bathing, showering or basking
in.” More broadly, it is defined as “taking in, in all of our senses,
the forest atmosphere.” It's based in Shinto and Buddhist
practices and is essentially a form of “forest bathing.”
In their documented research, the Japanese found walking in
the forest, even for one day (the longer the better) has enumerable health
benefits. It lowers cortisol (stress hormone), blood pressure, reduces physical
pain, stress, depression and hostility, lowers blood sugar and improves
concentration, immunes system, vitality, concentration and creativity. Children
with ADHD show improved focus after just a 20 minute walk in a city park
Forest therapy has also been found to increase
NK cells. Natural killer immune cells (NK cells) are a type of white
blood cell which sends self-destruct messages to tumors and virus-infected
cells, including cancer cells. And people exposed to vaporized stem oil from a common cypress tree have had
a 20% increase in their NK cells during their three night stay in a hotel.
I wonder if walking through woods when the trees are in full
fall color mode adds an extra boost to those stats!
Below is a link to a fascinating article about the healing power of a walk in the woods that appeared in Mother Earth News.
Below is a link to a fascinating article about the healing power of a walk in the woods that appeared in Mother Earth News.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/herbal-remedies/forest-bathing-ze0z1301zgar?pageid=1#PageContent1
No comments:
Post a Comment