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Five forest baths to connect with nature and with oneself

2020-09-03T19:09:28.114Z


The author of Forest Baths. 50 routes to feel nature gives the keys to know and start in these quiet walks that help to awaken the senses and reduce stress


"This is not about hugging trees or walking barefoot through the litter."

Alex Gesse, co-author with Gorka Altuna

of Forest Baths.

50 routes to feel nature

(editorial Alhenamedia), is a firm defender of the benefits for health and mental well-being of guided walks through nature, but flees from any mystical or magical approach that can be given to this activity thought to disconnect from the routine.

"A forest bath is nothing more than a contemplative experience that connects us with the natural environment through emotions and the five senses", defends Gesse, one of the greatest European experts in

shinrin-yoku

, which literally means "absorb the atmosphere of the forest".

It is a technique that Japan successfully introduced into its health system in the eighties to reduce the high levels of stress of the population, taking advantage of the fact that three-quarters of its territory is covered by trees.

"In a world where everything goes too fast, forest baths involve walking slowly, feeling the path, touching the trees, the water, hearing the song of the birds, the howling of the wind, the falling of dew drops ... ", he explains in the foreword of the book.

This Catalan consultant who grew up playing in the Mediterranean forests of Empordà has been carrying out work related to nature and health for many years, but it was in 2016 when he founded the Institute of Forest Baths, and, three years later, together with the Irish ecologist Shirley Gleeson, created her older brother: the Forest Theraphy Institute, with the ultimate goal of integrating these walks into health systems.

What he calls "the green prescription."

Something that is still distant in Spain, despite the fact that more and more municipalities include this type of initiatives among the services they offer to their neighbors, but that "it is already a trend in other neighboring countries such as Scotland or more recently Germany, where the The doctor can prescribe, in addition to medications, a therapy in the forest as a complementary practice to the treatment. " 

Based on his own experience after leading hundreds of therapeutic walks, and after immersing himself in the teachings of the Chinese-born immunologist Qing Li, the world's leading authority on forest medicine and

father

of the

shinrin-yoku

movement

, Gesse believes that

getting lost

in nature reinforces the immune system, reduces stress and lowers blood pressure and heart rate, among other immediate benefits.

And he points out an important fact: "It does not necessarily have to be in a forest, an urban park next to home or a green area with which you connect especially is worth it."

As his colleague Gorka Altuna points out, "forests already act as health infrastructures through the ecosystem services that they provide, such as filtering rain, purifying the air (filtering pollutant particles), absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen".

What does seem to be proven is that forest therapies aimed at groups with certain pathologies have an almost immediate positive effect.

"One of my first projects I did with children at risk of social exclusion. At the end of the walks one of them told me: 'The forest calms my bad thoughts," Gesse proudly recalls.

She obtained equally encouraging results when directing forays into nature for women victims of sexist violence and those suffering from schizophrenia.

Short walks on little crowded paths

It would seem obvious that to go for a walk in the mountains you do not need previous preparation, but many people need help to reconnect with nature in a, let's say,

natural way

.

A forest bath is not intended for physical exercise, "like a simple walk in the mountains or a

treeking

route

."

Gesse does recommend that the first time be accompanied by "a qualified professional", that is, a guide with the necessary preparation, training that is also offered by your institute.

He has instructed nearly 200 environmental educators who conduct forest baths and therapies in natural parks and green spaces in Europe and America.

The task of these monitors is, above all, "to create a favorable environment in which the participants feel safe and comfortable, both physically and psychologically".

The exercises usually last less than two hours, are developed on little crowded routes (and no more than two kilometers apart) and consist of three phases.

The first is aimed at "awakening the senses and harmonizing with the rhythms of nature."

In the middle school, multiple activities are carried out - from touching the texture of a flower to sitting in silence to listening to the sound of the Earth - which vary depending on the people to whom they are addressed.

"It is not the same to take a walk with executives of multinationals who seek to strengthen creativity and communication than to go with a group of 80-year-old grandparents."

