Forest Therapy - Chapter 1 In the beginning….
I first heard about forest therapy some years back from the news and I remember how I was skeptical about this. I couldn't understand how hugging a tree and just simply lying on the grass patch could do anything good to us. Of course, I loved nature then. In fact, it was nature that helped me to come out from my depression and how my extended walk in the woods with one of my very good friends got my out of my sadness some years back. I didn't know that the woods played a pivotal role then. I always thought it was merely the exercising and the talks with my friend that helped me through those difficult times. Now that I think about it, nature or the woods help me in their bosom too and provided refreshing and restoration through my emotional upheavals back then.
Walking through the woods often gave a sense of relief and freshness. My recent walk at Benjakitti Park was refreshing and took me out of the buzzing schedule that I have every week. I found myself breathing and felt my heart pulpating. When I started to feel the rhythms of my heart beat, I felt that I was alive and there was life in me indeed. Sometimes in our busy schedule, we almost forgot to feel and sense our breathing, which is such a critical part of our living.
As I was walking through the park, I looked up at the three branches and discovered a whole network of leaves and branches that seemed to be a whole network of communication between these living things. Yes, they are very much alive and living as much as us humans. They are an integral part of our ecosystem that is part of this circle of life that we all are interconnected. The view of such a network of leaves and branches was simply spectacular and yet they are so intricate and delicate as well. If we are not careful we may even lose all these to the industrial ambitions of mankind. As Henry Thoreau puts it in his Walden, and I quote, "Most men, even in the comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labours of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for that." Perhaps, we need to rid our hands from industrial labour and begin to reach out to the leaves and branches and to draw the connection wth them.
As part of my forest therapy journey, I intend to document them down in my blog and share my experiences with the many humankind out there who needs to hear about these experiences. Hopefully this will help more people to get connected with nature and find a good balance between our inevitable industrial pursuit and our much needed spirituality in nature and God's wonderful creation.
March 11 2024, Monday
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