Have you noticed that you feel better after you spend time in Nature?   A practice known as shinrin-yoku in Japan and samlinyok in China where you walk in nature for healing, stress relief and calming. It was formally introduced as a part of a healthy lifestyle in 1982 by the Forest Agency of Japan.  There are also studies that have been done indicating that forest bathing reduces levels of anger, stress, depression and sleeplessness.  The trees not only emanate essential oil constituents like limonene and and a-pinene, but the consciousness of the trees and their energetic fields cause our brain waves to slow to match them.  The average pine tree resonates at about 7.4 Hz, which is also the frequency of a slightly hypnoidal state. So if you notice that your mind slows and you experience a meditative state while walking in nature, your brain waves have resonated with the trees.

For more information, read the Wikipedia entry on Forest Bathing.

Contact us if you would like to experience a Forest Bath (in the Pacific Northwest), or go ahead and do your own. Feel free to email me with comments about your results!