When was the last time you took a walk through the woods? Or for that matter, took a moment to simply be in nature? Adopting the lifestyle of Feng Shui invites you to reconnect with just that, mother nature. It’s wonderful to bring the outside in, yet to be immersed in nature, is something quite different altogether.

Shinrin-yoku is a term that means "taking in the forest atmosphere" or "forest bathing." It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. Researchers primarily in Japan and South Korea have established a large body of scientific literature on the health benefits of living in the forest. Now their research is helping to establish shinrin-yoku and forest therapy throughout the world.

If you live in an urban environment, no problem! You can do shinrin-yoku anywhere – in a nearby park or in your garden or even backyard!

Below is a list of scientifically-proven benefits of Shinrin-yoku:

• Improved sleep

• Deeper and clearer intuition

• Increased flow of energy

• Increased capacity to communicate with the land and its species

• Increased flow of eros/life force

• Deepening of friendships

• Overall increase in sense of happiness

• Boosted immune system functioning, with an increase in the count of the body's Natural Killer (NK) cells.

• Reduced blood pressure

• Reduced stress

• Improved mood

• Increased ability to focus, even in children with ADHD

• Accelerated recovery from surgery or illness

• Increased energy level

Curious about what you could do while forest bathing?

• walking through the forest

• yoga

• eating in the forest

• hot-spring therapy

• T’ai chi

• meditation

• breathing exercises

• aromatherapy

• art classes