Ken Springer
Contributing Writer
A friend’s daughter, Camilla, began sketching imaginative scenes of enchanted forests at an early age. Decades later, she still does, except now, her imaginative illustrations go into children’s books.
Many of us seek our own version of enchantment when hiking the endless trails of Pocahontas County. We find something special in the deep forest that soothes our souls.
This feeling may be uniquely human. After all, ancestors of homo sapiens once lived an arboreal life that offered protection from predators, intent on devouring them.
Somewhere in our genetic code is a type of memory stimulated when we step into the deep woods; we feel a kinship among the great trees and their inhabitants, something often referred to by writers and poets as an awakening of our earlier nature. Humans may be far removed from a time when we were universally immersed in the natural world, but we still maintain a connection to the bosom of the deep woods.
Forests have long presented humans with a dichotomy upon entering the canopy-covered world. In early mythology, the deep, dark woods held both monsters and fairy godmothers. Consider two well-known stories created by the Grimm brothers: Hansel and Gretel and Snow White. Both tales were designed to instill fear and caution in young readers, depicting a cannibalistic witch and an evil queen as denizens of the forest. There is nothing enchanting about those woods!
In Celtic mythology, the woods harbor all sorts of supernatural beings. Tales of leprechauns, fairies and selkies abound in the stories passed down for generations of Irish and Scots, and they persist to this very day among some groups.
As depicted in literature, the deep forests provide cover not only for robbers and highwaymen but also for the better side of humanity. Consider Robin Hood and his band of merry men, who took from the rich and gave to the poor—an ideal we struggle with politically centuries later when the topic of taxes comes up.
Flash forward to modern writers such as JRR Tolkien and J.K Rawling, where deep forests are often a backdrop for characters taking on grand adventures.
OK, I went around the barn several times before going in the door, but despite the introduction, what I want to talk about in this article is something you can practice in the woods that is healthful in many ways.
That said, what we will explore in the coming paragraphs is something that, unfortunately, smacks of the New Age movement of the 1980s.
How well I remember those days. It was my custom to stop at a local bakery/coffee shop on my way to work each morning for a cup of Joe and the morning newspaper. A middle-aged woman frequented my haunt most mornings. After taking a seat at her table, I noticed that she would extract several large quartz crystals from her oversized purse and assemble them around her coffee and pastry.
I also noted that she always sat alone at her table, the reason appears to be self-evident.
One day, she approached my table and asked if I realized I had an aura around my head. I told her it was probably just a cloud of powdered sugar from my well-dusted Bismarck. She found no humor in my response and promptly returned to her crystals.
Author’s Note: I wonder what happened to all of those crystals; in dust-covered shoe boxes in the attic, perhaps?
Forest Bathing, or shinrin-yoku, as the Japanese refer to this practice, is not, I repeat, not, New Age in any respect. Why? Because it is based on sound science.
Forest bathing is a well-established and studied Japanese practice in which one walks through the forest alone and slowly, immersing oneself in all aspects of the natural world. Forest Bathing is not the time for strenuous cardiovascular exercise, such as running or mountain biking.
To get the most out of your Forest Bathing experience, you must spend at least a couple of hours in the forest, something easy to do with the 400-plus miles of trail in Pocahontas County. After all, we have two state forests, five state parks, and about a third of the entire Monongahela National Forest, all with trails and mature forests.
Additionally, the successful and longer-lasting benefits of Forest Bathing require that we move slowly through the forest, even stopping to take in the wide variety of smells one encounters along the way.
Again, Forest Bathing is not the time for high-energy activities like running or power hiking – you probably wouldn’t consider swimming laps while relaxing in a warm spa.
Using our senses of smell, sight, touch and taste, we invite the forest into our bodies. We make a deeper connection with the forest when we do the following:
• Touch the bark of various tree species.
• Get down on the ground and examine the insects and fungi. By doing so, we learn how the forest breaks down organic material into compost to feed the trees, insects, microbials and fungi.
• Smell the unexpectedly pleasant scent of decay. This is the forest ecosystem at work.
• Try hugging a tree – JUST KIDDING!
Taste can come into play as well in Forest Bathing. If you’re a competent forager, you may sample, for example, the wonderful flavor of wild wintergreen’s shiny green leaves and bright red fruit.
According to Science Daily, fewer than 25% of Americans walk continuously for more than ten minutes weekly; we are an out-of-shape society. Walking in a forest, regardless of speed, is good exercise. So, a mere walk in the woods has some health benefits.
Yet, when we practice Forest Bathing, we get an even greater health boost from an invisible source – phytoncides.
Phytoncides are “antimicrobial chemicals produced by plants and used by plants to deter animals and insects from eating them.” Additionally, phytoncides inhibit the invasion of harmful bacteria and microscopic fungi.
We are all familiar with Photosynthesis: trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. The more forests we have, the fewer green greenhouse gases we produce and the more oxygen we produce.
But trees also release far more than just oxygen. They exhale over 500 volatile substances, many of which confer health benefits when we breathe in the forest air.
Pines, oaks and locust trees are particularly rich in phytoncides. Fortunately for us, there is no shortage of these species in our forest.
So, what are the benefits of these airborne substances?
Phytoncides stimulate the production of cortisol from the adrenal glands. Among their many functions, they help the body regulate stress, a common response to modern life. Just think: by walking in the woods, you not only get the benefit of exercise, but you can reduce stress, anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure.
Additionally, controlled studies have shown phytoncides to help fight depression, improve sleep, and even fight certain types of cancer by stimulating the production of T cells.
Forest Bathing offers many opportunities to improve our general health and outlook on life. The only cost is a good pair of hiking boots, and the benefits of a single outing can last for several weeks.
Leave your cell phone in the glove compartment or turn it off. Remember, the idea of Forest Bathing is to “stroll,” not “scroll.”
With the beautiful forests and trails we have here in our region, there are good reasons for getting out and enjoying them regularly. And I assure you that you will not encounter witches, fairies, leprechauns, trolls, wicked stepmothers, or thugs from Mr. Hood’s gang. However, I cannot say with certainty that you will not run into a bigfoot.
In closing, one of our distinguished residents of Pocahontas County is a hiker extraordinaire. Mark Mengele hikes slowly and purposefully, which allows him to fully enjoy the forest’s pleasures.
As David Elliott likes to say of Mark, “He’s Forest Bathing, he just doesn’t call it that.”
To Mr. Mengele and all readers of The Pocahontas Times, I say, “Let the forest be with you.”