If you’ve not heard of it, Forest Bathing is the practice of taking a stroll in the woods for health and spiritual benefits. Clinical studies have documented those benefits.
I don’t think anyone would be too surprised to learn that a walk in the forest can supply such gifts. However, one should not expect much if one’s mind is filled with distraction
or negative thoughts. In his book A New Earth — which I highly recommend — the spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle states, “When we go into a forest that has not been interfered with by man, our thinking mind will see only disorder and chaos all around us. It won’t even be able to differentiate between life (good) and death (bad) anymore since everywhere new life grows out of rotting and decaying matter. Only if we are still enough inside and the noise of thinking subsides can we become aware that there is a hidden harmony here, a sacredness, a higher order in which everything has its perfect place and could not be other than what it is and the way it is...
or negative thoughts. In his book A New Earth — which I highly recommend — the spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle states, “When we go into a forest that has not been interfered with by man, our thinking mind will see only disorder and chaos all around us. It won’t even be able to differentiate between life (good) and death (bad) anymore since everywhere new life grows out of rotting and decaying matter. Only if we are still enough inside and the noise of thinking subsides can we become aware that there is a hidden harmony here, a sacredness, a higher order in which everything has its perfect place and could not be other than what it is and the way it is...
... In the forest, there is an incomprehensible order that to the mind looks like chaos. It is beyond the mental categories of good and bad. You cannot understand it through thought, but you can sense it when you let go of thought, become still and alert, and don’t try to understand or explain. Only then can you be aware of the sacredness of the forest. As soon as you sense that hidden harmony, that sacredness, you realize you are not separate from it, and when you realize that, you become a conscious participant in it. In this way, nature can help you become realigned with the wholeness of life.”
This also corresponds to an old Zen story:
The master Nan-in had a visitor who came to inquire about Zen. But instead of listening he kept talking about his own ideas. After a while, Nan-in served tea. He poured tea
into the visitor’s cup until it was full, then he kept on pouring. Finally the visitor could not restrain himself. “Don’t you see that it is full?” he said. “You can’t get any more in!”
“Just so,” replied Nan-in, stopping at last. “And like this cup, you are filled with your own ideas. How can you expect me to give you Zen unless you offer me an empty cup?
into the visitor’s cup until it was full, then he kept on pouring. Finally the visitor could not restrain himself. “Don’t you see that it is full?” he said. “You can’t get any more in!”
“Just so,” replied Nan-in, stopping at last. “And like this cup, you are filled with your own ideas. How can you expect me to give you Zen unless you offer me an empty cup?
