Taking the Dip: Lunch Hour Forest Bathing - NO Bathing Suit Needed

Shift-Alert: When cubicle-prisoners break out for lunch, there's a great alternative to fast-food consumption, social media dependence (SMD), and doom-scrolling. It's called "Shinrin-yoku," or "Forest Bathing." And no, you don't need your bathing suit.

As a Nature-based Solutions (NbS) change management consultant and certified Nature Therapy guide, I've accompanied many professionals who feel overwhelmed, burned-out, anxious, depressed, and gutted of energy and drive. Work-related stress can cost upward of $190 billion a year for associated health care. Whether working with cubicide casualties in a professional coaching capacity or facilitating retreats for "composting" vocational aspirations, I often lead clients through a practice that can be done daily - Forest Bathing.

Why "Forest Bathing?" The practice takes its name from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries that coined the term "Shinrin-yoku," or "Forest Bathing" in the 1990s, but the practice of Nature immersion for calming the mind, focusing, restoring health and equanimity is quite ancient. It finds antecedents in the 5th c. B.C.E. forest Sangha, who cultivated mindfulness in Nature's embrace and lived as nomads seeking Enlightenment.

Forest Bathing is a Nature-immersive experience that is a full-sensory plunge into Nature's embrace - a deep-breath dive into the symphonic sounds, alluring fragrances, mesmerizing textures, delectable tastes, and gloriously energizing vistas that inspire and call to us. We practice Forest Bathing in a park, Nature preserve, community garden, urban forest, grove of trees, reflection pool, backyard oasis, or even in proximity to some potted plants or trees, a raised garden bed, near flowing water, a fresh fruit stand, anywhere that Nature is accessible and inviting. Pay attention to which aspects of Nature draw you, and why. Go there.

Take a Moment. Breathe. Go Deeper.

We begin by centering ourselves, becoming aware of our breath, and then focusing on each sense in succession, building to the sixth sense - our ability to integrate our five bodily senses and "read the room" of Nature's presence in our particular locale and bioregion. It's a practice, a discipline, an acquired skill that can be honed every day - even over a lunch break.

Why would we want to do this daily? Nature's benefits are well-documented and broad in scope. Reduced heart rate, blood pressure, stress cortisol, and mental fatigue, and increased capacity for respiration, balance, focus, resiliency, support for the central nervous and immune systems, especially phytoncides for natural killer (NK) cells, are among the positive effects.

Nighttime Immersion: Listen

And P.S. - Managers - For focus and paying attention, Nature provides an excellent opportunity to exercise involuntary (vs. voluntary) attention. How? A walk outside attunes our senses to welcome spontaneity - birdsong, chipmunk and squirrel chitter, the rustling of leaves, shade and sun shifts, color, natural fragrances, and stark or inviting textures that capture our attention. Involuntary attention means we are aware of our surroundings, with heightened sensory perception, without preparing to react. Because we can simply be present with our full sensorium, "attention restoration" occurs. Attention restoration is an opportunity to recharge our over-stimulated, hyperactive minds, and is found to be beneficial to those struggling with ADHD or recovering from SMD. In other words, almost everyone on your team could be helped by this practice!

Simply going outside for Nature therapy may be an excellent resource for the techno-saturated overload of posthuman workplace stressors. Managers, consider offering your team some training opportunities with a certified Nature Therapy guide, or maybe offer a daily shuttle to your local Nature preserve. Help is just a holler away. Shinrin-yoku as a lunch hour "perk" may turn out to be a personnel-retention and workforce-sustainability priority! And no bathing suits are needed!