Nature Immersion: The Healing Power of Wilderness

Spending time in nature can improve mood, decrease stress and anxiety, boost immunity, lower blood pressure, enhance creativity and increase inner peace.

Walking through a lush, green cathedral of trees invites the senses to awaken. The fragrance of the mulchy forest floor; the gentle sound of the branches soughing in the breeze, punctuated by the tweets of songbirds; and the deep hush of the forest create a calming presence.

This quiet, which envelopes us in peace, is actually scientifically proven. Diana Beresford-Kroeger points out in her book Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests that the silence and stillness found in forests is produced because sound is dampened by both lichens growing on tree trunks and substances found in the bark.

In the noise and stress of modern life, we need these quiet refuges more than ever. It is not only forests that have been proven to increase our well-being. Spending time in blue spaces such as rivers, oceans and lakes, and even listening to bird songs, has been shown to improve our health. Immersing ourselves in wilderness, whether it is a desert, mountain, beach, prairie or forest, helps our bodies create emotional, physical, mental and spiritual balance.

Although most of our indigenous ancestors experienced the benefits of being in wilderness, it wasn’t until a few decades ago that researchers began looking into nature therapy. Some of the biggest studies on the effects of forest bathing have come from Japan. The term forest bathing itself is a translation of the Japanese phrase shinrin-yoku.

Scientists in Japan have proven that time in the forest accelerates physical wound healing, hastens recovery from surgery, helps children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder focus, lowers blood pressure and cortisol levels, improves immunity and boosts mood.

These benefits are not only due to the serenity found in the forest but also to aerosols released by trees into the air to protect themselves from insects and fungi. Some of these aerosols are antibacterial and antifungal and stimulate our bodies to increase the activity of natural killer white blood cells, which attack cancerous and virus-infected cells. Best of all, Japanese researchers have shown that the beneficial health effects of a few days with the trees can last for up to a month.

Being in wilderness also enhances our creativity and opens up our perceptual capacity. Cultures worldwide have found inspiration in the natural world. We see this in places named sacred sites, holy wells, the Tree of Life, and odes to landscapes in poetry, writing and mythology. Nature has always captivated the human imagination.

To receive the full benefits from time spent outside, it helps to combine being in the environment with simple mindfulness techniques. Turning off phones and other electronic devices; listening to the sounds of wind and water, birds and rustling leaves, splashing fish and croaking frogs; and paying attention to our five senses can help open up our more subtle senses, such as awareness, intuition and perception.

Practices such as meditating beneath a tree, doing yoga on a bluff, walking slowly or sitting quietly on a park bench can calm the nervous system and encourage appreciation of beauty. Beauty can heal us, get us out of our heads with all those to-do lists and repetitive thoughts, and allow us moments to be. When we listen to nature as one wild being to another, our own innate body intelligence is activated and will organically seek balance and the highest level of health available to us.

Ellen Dee Davidson has worked as a creative writing, piano and elementary school teacher, and is the author of a number of children’s books, including Wind, which won the Nautilus Gold Award, and The Miracle Forest. Her latest book, Sacred Forest Bathing: The Healing Power of Ancient Trees and Wild Places, will be published by Bear & Company in May. Davidson is a member of TreeSisters, Awakening Women and the Earth Treasure Vase Global Healing Project. She lives in Bayside, California. For more information or to order her books, visit EllenDeeDavidson.com