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Forest Bathing: The Health Benefits in Your Own Backyard · No Shrinking Violets Podcast for Women

0:00
Kim: But it has a profound effect of lowering our blood pressure, lowering our stress level, especially, and our heart rate, and our cortisol, those stress hormones go down when we breathe in these wonderful plant chemicals and spend time in nature.
0:23
Mary: For centuries, the phrase shrinking violet was used to diminish women, to suggest we were meant to be small and meek.
0:30
Mary: But in nature, violets are anything but weak.
0:32
Mary: They're resilient, beautiful, and essential to the ecosystem.
0:36
Mary: Hi, I'm Mary Rothwell, licensed therapist, and each week I sit down with women who remind us that being compared to a violet isn't an insult.
0:45
Mary: It's a testament to strength, endurance, and the power of taking up space and living by your true nature.
0:51
Mary: If you're ready to stop shrinking and start thriving, you're in the right place.
0:55
Mary: Hey Violets, welcome to the show.
1:01
Mary: Ever since I was a kid, I was drawn to nature.
1:04
Mary: I spent hours often alone in a wooded area near my home.
1:08
Mary: As an adult, I went through a period of frequent hiking and backpacking and became certified as a master gardener.
1:15
Mary: Each of these experiences and the people I connected with as part of them deepened my knowledge of forests and plants, while at the same time, I started to see a disconnect from nature in my students and society in general as screens took over free time and we started to connect more to the internet than the natural world.
1:34
Mary: I vividly remember an experience at an elementary school when I discovered several kids trying to stomp to death honeybees that were gathering pollen from clover on the playground.
1:45
Mary: The kids simply knew that bees sting, and they assumed or were taught that that meant they should kill them.
1:52
Mary: So I explained the role of bees and other insects in pollination, which in turn leads to food in the form of fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds.
2:01
Mary: I also explained why honey bees sting and that they can only do so once and then they die.
2:07
Mary: That is how important their work is.
2:10
Mary: They die to protect it and their hives.
2:13
Mary: An aspect of understanding all the amazing ways nature is interconnected is the simple fact that we as humans are nature too.
2:21
Mary: We are part of the entire ecosystem of the world, and because of our higher-level thinking skills that gave us machines and chemicals and the ability to cultivate the earth for food, we are the one species that endangers the balance of nature more than anything else.
2:37
Mary: And at the same time, we can benefit just as much from time in nature, among trees or cultivating gardens as any other species, including plants.
2:47
Mary: As a certified forest therapy practitioner, I was delighted to receive an email from my guest today inquiring about being on this show because she is certified as a mindful outdoor guide.
2:59
Mary: The timing is perfect because two days ago, as of the date we're recording this, I launched my first book, Nature Knows, Grow and Thrive Through the Wisdom of Plants.
3:09
Mary: So my mind is definitely on the wonders of nature these days.
3:13
Mary: Kim Little Hoover is certified by the Kropalu School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership.
3:18
Mary: She leads forest bathing experiences in natural areas near her home in Pennsylvania.
3:23
Mary: And I'm so happy to have her here today.
3:26
Mary: Welcome to No Shrinking Violets, Kim.
3:29
Kim: Thank you.
3:29
Kim: Yeah, it's wonderful to be here.
3:32
Mary: So I know we are so on the same wavelength with a lot of things, but before we jump into all that stuff, I would love to start with having you share some of your experiences with life or nature that gave you the passion for the work you do today.
3:47
Mary: So if it was a childhood memory or whatever things you feel like led to where you are right now.
3:54
Kim: Yes.
3:55
Kim: So I am a tree hugger.
3:58
Kim: I have always enjoyed being with trees and around them.
4:03
Kim: And I find myself just naturally gravitating to them because I was born and raised in the Paskill Mountains of New York State.
4:12
Kim: And there are trees everywhere.
4:14
Kim: I uh one of my favorite childhood memories is taking a hike up a dirt road right in front of my house and picking wild berries, right?
4:28
Kim: So blackberries, raspberries, whatever was in season.
4:32
Kim: So I'd have a little pail in my hand, you know, and I'm all like eight years old here, and I'd pick a berry and eat a berry.
4:40
Kim: Pick a berry and put it in the pail and eat a berry.
