art that supports the healing process

Urban Biophilia: The Tree Diaries

If you are on Facebook, chances are good that you have seen images similar to this one, with a slogan about the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku, translated as “Forest Bathing.” But what is it exactly? What are the benefits, and can we practice it in New York City?

In short, Forest Bathing involves walking leisurely in a treed setting while mindfully tuning into one’s senses. In A Little Guidebook of Shinrin-Yoku, Amos Clifford says, “In addition to the mechanism of aromatherapy, the forest environment bathes us in many other healing influences. The sounds of the wind moving through the trees; the background chatter of birds which may bring to us new and surprising ways of listening to the voice of the whole landscape; the changing weather and how it affects our sensing; the many textures of touch and of sight…all of these together provide a medicine that complements and amplifies the effects of aromatic extracts.”

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