August 27, 2019

Human Blog 3: Forest bathing, a new way of therapy

On the 8th day of our journey, we went to the University of Washington Arboretum, and experienced ”Cascadia Forest Therapy”. For most of us, it was the first time to step into a forest and spend a wonderful time in it, to be invited to it, to accept, to change, and do whatever you like with the forest. During this experience, the instructor guided us on how to communicate with the nature, how to put any other things aside, and how to become one part of the forest. At that moment, all of us forgot the anxiety of life and work and devoted ourselves to the primitive natural world. I believe everyone here had an unforgettable memory which will leave a huge influence on our life styles and minds. For us, the term ”forest therapy” is something brand new because most of us have never heard of that before in China. This is due to the disparity of ideology in the 2 countries.

Fig.1 sharing tea during forest bathing

In our homeland, though we have ample forest resources, we do not have much access to forests, and the relationship between people and forests is weak. People live a fast-paced life, having little time for relaxing. Even during our free time, we tend to devote ourselves to computer games and such artificial things instead of spending it in nature, because the prevalence of high-tech devices. As a result, the exploration of forests’ ecological value is totally ignored by Chinese, leading to infinite loss in both economic and ecological aspect.

Fig.2 walking in forests

Nonetheless, in Seattle, people own abundant forest resources too, but they let forests be a part of their city. They interact with them, and view them as a treasure. They care about it, protect it and leave it to the next generations. In our journey, we often see pedestrian walking in the wild, behaving freely and happily, which shows their unalloyed love for the nature.

Fig.3 we are enjoying being one part of nature

As is known to all, Seattle is home to many high-tech companies, such as Microsoft. The intensity of work for some citizens is undoubtedly high. People have an extremely busy life, and are under great pressure which could cause a lot of mental illness. However, according to the surveying data from WalletHub, Seattle ranks 12th as Best Places to Raise a Family, which indicates people here are actually in good health, both mentally and physically. This phenomenon allows us to think of the function of forests for humans. It seems that forests really help people get healthier, which can be taken advantage of by us Chinese people to obtain more well-being. Personally, I really appreciate the gift that nature has given to us, because being a part of nature truly help me relax and forget all of the troubles. If I can, I would stay there, because it is just like returning home.