4:43
Kim: And this was just a wonderful activity for um, you know, that a young, curious Tom girl like me enjoyed doing.
4:53
Kim: And I also loved climbing trees and had a favorite tree that I'd climb as often as I could.
4:59
Kim: Uh, so I think these early experiences, uh, being in a in a very rural community, uh, growing up surrounded by beautiful mountains and farmland and in an agricultural area, it gave me that that just that comfort level of being out in nature.
5:24
Mary: Yeah.
5:25
Mary: Yeah.
5:26
Mary: Okay.
5:27
Mary: So I do think that is something that has changed a lot in young people now for you know the reasons I talked about.
5:33
Mary: But I think I would like to get into that more as we talk.
5:36
Mary: But I want to first start with this idea.
5:39
Mary: I used the word forest bathing, words forest bathing in my intro.
5:43
Mary: And it's similar to what you do.
5:45
Mary: We just we're calling it sort of different things.
5:47
Mary: I think that mindful outdoor leadership, it's sort of the same thing because forest bathing is very mindful.
5:53
Mary: But I think people might not fully understand or might think of different definitions of forest bathing.
6:01
Mary: So, can we start with having you talk a little about what is forest bathing?
6:07
Mary: And when you facilitate that with groups, what are some of the things that happen?
6:13
Kim: Y eah, sure.
6:16
Kim: Um, I always like to tell people that don't worry, we're not going to be bathing and you don't need a swimsuit to go out in nature, right?
6:25
Kim: So the bathing is really immersing into the forest.
6:30
Kim: It's based on the Japanese practice of being among the trees in the forest.
6:38
Kim: In fact, it's so part of the Japanese culture now that doctors will prescribe prescriptions to people uh who, you know, patients that may have high blood pressure, cortisol levels, uh, heart rates, and just stress in general uh in our modern world.
6:59
Kim: Um, and they're given a prescription, like spend some time out in the forest, and it's part of their culture.
7:05
Kim: And I think that idea of the Japanese practice of forest bathing has made its way over to the US.
7:13
Kim: Um, so I do believe it is very mindful.
7:17
Kim: Um, and it's something that can be nourishing and helpful.
7:22
Kim: And we can, we can certainly, I'd certainly like to like to tell you about a typical um uh forest bathing experience that I would guide folks through.
7:33
Mary: Yeah, yeah, that would be great.
7:34
Kim: Would you like to hear about that?
7:35
Kim: Okay, so so we start with uh a gathering and a circle.
7:40
Kim: Um, and we talk, I I introduce myself and talk about where we are.
7:48
Kim: I think it's important to acknowledge native peoples that that lived on the land that we're on.
7:55
Kim: So I acknowledge, for example, in Pennsylvania, the Susquehannock people, uh, and they and the traditional lands that they have resided on.
8:05
Kim: So, as you mentioned, Mary, our modern life is full of screens.
8:10
Kim: And I invite everyone to unplug, to put away the phone and be present in the moment.
8:16
Kim: There's such a long history of humans living in a natural setting, and I believe that it's part of our DNA to share the plants, the wildlife.
8:30
Kim: It's when we are immersed in that, when we go back to a natural world, a forest, a a uh a park, even just your backyard, right?
8:43
Kim: We can reconnect to that very foundational uh comfort with being outdoors.
8:50
Kim: So I help uh my my folks that are uh along to really feel comfortable and we drop in to uh some mindful movement with simple stretching and breathing in and centering our thoughts, and also then we set an intention for our time.
9:16
Kim: Gratitude is also in invited, um then walking with awareness.
9:24
Kim: I invite folks to pay attention to what they're smelling, to what they're seeing, and what do they notice in nature?
9:35
Kim: What season is it now?
9:37
Kim: It's spring.
9:38
Kim: So, what signs of spring are you seeing?
9:41
Kim: And we go on a very gentle slow walk so that we can begin to really drop into our bodies and into and kind of away from our minds.
9:54
Kim: And after a slow walk, like a meander, right?
9:58
Kim: Kind of, yeah, yeah.
10:00
Kim: Yes, it is exactly a meander, a meander along a trail through a meadow, through the woods.
10:08
Kim: Then I invite uh the invitation is to find a spot that calls for you, and we call that a sit spot.
