Hello and a warm welcome to Forest Bathing.
I am honoured to be holding space for you today and leading you throughout your experience.
The name Forest Bathing refers to bathing yourself in the forest atmosphere through all of your senses.
So that's what you see,
Hear,
Smell,
Touch and taste.
It's about connecting with nature,
Slowing down and getting into your body and bathing yourself in your natural surroundings.
The practice can be as simple as walking into any natural environment and consciously connecting with what's around you.
So you're going to be finding some calm and quiet today.
We're going to foster a love and protectiveness and appreciation towards the natural world.
And while we're fostering that love and appreciation,
We'll also be reducing our stress,
Improving our sleep,
Increasing our focus,
Boosting our immune systems,
Our overall health and our well-being,
Lowering our blood pressure and our pulse rate and increase parasympathetic nervous system activity.
So for this experience,
You'll need to be able to hear my voice,
But you'll also need to be able to hear what's in your surroundings.
So whether you are going to an actual forest,
A park or just the end of your garden.
Turn off any other distractions,
So just this app.
Mute all other distractions to give yourself the best chance of being relaxed,
Being mindful and enjoying your sensory experience.
If you are walking towards your destination now,
Whether it's through a park,
Looking for a bench or somewhere to sit down,
Try to slow down,
Allow yourself to move slowly so you can already start to see and feel and experience more.
If you're walking,
Really notice the textures that you're walking on and notice the sounds around you already.
Take your seat now on your bench or wherever you decide to sit and close your eyes.
Turn your awareness into your breathing.
Begin to take some longer,
Deeper breaths deep into the abdomen,
Slowing down the breath to help the body and the mind relax.
During our experience,
We're going to be taking in all of our surroundings,
Using all of our senses,
Being observant,
Taking in nature's smallest details.
Continue to breathe deeply here for a moment and just start to tune in.
Removing the sense of sight here temporarily because it's such a strong sense.
Removing the sense of sight so we can tune into sound.
Listen to the sounds of the forest.
Identify the sounds you can hear.
Could be the birds singing,
Trees blowing in the wind,
Running water or voices.
Distant birks,
Traffic,
Even airplanes overhead.
It's taking the time now to really sit with these sounds and really listen.
Start to gently blink your eyes open but keep your gaze lured.
What can you see?
What colours can you see?
Allow your eyes to go in and out of focus as you look at different parts of the forest or park in front of you.
Allow your gaze to slowly move upwards.
Explore what you see and notice how it makes you feel.
As we move to the sense of touch,
If you see something that is calling out to you,
Go over,
Touch it with your hands.
Notice the texture,
Acknowledge how it feels in your hands,
Its energy.
The smoothness of a petal or the roughness of a bark.
Take a moment to notice.
If you don't want to touch or if you're not in a position to,
Just imagine.
Just imagine what those textures would feel like on your fingertips.
If you are touching something,
How does it smell?
Does the smell remind you of anything?
Do you have any connections to the smell?
If you're not touching anything,
Take a moment to take in the smells of where you are.
The air,
The trees,
The plants,
The vegetation.
Name the smell of rain or dampness or freshness.
Naturally following the sense of smell is a sense of taste.
Imagine the tastes of the forest.
Taste the freshness of the air now.
Imagine the taste of wild garlic,
Rosemary,
Mint.
Maybe there's some blackberries growing or apples.
Thinking about all the tastes in the environment that you're in.
If you're still seated,
I invite you to start to walk again.
And as you do,
Explore your surroundings with your sense of taste,
Touch,
Smell,
Sight and sound.
As you continue to walk and explore your senses,
Notice too how the forest environment makes you feel.
Do you feel calm?
Do you feel at peace?
Do you feel safe?
Do you feel happy?
Whatever you're feeling,
Deepen the breath now.
Longer inhales through the nose,
Longer exhales through the nose.
If you're alone or if you're comfortable to do so,
You could place your left hand on your heart and your right hand on your belly.
Connecting more deeply to the breath.
If you have some stress or stagnant energy that you're ready to release,
Feel free to take some sighs out now.
Some long clearing breaths out through the mouth.
Notice how your presence,
Your breath becomes part of the environment.
We're not separate.
We are ours.
We are nature.
As we come to the last couple of minutes of our experience together here,
Take a moment of gratitude to thank Mother Nature,
Gaya,
God,
Whatever belief system you might have,
Or simply yourself for gifting this to yourself.
A gift of nature,
The space to breathe,
To connect,
To slow down.
These last 90 seconds of our forest bathing,
That remains.
Just try to be present with every breath,
With every footstep now as you leave this space.
Every footstep,
Feeling gratitude.
Know that this feeling is always available to you whenever you have a few minutes.
If you're able to spend a bit longer here in the garden,
The park,
The forest,
Wherever you are,
Then go ahead.
If you want to close this practice with me today,
I invite you to take one last big deep inhale and exhale,
And all your troubles go.
Thank you so much for allowing me to guide you in your forest bathing experience.
Namaste.
