I Went Forest Bathing in Central Park and It Didn’t Feel Like Bullshit“Hiking. 3D Studio Max 6 3Cd Iso more. What you’re describing is hiking.” That’s the basic reaction I saw on Twitter to the latest buzz around “forest bathing,” the practice of leisurely, meditative nature walks. Yes, it’s sort of like hiking, in that you’re walking in nature.

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But unlike hiking, you’re not exerting much energy, and unlike a scientific nature walk, you’re not analyzing or trying to learn about your environment. Instead, you walk slowly and concentrate on sensory input, letting all other thoughts go. You can stare at things, touch them, hear them, smell them. If they’re not poisonous, maybe taste them.

The goal is to observe a relaxing environment in order to relax yourself. And there’s scientific evidence that it’s effective. Forest bathing was developed in the 1.

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Japan, where it’s known as shinrin- yoku, as part of a larger movement of forest therapy. The government- affiliated Forest Therapy Executive Committee certifies certain locations as forest therapy bases, based on criteria like proper maintenance, gently sloping walkways, and whether the walk lowers blood pressure and heart rate. In America, forest bathing looks much more like a fad, albeit one on its way to joining the pantheon of “mindfulness” practices like meditation and yoga. Media coverage somewhat muddies the waters; a recent Mashable video, in particular, makes it look no different from any other walk in the woods. Unlike the activities above, forest bathing focuses specifically on relaxation and meditation. The scientific evidence for nature’s healing powers apply to any activity in nature: trees emit relaxing essential oils called phytoncides; just looking at pictures of nature can lower your stress level. Forest bathing is just one nature activity that emphasizes relaxation and meditation.

And there’s plenty of evidence that meditation works. I've seen you guys post a few things about the benefits of meditation, and I only have one. For the Atlantic, Rahawa Haile walked through Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park. Quartz’s Ephrat Livni went nearby to Oakland’s Big Trees Trail, and the Telegraph’s Danielle Demetriou walked along Japan’s Kumano Kod. For the Boston Globe, Diane Bair and Pamela Wright walked with Dr.

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Nina Smiley through the Mohonk Preserve in New York’s Hudson Valley. Morning Edition’s Allison Aubrey went to Roosevelt Island in New York City. I took my forest bath in the southwest corner of Central Park. Like the Globe writers, I was guided by Dr. Smiley, a psychologist who promotes meditation and leads forest walks at the Mohonk Mountain House, an old and luxurious castle resort owned by her husband and their family.

Unlike the Globe writers, I could smell hot dog carts in the distance. We begin by sitting on a park bench, entering a typical meditative state: closing our eyes, breathing slowly and fully, letting our thoughts drift away, focusing on our hearing, our sense of touch, our sense of smell. We slowly open our eyes, and Dr. Smiley guides me in a slow and gentle walk along the paved path around a pond. We stop at a few bushes, caressing the leaves and flowers, smelling them, noticing the different shapes, patterns, and colors on each leaf. If you’ve ever taken a walk to de- stress, you know the powerful effect getting outside can have on. Each time, I get a bit more efficient at letting go and fully engaging in the process, rather than self- analyzing.

It’s like I’m training a muscle. I try to ignore the people around us, clinging to the illusion that we’re in a forest, until I notice that Dr.

Smiley isn’t tuning people out. She smiles at a cute kid who’s staring at her, then returns to our study of some ducks foraging in the clover. Smiley guides us in the progressive present tense, in clauses without subjects.

Later I ask her if people should only forest bathe with a guide or in a group. She gives the answer I’ve already secretly decided is right: Of course you can do this on your own.

A guide can help you do it well, but this isn’t a rarified practice. Dr. Smiley has long promoted micro- meditations of one to three minutes each, for those who can’t keep up meditation because they can’t commit to longer sessions. She sees forest bathing as one way to train yourself into these micro- meditations. If you bring a plant into your workplace, or practice looking out the window for a minute, you can remind your brain of the longer session in nature, and train your brain into entering a meditative state.

These short sessions are still quite useful, she says, to calm yourself in the middle of a tense day or to notice your tension and, simply by sitting and breathing, release it. Meditation has a ton of benefits, from reducing anxiety to increasing concentration, but it isn’t.

Why even choose nature at all, and not meditate over the architecture of a city block? Smiley says that’s not out of the question, but since nature is more calming to begin with, it’s an easier route to a distraction- free meditative state. She also recommends parks and nature for their spaciousness, as an antidote to hunching over a screen. Of course, as Haile points out in the Atlantic, the forest is a particularly comfortable, distraction- free part of nature, as opposed to a desert or a humid, buggy swamp. There’s a reason that forest bathing first developed in the temperate forests of Japan and is taking off in America’s temperate coastal cities. In other environments, being hyper- aware of your surroundings is a lot less relaxing. Still, even surrounded by locals and tourists near the edge of Central Park, I felt more aware and more calm, a feeling that lingered for hours as I took a normally tense trip home through Manhattan.

Forest bathing in the park felt all the more useful for teaching me to find tranquility without relying on the perfect environment. Forest bathing isn’t just hiking, but it also isn’t hard to learn.

It won’t necessarily change your life. But it has roots in a real, scientifically observed process, and it’s a great way to learn basic meditation.

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