The therapy closes with a sharing, in which it is very common to hear comments such as "I have lost track of time", "I have felt like a kid" or "I am more relaxed than ever".

In the end, the goal is to become aware of having lived a different experience before rejoining the rhythm of the city: "There is no right or wrong way to communicate with the forest. Each person connects in one way. You just have to let go" .

Many of the itineraries described in

Forest Baths.

50 routes to feel nature

are paths frequented by hikers, but in this case "the important thing is not to get to a place, but to enjoy the experience of living with the forest and its inhabitants, regardless of shape and size."

Gesse has chosen

five of them

for

El Viajero

, "performed with care" by professional colleagues trained at the Forest Therapy Institute.

Each route is accompanied in the information book, "by way of clues", on the presence of monoterpenes - substances released by trees to protect themselves from predators and parasites - and the level of ionization of the air in each section of the route.

Scientific studies suggest that both natural elements could have direct benefits on the immune system of people.

A beech forest during autumn in the Urkiola natural park.

javitrapero GETTY IMAGES

1. Guenzelai Trail.

Urkiola Natural Park (Bizkaia)

enlarge photo

Between Bizkaia and Álava is the Urkiola Natural Park, a protected area with an enormous diversity of fauna and flora.

Covering an area of ​​5,958 hectares, it extends over the mountainous complex that make up the Aramotz-Eskubaratz mountain ranges, the Duranguesado mountains and the Arangio mountain range.

For Johanna Maluenda, the author of the route, "approaching Urkiola to enjoy a forest bath means walking through the diversity of landscapes that this spectacle of nature hides: green pastures, lush and colorful forests and steep limestone peaks that they cover the valleys with their protective mantle. "

The path crosses the Astxiki beech forest and the Guenzelai forest, the latter inhabited by some historical beech trees.

Along the way, pine and birch also stand out, the tree that gives its name to Urkiola (land of birch trees).

It is an itinerary of just over a kilometer in which we will be able to enhance the sense of touch, "placing our hands on the gray trunks of the beech trees and moving our fingers to experience their humidity and roughness".

There will also be time to enjoy the pleasure of noticing the firm but soft earth underfoot and "the cottony roots of the beech trees".

The tour culminates in the fields of Guenzelai, "where you will feel the need to sit on the soft and velvety grass that dyes the whole place an intense green color".

The Neila Glacier Lagoons Natural Park, in the Sierra de la Demanda (Burgos).

Julen Arabaolaza Getty Images

2. Natural Park of the Glacial Lagoons of Neila (Burgos)

enlarge photo

The Collado de Neila path, of kilometer and a half and accessible difficulty, is integrated into the natural park of the Glacial Lagoons of Neila, in the Sierra de la Demanda (Burgos), which covers a territory of 6,860 hectares, all of them belonging to the municipality of the same name.

It is a path that runs along two streams, and enters forests of wild pine mixed with beech, birch and holly through a soft blanket of grass.

The route begins in the same town of Neila, where the echoes of its rich transhumant past still fly over.

Advancing along the road that leaves the town, to the ears of Noemí Hortigüela, the author of this tour, came the sound of the cowbells of the cows and horses that graze in the same meadows that once welcomed the shepherds, who returned at the beginning of the summer in Extremadura.

If the route is done in spring, "we will be able to enjoy the velvety texture and aroma of the petals of the wild rose flower" while we stroll among poplars, willows and ash trees.

At another point along the way the first beech trees appear, on a small promontory that invites you to rest under its branches.

"We will be able to enjoy contemplating the

komorebi

, a Japanese word that means 'the sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees'. This event can be seen in many trees, but in the beech, thanks to its overlapping branches, it acquires a special warmth ".

A hiker contemplates a panoramic view of one of the valleys of the Somiedo natural park.

