FOREST BATHING

Fall is my favorite season. I love going for a walk and having the wind blow the leaves across me and smell wood burning. I am a walker and being outside with nature is my recharge. Sometimes I listen to a podcast about God’s word and sometimes I just want to hear the sounds around me. The way the wind sounds through the trees, children at play, and the smells of changing seasons.

God created the world and everything in it, so it stands that returning to our beginning foundation would renew us. I recently read that what I am describing to you is known as forest bathing. Forest bathing is the practice of absorbing nature through all 5 senses.

SEE—allow your eyes to take in all the vivid colors of the trees. Each day on your walk notice the changes in the trees along your path. We have a tree that half of it changes to red while the other half stays green for some time. Notice the colors of the sky. Even grey days have beauty when you stop and breathe in the moment.

HEAR—listen to the sounds of the birds, the way the wind sounds blowing through the trees and rustling the leaves below you. So much of our days are filled with artificial noise and sounds that do not send peace through our bodies. Unplugging from the constant barrage of noise to the sounds of nature can create a sense of balance and harmony.

SMELL—each change of season has a smell in the air. The aromas of fall are burning leaves and the smell of wet ground cover.

TOUCH—the wet dew that sticks around most of the morning, the dampness that feels like it goes straight through our clothes to our bones and our cold fingertips.

TASTE—the crisp air that opens your sinuses and shows you your breath.

These are all ways to notice the beauty and recharge right outside your door that costs nothing and give back in many ways to our sense of harmony. Many of my yoga classes with my clients are outside during the spring and summer, but the ones in the fall seem to be a favorite. Throw a blanket around your shoulders, take a walk until you find a spot, and lay down in savasana. Take time to feel the ground supporting your spine, allow your eyes and jaw to fall back into your head, and notice your shoulders, arms, and legs. Relax each part of your body and then……listen, smell, taste, touch and hear what is all around you.

YOGA MOM KIMBERLY

WELLNESS YOGA