10:19
Kim: Normally you can sit right on the ground if you have a sit pad, on a log, you know, on a bench, wherever is comfortable.
10:30
Kim: And this is our time for this nature meditation.
10:36
Kim: Um and this is the heart of the mindful outdoor experience.
10:41
Kim: Okay.
10:42
Kim: It's again using all of the senses and being mindful.
10:46
Kim: What are the textures that you're touching as you lean down?
10:50
Kim: What are you smelling?
10:51
Kim: What are you hearing?
10:53
Kim: What birds are you hearing?
10:55
Kim: Um, what are you seeing with your owl eyes as they kind of look across the horizon?
11:02
Kim: So then I give a little owl call at the end.
11:05
Kim: We all gather together and then slowly walk back to our starting point and gather in a council practice.
11:14
Kim: We'll sit around in a circle and um we're invited to share and reflect on the experience.
11:23
Kim: Like, how do you feel now compared to when we started?
11:26
Kim: Yeah.
11:26
Kim: Uh, and everyone has a slightly different experience.
11:30
Kim: Uh, I'll often serve tea and then we we chat as long as we want, and then we finish up.
11:38
Mary: It sounds lovely.
11:39
Mary: And you know, just you hear you talk, it's calming.
11:43
Mary: And I, you know, having done it, it yeah, it's a wonderful experience.
11:46
Mary: And because I started being in nature so long ago, before there were cell phones, um, I think people doing it now, especially for the first time, I think it can be so much more impactful because we so rarely do put aside technology.
12:04
Mary: And I think there's there starts to be anxiety when we do that.
12:08
Mary: If we try to, you know, make an agreement with ourselves that we're going to go screenless for so many hours, it can, we find ourselves, we just reach for it.
12:18
Mary: We constantly reach for it.
12:19
Mary: And so I think when you have that intention and you're replacing it with nature, I think it's one of the most powerful things.
12:27
Mary: And these types of things strike me because I think when we say something like forest bathing, a lot of people can raise an eyebrow like, well, that sounds really weird.
12:37
Mary: But so much of that is ancient.
12:39
Mary: It comes from ancient practices.
12:41
Mary: And so we're really coming back to things that kept people well long before there were, there was maybe even antibiotics.
12:51
Mary: You know, it was the that kind of being in nature research shows so much now that it helps anxiety and depression, it helps ADHD in kids and adults.
13:03
Mary: Um, and I think the other thing that we forget, and I want to talk a little about what plants are putting into the air for us, because I know that's sort of part of the whole thing.
13:11
Mary: We may have forgotten from our science classes in middle school that the trees give oxygen.
13:18
Mary: So in the city I live in now, there are tons of trees.
13:20
Mary: And we can think about it as, oh, they do it because it's pretty, and for sure, but it also cleans our air.
13:28
Mary: And that's people have house plants often because they think it's pretty, but your air is, you know, going to be fresher because those plants are taking in the carbon dioxide and they're putting out oxygen.
13:39
Mary: And so I think that just science-based stuff is an important thing.
13:44
Mary: But can you talk a little bit about what different trees or plants put into the air that's good for us?
13:52
Mary: And I and, you know, maybe get into what is a VOC, right?
13:56
Mary: What does that mean?
13:57
Mary: And I know sometimes pine trees can bring us different benefits than other plants.
14:02
Mary: And we're getting a little, I don't want to get too too technical, but I think this is so fascinating for people to know a little bit about.
14:09
Kim: It's wonderful that you brought this up.
14:11
Kim: We breathe oxygen, right, from the trees, and we breathe out carbon dioxide for the trees.
14:21
Kim: So there's this reciprocity, if you will.
14:26
Kim: And I think it's a beautiful moment when we consider how connected we are to nature.
14:34
Kim: So trees emit chemicals called phytocides, and these are chemicals that are emitted in the air around uh trees.
14:45
Kim: And when we breathe in these, you know, chemicals or scents of the trees, we feel the benefits of the chemicals, and it is science-based, and it's uh only you know, recently have we been able to take science and measure it, but it has a profound effect of lowering our blood pressure, lowering our stress level, especially, and our heart rate, and our cortisol, those those stress hormones go down when we breathe in these wonderful plant chemicals and spend time in nature.
15:28
Kim: So I feel that this is a uh, as you say, part of our ancient DNA that that that really makes humans work.
