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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Forest Bathing- a Paleo Practice!

One of the best, most common-sense yet vastly underdone things we can do for ourselves in this modern age is to... go back to our roots- back to nature!  This has become a a wellness strategy in Japan,"Shinrin-yoku" with people scheduling time in forests for their health; I think it is a natural for the Paleo lifestyle, and is loaded with "Paleolithic benefits":

In a forest, we are immersed in the environment in which our ancestors lived continually; we are uniquely suited for such a landscape.  We are symbiotic with trees and other plant life- they give off pure oxygen, which is our life-force, and we give them back carbon dioxide... perfect- a "win-win"!  


The essential oils and the plethora of plant chemicals that wash over us in our natural forest land are something we have lived with, and are attuned to, and that our bodies expect and need.  Concrete, urban environments are a relatively very recent invention; just like eating grains and quantities of sugar, how we live nowadays is not natural to us.  We need Nature!  We mainly live in a man made world, but we really need God's world, at least for part of our time.

So incorporate some forest bathing into your life!  Steal away for a little "immersion into our Natural state" each day if possible.  Either ambling along down a forest path, or sitting quietly with grass underfoot beneath a friendly tree, your health, your psyche, and your very self will be rejuvenated and enriched.


A Fall walk in the woods




My wife took a walk yesterday and returned with a bonus........wildflowers! 

2 comments:

NoBite said...

I could not agree more, Jay. Most of my forest baths are on the back of a horse. I don't see that as a compromise, but as a compliment.

PaleoJay said...

I think that is a perfectly valid way to forest bathe, John- both for you AND the horse!