San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Forest bathing a therapy that brings peace and healingg
When Diana Markuson steps into the forest, she feels better.
“It’s just my happy place,” the Conroe resident said.
The retired psychiatric nurse wanted to share that feeling with others. After reading articles about “forest bathing,” she was convinced she’d found a means to do just that.
“It was outdoors. It was health and wellness,” Markuson said. “And it also had that meditative type quality. It just made sense to me.”
“Forest bathing” is a literal translation from “shinrin-yoku,” the Japanese practice of spending time among the trees and taking in all of the sights and sounds in the woods.
Markuson said forest bathing is synonymous with forest therapy. Both describe a means to develop emotional and mental healing through immersion in the woods.
In the Houston and Austin areas, there are a number of forest therapists certified through the global training organization, the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. The organization has certified more than 2,000 guides, practicing now in 60 countries. So far, San Antonio doesn’t appear to have any.
The role of the forest therapists is to act as guides, and let Mother Nature take care of the rest.
Markuson is a certified forest therapist. She started Nature’s Embrace after receiving her certification during the pandemic. She now leads groups regularly, even a few that welcome canine companions.
Markuson also hosts a free session each month, and asks participants to donate to an environmental association in exchange.
Jammie Schmunk, owner of Recovery Untamed, is another Houston-area forest therapist who leads sessions in W. Goodrich Jones State Forest in Conroe, near her home in The Woodlands.
“The forest is the therapist,” Schmunk said.
A walk in the woods
Forest therapy is not at all like traditional therapy, Schmunk said.
“It’s a slow, sensory walk through the forest,” she said. “When our body slows down, our mind can, too.”
Before gaining her certification, Schmunk noticed that she depended on nature to deal with challenges in life.
Now, Schmunk passes that on to others in her group sessions, which start with a walk into Jones Forest and a brief discussion about the land.
Then, Schmunk invites the group to awaken their senses. “I help guide you into your body,” she said. “We get comfortable, close our eyes and go through every sense.”
Then participants find a spot in nature to sit down and take it all in. “We do it solo and then we come back and gather in a circle,” Schmunk said. “We take turns sharing.”
She ends the session with a tea service. “It’s just a fun way to bring it to a close,” she said.
Markuson also makes tea for participants on her walks, using plants that grow on the trails. She mainly guides in Spring Creek Nature Preserve and Montgomery County Nature Preserve.
Healing happens
The tangible health benefits of forest bathing can include improved cardiovascular and respiratory health, as well as better immune function and reduction in depression, according to the nature and forest therapy association.
Markuson said being in the forest can do wonders for lowering stress and blood pressure.
“It’s all about slowing down,” she said.
Schmunk agreed. “We’ve forgotten how to just be. It’s always do, do, do,” she said. “We live in a culture and a time, where we’re all stressed so much of the time. It’s the phone, the emails and the texts.”
Conservation
There are two purposes of forest bathing — to heal people and to heal the planet, Gabriela Guedez, owner of Houston Forest Therapy, said.
The practice is meant to promote a love for the Earth, she said, and that leads to conservation.
“We only protect what we love,” she said.
Environmental Protection Agency data says U.S. residents spend an average of 93 percent of their lives indoors.
“We’re part of nature, but we’ve lost our relationship with the web of life,” Markuson said.
Schmunk added that the innate connection with the Earth is a fact that is sometimes forgotten.
“We are nature. We cannot disconnect from nature,” she said. “It’s a remembering, when we walk in the forest. It’s a reminder that I’m where I’m supposed to be.”