15:38
Kim: And it's it can be very healing in and of itself.
15:43
Kim: Um so I encourage and invite time in nature as being a way, a very simple and easy way to just reconnect with ourselves, with the natural world, and spend time just sitting outside to really deliberately say, okay, I'm gonna take 15 minutes in my morning and have my coffee outside, which is what I do.
16:14
Kim: And it it's a simple thing, but since I've started doing it every day, it has really calmed me down.
16:20
Kim: It's put it it starts my day off in a very calm and balanced way.
16:27
Mary: Yeah, and I want to sort of tease apart maybe two sort of different ideas or related ideas.
16:34
Mary: So we're talking about forest bathing.
16:35
Mary: And I think when people hear the word forest, especially if like I just moved to a city, but if you've always lived in a city, you might think, well, how the heck would I ever get to a forest?
16:45
Mary: Or that seems so big and intimidating.
16:48
Mary: But we're really talking about bringing nature to you sometimes because houseplants are they serve amazing purposes also.
16:57
Mary: Walking down city streets, I find beautiful flowers and plants every time I take a walk.
17:03
Mary: But I want, I want to address something that I think has has been part of our culture now.
17:09
Mary: So I did backpacking.
17:11
Mary: So of course, that's a much higher level.
17:13
Mary: We're talking about needing to purify water and you know, you're sleeping outside, and that's maybe a bridge too far for some people.
17:19
Mary: But now we do have things we need to think about, like um Lyme disease or mosquito-borne illnesses.
17:26
Mary: And I think sometimes we have that information, and it is a very real thing that we need to be um aware of.
17:34
Mary: But I think sometimes when people hear these things that happen in nature or related to nature, it becomes a reason for them to say, nature is dangerous.
17:43
Mary: I don't want to be, I don't want the bugs, I don't want to be exposed to that.
17:48
Mary: So, how do you help people feel that sense of sort of like keeping themselves safe or comfortable, but yet still being able to go maybe a little beyond the city street with the pretty trees?
18:01
Kim: You know, it's interesting you bring that up because uh when I was on a retreat before I started uh doing the forest bathing guiding, uh, there were a couple folks there that were from an urban setting and they were afraid to go for a walk.
18:19
Kim: They just didn't know, it wasn't in their comfort level.
18:22
Kim: And that encouraged me to begin to offer this at that retreat center, which I do now.
18:29
Kim: I think when we're together with other people, it can break down those uh those barriers of being uncomfortable by ourselves in a green setting, right?
18:42
Kim: So we call it the green wall.
18:44
Kim: And some people see that as a wall.
18:46
Kim: How can I ever go in there, you know?
18:49
Kim: Um, but I love that you brought up that you can experience nature in this city because you can walk down a street and you can be in us in the suburbs, you can be in the middle of a city, you can sit up on a rooftop in New York City or any city in in the around the world, and you can look out at the sky and the stars, and you can have that same sense of connection with nature, right?
19:17
Kim: You can have it with indoors, if just looking out a window.
19:21
Kim: So there have been studies that have shown that when hospital patients are in a room that has a window with greenery outside, their recovery rate is much greater than if they're in a room either without a window or with a window that goes to the parking lot.
19:38
Kim: Yeah.
19:38
Kim: Isn't that amazing?
19:40
Kim: It it's totally incredible that this is this is true.
19:44
Kim: And so we can we can sit inside with our house plants, you know, with our plants and look outdoors and and experience the same benefits as if we were walking on a trail.
19:58
Kim: So even you know, there are folks I I love the mountains, okay.
20:04
Kim: I'm a mountain gal from day one.
20:06
Kim: However, I like water too.
20:09
Kim: Water is just as important.
20:11
Kim: So for me, and probably for a lot of our listeners, it's really refreshing to be next to a stream or a lake or an ocean, right?
20:24
Kim: That is an outdoor experience that we can feel the benefits from being outdoors.
20:34
Kim: It does not have to be, you know, a trail in the forest.
20:38
Kim: So yeah, yeah, we can have these experiences really if we look for them or um have them anywhere.
20:45
Mary: Yeah, and I think it's being aware, starting to be aware of what's around you.
20:49
Mary: So a couple things occur to me.
