“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience” was Ralph Waldo Emerson’s well recognised advice. He also urged us to “live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” It’s advice that, for the best part of 200 years, we seem to have largely ignored as we have ploughed on in our blinkered quest for rapid-paced modernity. And, here we are, in our present day world, and Emerson’s words stand stronger than ever. Two centuries later, we find ourselves reliant upon speedy delivery, be it our work deadlines, our dinner, or even our scheduled allocation of ‘mindfulness’. Validation of our existence only seems to be achieved if we are so busy we are forced to shoe-horn our relaxation time into a tightly packed daily schedule. The race for instant results or gratification has drained the life and soul from us as we are caught in a place where time seems to wait for no-one, and patience is no longer a virtue, but a lost art.
It was this, in part, that seems to have encouraged the Japanese to adopt for several decades now, a natural cure to our modern ills. That of ‘shinrin-yoku’ or forest bathing, a non-medical therapy prescribed to overcome the ailments suffered by tech-boom city dwellers in the 1980s. Studies have proved that time spent reconnecting with nature, slowly walking or sitting amongst trees, engaging the senses and disconnecting from the digital world reduces blood pressure, lowers cortisol levels and dispels feelings of depression. Relaxing into nature improves memory and it’s believed almost magical phytonicides released by trees and plants boost the immune system. It all sort of makes sense. Who doesn’t feel more peacefully energised after a stroll in the natural world? It’s a concept recognised worldwide. In Europe, the Icelandic Forestry Service even suggest hugging a tree can help compensate for a lack of human connection, and casting all hippy notions aside, I’ve tried it and there’s something to be said for how it makes you feel.
In fact, a tree’s benefit to humankind and the natural world as a whole is endless and an awareness seems more and more vital. Their sheer existence is unhurriedly purposeful. They clean the air we pollute, their roots hold fast the surface of the land. They provide both shelter and shade, offer habitats to support ecosystems, their seasonal cycle nourishes the soil, and their fruits provide sustenance and some a breakthrough medicinal cures for human ailments. Their very backbone can be fashioned into houses and furniture, or fuel for our hearths, and so jobs are created, and communities thrive. And those trees we leave in peace, making no demands upon other than to allow them to mature over the years, stand proud in their aged beauty, emitting unseen magic that heals the bodies and minds of those that notice them. Lessons indeed to be learned, above and beyond Emerson’s advice to heed nature’s pace.