Carlos Fernandez Getty Images

3. Braña la Campa.

Somiedo Natural Park (Asturias)

enlarge photo

Of the four great valleys that are home to the Somiedo natural park, Saliencia was the setting chosen by the therapist Raquel de la Insúa to

bathe

in this Asturian natural space, home to the brown bear and exuberant flora where oak forests abound , ash, maples and linden trees.

In addition to being the most rugged, Saliencia is the gorge that has the largest number of

teitos

, traditional stone constructions with a roof made of broom branches, which in ancient times were used to shelter people and livestock, and which give the landscape looks like a medieval town.

This instructor from the Instituto de Baños de Bosque completed a simple 1.5-kilometer (round trip) route in which she was able to immerse herself in the beauty of this landscape full of life and spectacular panoramic views.

In this humid and green territory during all the seasons, "the soft and fresh breeze will always caress the face of the walker, who if he looks up at the sky will see it covered with green branches and beechnuts in spring or with colored leaves of various shades , reddish, ocher or golden, in autumn ".

4. Retamar Bridge.

Guadarrama Middle Course (Madrid)

A forest bathing guide contemplates a tree on the path of Puente de Retamar, in Madrid.

Alex Gesse

"Along its entire bank, the Guadarrama River creates a natural environment that, despite intense anthropic activity, maintains areas of high ecological value where you can find places to get lost and enjoy a unique environment."

This is explained by the expert in bathing the forest Paco García, who recommends this dive in the regional park of the Middle Course of the Guadarrama river, taking as a starting point the recreational area of ​​the Retamar bridge, in the municipality of Las Rozas, to complete a route flat and circular for two kilometers.

It is a path that takes us into a riverside forest in the process of recovery, where "admire how nature makes its way through the scars of human action in the environment".

This grove of poplars, ash trees and poplars serves as a natural corridor for fauna and also for the inhabitants of the capital and its periphery.

During the journey you will pass through an area of ​​aromatic herbs, "an ideal place to smell and explore with your hands not only the textures, but also the smells and how they impregnate our fingers".

enlarge photo

The encounter with the Retamar bridge, formed by seven semicircular vaults and erected during the reign of Felipe II, allows to recreate "with the sensations generated by the temperature of the granite on our skin, in the senses".

The patient and calm current of the Guadarrama, "audible if the walker pays attention", will accompany us throughout the journey.

A small river beach almost at the end of the road offers another landscape in which to observe the waters.

"Its transparency, in most seasons, and the short depth of the Guadarrama will perhaps allow us to see some fish and, with luck, some aquatic birds."

The Banyoles lake, near the Les Estunes forest.

Carme Baque / EyeEm Getty Images

 5. Les Estunes.

Natural area of ​​Lake Banyoles (Girona)

enlarge photo

Les Estunes forest has been very close to the

estany

or Lake Banyoles, the largest natural lake in Catalonia.

Marta Ayats, the monitor in charge of this route of just 850 meters, recommends doing it during the week to avoid crowds.

Immersion for our boots senses with the majestic vision of an oak powerful six or seven thick branches, which serves as

a gateway to a magical place that has inspired legends as the

Aloges

or

Goges

, "the peculiar fairy water they spent the night spinning near the

lake

and then took refuge in the great travertine cracks formed in previous geological times and on top of which abundant vegetation and a forest of holm oaks and oaks have settled ".

Travertine is a rock highly valued by sculptors and artisans, formed by the accumulation of layers of lime deposited by the underground waters of the Llierca and Borró rivers from the neighboring region of Alta Garrotxa, which emerge to the surface upon reaching Banyoles.

"Slowly, step by step, we breathe, stop from time to time and contemplate the breeze that moves the leaves of the branches, the ivy climbing very high to embrace trees 15 or 20 meters high, and the moss and ferns sharing this humid habitat ", describes Ayats.

"This space, as small as it is majestic, reflects how nature selflessly offers us its richness and diversity for the enjoyment of our senses, to feel that we are part of it."

A return to our origins, the ultimate meaning of forest baths.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-09-03

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