Moving while meditating can have spiritual benefits. If, like me, you are ‘twitchy’ and find it hard to sit still, walking while praying or meditating can be helpful.
If you take your meditation walk “outside in nature,” that ratchets up the spiritual dividend. Being outside in the natural world, many will agree, has healing power.
For even more spiritual benefit, do “forest bathing,” known as shinrin-yoku in Japan. To do forest bathing, you keep your clothes on (!) but you relinquish your cell phone and camera. I tried it out in a group setting at a health spa. We walked into a forest and sat for 20 minutes in a sunny glade, then walked a little further and sat by a bubbling stream. We were told to just listen, just look, focus our senses on the small things around us – the pattern of light on the log, one leaf on the carpet of leaves.
Dr. Qing Li, in his book Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, says that in Japan, doctors now prescribe forest bathing to improve sleep quality, mood, ability to focus, and reduce stress.
The website for Forestry England, England’s largest land manager, offers a ‘forest bathing’ guide for both children and adults. An excerpt:
Taking time to encourage children to use mindfulness is beneficial for their health and wellbeing. But how do we achieve this when we are staying at home?
• Take your time: sit or lie down on the ground
for a few moments.
• Take 3 deep breaths, you may even wish
to close your eyes.
• Continue to breathe slowly, trying to make the out
breath a little bit longer than the in breath.
Use your senses. Just like animals in the forest do - be curious - and if your mind wanders off to other things, that’s ok, just gently bring your focus back to your surroundings. Let your mind wander through the forest of your imagination. What colors can you see? What animals live in your imaginary forest? What sounds echo through the trees? When you are ready, take 3 slow breaths and open your eyes.
For adults, the British agency recommends trying to increase the time spent in one
place – up to two hours.
I’m not “up to two hours,” but after my first shinrin-yoku experience, I looked for places to practice. In Princeton, Marquand Park has lots of trees but usually has too many people. Harrison Street Park will offer more solitude. As it turns out, the best place for my forest bathing is close to home. Stonebridge has benches in the paved path that has trees on either side, and the real “wilderness forest” of the preserved land is just steps away. In nature, I can find Sabbath time.
