Forest bathing (2/22/2017)

Wow, I learned a new phrase this week: “Forest-Bathing”.  So, now some of you have also.  It has nothing to do with taking a bath or a shower in the woods, although I have always wanted to build an outdoor shower and in our case the shower would look out into the forest, so technically it could be forest bathing.  No, it is spending time in the woods and letting the woods come over you and improve your health. 

Readers of my blog know that I frequently write about "Nature Deficit Disorder", in fact there are 31 posts (32 with this one ... check the "labels" section) by now in which I mention it or at least somehow write that at times I need to reconnect with nature; just to get my sanity back.  Well, it seems that forest-bathing or shinrin-yoku as it is called in Japan is real!  Shinrin-yoku is a very important national public health program that was started there in 1982.  Now research is showing that regular bathers have lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels, lower blood pressure, lower pulse rates, and less variability in their heart rates.  A Japanese study even showed that it increased the activity of the natural killer cells in the human immune system.  These cells appear to fight off viruses and tumor formation and they seem to be associated with cancer prevention according to an article written by Ephrat Livni in 2016. 

Walking through the woods this past weekend it was so warm that even this early in February the turtles were out sunning.  I wonder what they could find to eat.

A much more detailed article was written in 2012 in the Outside magazine, and it seems that an aromatic volatile substance called phytoncides may be involved.  Trees give off these substances and Dr. Qing Li from the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo found that when he locked up subjects overnight into a hotel room with this substance piped in the air they also had high levels of the killer cell versus subjects who were locked up without the substance in the air.  Moreover, the killer cells levels stayed elevated in the subjects' systems for a few weeks.  Just breathing the extract from a tree under laboratory conditions gave the author of the article an instant 12 point drop in blood pressure.

But what does forest bathing or Shinrin-yoku entail?  In my eyes it is kind of what you make it.  From what I understand it is a combination of spirituality, meditation, and at the same time a form of aromatherapy.  The phytoncides that the plants give off is a chemical that seems to have a lot of, yet to understand functions.  However, one thing it is sure, it seems to be good for our well-being when we breath it in.  You may not smell it, but it is there.  It is the fresh smell of the forest.  That together with living in the moment the shedding of all your daily worries and concentrating on the beauty around you and being one with nature is what forest bathing is.  It does sound a lot like taking care of the nature deficit disorder, isn't it?

Believe it or not there is actually an organization that teaches you to become a Shinrin-yoku or Forest Therapy Guide.  I would love to do this, but of course it is in California and probably too expensive for my pockets (I really need to start advertising on this blog).  However, I feel I can probably do it without the "formal" seven session training, but it would be nice.  Monica Schwartz took the course and this is the link to her blog about the course.

In her blog about the course Monica details a lot about the spiritual and personal aspects of the program, and her growth as a teacher.  Her website/blog (which is titled Life out of Bounds) is a wonderful place to visit anyway.  The course appears to be on seven Saturdays near the San Francisco area.  It starts with a ritual where people collect a piece of nature (in her case it was a rock from a creek) and put it in a circle, symbolically leaving their worries or baggage behind before spending 20 or 30 minutes just lingering in the woods.  They are called back, share their discoveries and feelings, maybe have a reading and then they go out again for another 20 or so minutes.  Monica brought a camera (she is a photographer) and took photographs, others did other things.  After a third session there was another discussion and that week's session was done.  All very simple and very spiritual.  The leader in her session made tea from the local herbs which they all tasted but I do not think a tea ceremony is a requirement.  One of the members of Monica's group just meditated in a place and played a native American flute.  Wonderful, everybody can experience it in her or his own way.

There is even beauty in this fallen tree.  It amazed me how well distributed the roots were.  I follow a bonsai webcast and this gentleman always talks about raking out the roots to get an even distribution in the pots.  What a gorgeous example and what a shame for the tree.

Forest bathing is really a way to recharge, a way to meditate, and a the breath in those phytoncides.  I need to do it more often, now I know there is real scientific evidence for its benefits.  Come and join me.

Protest demonstrations, our new way of life (2/16/2017)

We went to the Woman’s March on Washington a few weekends ago and I spent a half day with our 500,000 closest friends.  Close having two meanings here: we were packed in like sardines, but in addition to that we were all philosophically and politically pretty darn close there on the mall.  We had an amazing time and came back tired, but charged.  

The last time I joined a demonstration was a long time ago.  It was in 1973 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.  I was 20 years old and the protest was against the U.S. involvement in the military coup in Chile that overthrew President Salvador Allende.  It was a Nixon thing and being anti Vietnam war anyway, nothing better than a good anti-US protest demonstration downtown Rotterdam, as they did everywhere else in Europe.

So you can imagine, it was kind of exciting more than 43 years later; shorter hair, a little less hair, a little grayer hair, and a little pudgier around the middle, we were ready to get on the bus to restart our career as protesters.  Being a guy, I was glad to be in the minority and I absolutely do not wish to hijack the movement or what happened that Saturday.  It was a beautiful thing.  Our estimate was that approximately 30% of the attendants were male, some of them holding signs in support of their sisters or mothers who could not come; of their wife, or one sign the said “I support her” with arrows pointing in all directions.  

Most of the signs I saw address the following seven common issues:

1. Women's rights
2. Support of Planned Parenthood
3. Support of a woman's right to choose (which is different from the support of Planned Parenthood)
4. Trump's treatment of women
5. The Republican threat to the environment
6. Black lives matter
7. LGBTQ issues

There were other signs as well, but these made up the majority.  Then you hear some of the conservatives complaining about some of the obscene messages on the signs and honestly for two or three racy ones that I saw; however, I thought they were entertaining and did not think they were that bad. One involved Donald Trump grabbing the statue of liberty by the crotch, and some may interpret the one below a bit off color.

I still like this sign; although some might think it is a bit off color.

You must be living under a rock if you did not notice the demonstrations during the next weekend.  The major cause for those were the famous Muslim ban that was instated by the President under the motto: "Let's make American lives unsafe again," or at least that is what most experts called it.  At least the demonstrations showed there is still a core of civil, tolerant people out there.  But it really makes you wonder what is next?

A hug anyone?

The question remains, "Is this what democracy is all about."  Many people from the right call the demonstrators sore losers and tell them to get with the program, their guy won and respect what he's doing; give him a chance.  Others tell me he is violating The Constitution in some cases and that is the reason why they are demonstrating.  Boy, four weeks in and ethics violations abound already.  I like to make the argument that this is what democracy is all about, we need to make sure that a lot of the progress that has been made during the past 8 years is preserved.  The problem is that we cannot change the president's mind, but maybe we can change the mind of our elected officials by way of the relentless demonstrations; show them that their heads will roll if they just roll over and do what the president want them to do and look the other way when unethical thing happen.

Hopefully congress will understand that there will be dangerous curves ahead if they just bend over and don't question things or listen to the will of the people

From what it looks like, my demonstration days will not be over.  I'll be walking for science and for the environment in the next few months.  They will all be peaceful and I am sure that again I will be accused of being a sore loser.  But all I can say is that I am vigilant; I do not want to go back to the Middle Ages where scientists are persecuted and the environment is an afterthought.  I have lived in third world countries, witnessed the persecution of free thinkers, seen the pollution and tyranny of dictators.  This is why people try to escape the tyranny they are living in and want to move here to the U.S. and live in freedom.  In their own country they are trying their best to emulate our way of living, but that way of living seems to be rapidly changing and I am not sure if it is for the best.  We need to maintain our ability to be critical observers and thinkers and not just take everything as it is given to us; let's please protect what we have and keep the movement going!