20:50
Mary: The first that I want to address is as someone who has cats, and my cats don't eat plants, I've had cats that eat plants.
20:56
Mary: So I can hear some thought processes of listeners, like, well, I have I can't have houseplants because I have I have cats.
21:02
Mary: But one of the things when we talked about the senses, I would have there was a time when I would have said, I will never have a fake houseplant, but they make them now that look so real.
21:13
Mary: And our brain sees that form, even if it is an artificial plant, and it interprets, oh, there's nature.
21:22
Mary: And so I would encourage people to seek out something artificial if you don't, if you can't have live plants.
21:29
Mary: But then in the outside world, how do you connect to whatever is around you?
21:34
Mary: And so one of the things I like to tell people, especially you know, newbies, on your route to work or on your walk to wherever, to the grocery store, find a tree.
21:46
Mary: What's your favorite tree?
21:47
Mary: Name the tree, touch the bark if you can.
21:50
Mary: You know, I think being intimate in that smaller kind of scale at first really helps us start to see, like a lot of us.
21:59
Mary: Don't even look around and recognize what is around us.
22:03
Mary: You know, I'll look, I'll walk down the sidewalk and I will identify in my mind the weeds as I'm walking.
22:08
Mary: I know that's very nerdy, and most people would never do that.
22:11
Mary: But I think to start for anyone, like look at the trees that you're passing or look at people's gardens and really start to think about what are the colors in that garden that I like?
22:20
Mary: Do I like the red flowers?
22:21
Mary: Do I like the purple flowers?
22:22
Mary: And watch how things change.
22:24
Mary: And I think that starts to be the gateway to recognizing that you're gonna feel different because you're focusing on nature by doing that.
22:34
Kim: Absolutely.
22:35
Kim: The awareness is key.
22:37
Kim: I agree with you and feel really strongly about that awareness piece.
22:43
Kim: It's what are you noticing?
22:45
Kim: And once we tune into that noticing piece and that awareness piece, we can really find the benefits of nature anywhere.
22:56
Kim: And um, I think that's the beauty of it, you know, is that is that it can be available to us.
23:03
Kim: And that artificial plants give us the same benefits, that's new to me, but I totally am on board with that thought.
23:11
Kim: Because we're hardwired, right?
23:13
Kim: Our DNA senses the greenery, the shape, the form, the color, and says to our mind, this is good, this is a plant, everything's cool.
23:25
Kim: Yeah, and and so there's just so many different ways if we just take time to notice what's around us.
23:33
Kim: Yeah, there's so many ways that we can experience the benefits and we can feel the uh connection um to our natural world.
23:44
Kim: And we call that also uh with my training, I learned a really great word called rewilding.
23:50
Kim: Oh, yeah, I love that.
23:52
Kim: And there's a movement now that you may have heard of.
23:56
Kim: If not, I'll be happy to share with you that that as we take our sterile grass spaces in our yards and convert that into you know some native perennials and native plants, trees, bushes, flowers, um, we can begin to attract again the birds and bees and insects that are beneficial.
24:22
Kim: And if we create more and more spaces like this in our yards, in our parks, in our world, just a little bit at a time, you know, we can create a whole newer ecosystem that's going to allow the our our natural birds, bees, and bugs, our bee or all our bee families to do to thrive in this environment.
24:49
Kim: Because the way that we normally cut our lawns, use fertilizer, and think in terms of green lawns being like a golf course, right?
25:03
Kim: Is the norm that we grew up with, the norm that many people see and think that's the reality when actually it is not good for the earth at all.
25:15
Kim: I mean, I like small, you know, don't get me wrong, I really like some some green spaces with grass.
25:21
Kim: I think there's a place for it, but I think it can be minimal.
25:25
Kim: And I think we can use our backyards to have a more natural environment to benefit us, to benefit wildlife in general.
25:36
Mary: And that's really a huge issue in the United States.
25:39
Mary: And I know having traveled to other countries, um, especially the area of Tuscany and Italy, everyone has gardens and their areas of Ireland, everyone has flower, flower boxes.
25:52
Mary: And there's a different sense of nature and space in other countries.
25:57
Mary: And I certainly have not been to every country I want to go to, not by a long shot.
26:01
Mary: But what I've noticed is there's this idea in more in the United States of, you know, there's there is safety and beauty in a manicured lawn.
26:14
Mary: And it's so the opposite.
26:16
Mary: If we actually look at what's happening, you know, you put chemicals on your lawn and your dogs and your kids run on that lawn, then you're getting chemicals in your body.
26:25
Mary: There's no two ways, it's in the air.
26:27
Mary: And that actually, the idea of a lawn actually came from centuries ago, rich people did that.
26:33
Mary: And so it was a sign of status.
26:35
Mary: And now, you know, I think when we have those, that rewilding.
26:40
Mary: So I know every I would drag a shovel around when I had a larger property, be like, I'm gonna put plants here, and I would just dig into the lawn, I would turn it over, let the grass die, and I would plant things.
26:49
Mary: And I think that once the more you know, and I think there's so much to know, because we say natives, and I think people don't always understand that, but that is that's obviously an episode for another day.
27:00
Mary: But I think starting to learn about what are small ways you impact your own environment, if you have a yard, start with containers.
27:10
Mary: And, you know, I think it we don't have to go the whole nine yards because it can be intimidating.
27:15
Mary: So when we think about all these things we've been talking about, forest bathing, getting out in nature, all the health and mental health and emotional health benefits of it.
27:25
Mary: Can you think of some books or some places people can start to get information to just expand and start to imagine how they can reconnect or how they well reconnect really, because we started there, right?
27:39
Mary: And generations ago.
27:41
Mary: How can we connect to nature more?
27:43
Kim: The one that I really like is uh written by the founder of the Kropalo School uh of outdoor leadership.
27:51
Kim: And his name is Micah Mortali, M-I-C-A-H-M-O-R-T-A-L-I.
27:58
Kim: So Micah wrote the book on rewilding.
28:01
Kim: Uh, and so if you can find that, that's a good read.
28:04
Kim: Um, and then and another book by uh Doug Talamy.
28:11
Kim: Talamy.
28:12
Kim: Yes, yes, yes, and uh do you remember the title?
28:17
Kim: Is it Is It As the Bird Sings?
28:19
Mary: Well, there's the the one that was the biggest that really kind of launched him was Bringing Nature Home, and it's how to put nature real and this is again, we're talking mostly United States areas, but bringing more native plants into your environment.
28:35
Kim: Yes, yes, that's that's very good.
28:38
Kim: Uh a great book that I'd highly recommend.
28:41
Kim: And Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote in um two amazing books that I think have inspired me to uh have been my inspiration really for this work that I do that I love to do.
28:57
Kim: It's my passion.
28:59
Kim: Um The Bible is called Braiding Sweetgrass.
29:05
Kim: And she just recently released a book called The Service Berry.
29:10
Kim: It's shorter, it's easy to read.
29:13
Kim: Uh, and I recommend both books for um learning about um, and really she's an indigenous author, so she has uh a lot of knowledge to share.
29:28
Kim: And indigenous people do have a lot of knowledge about plants and healing properties and ways that we that they for, you know, their culture has all been all about living on the earth and with nature in harmony with nature, yeah.
29:47
Kim: Right.
29:47
Kim: So we can learn a lot from indigenous people about that, and so that Robin Wallkamer is an excellent example of an author that can share those, share, share her knowledge with us with those two books, Braiding Sweetgrass and The Service Berry.
30:04
Mary: Yeah.
30:05
Mary: Yeah, I will I will link all of those in the show notes because those are four wonderful examples.
30:10
Mary: The other one I would add, and this is a little bit older, and I don't know if he updated it, but Richard Louvre, L-O-U-V, wrote Last Child in the Woods.
30:20
Mary: And so if you have children, um, I think if you read that, because it talks a lot about ADHD in kids and how it's so much better if you get them out into nature.
30:33
Mary: And I think it can give a little bit of motivation.
30:38
Mary: I know there's, I don't know many parents who want their kids to be on screens all the time, but I think it can help maybe those parents that they themselves need to figure out how to connect to nature to help their kids connect to nature.
30:50
Mary: It can be sort of an added incentive to really recognize that all of that research with how children grow up, you know, how their brains are wired to calm themselves and to emotionally regulate is so tied to natural areas.
31:06
Mary: So that would be another one that I would add because I think that's a that's a really important one.
31:12
Kim: I'm really glad you brought that book up.
31:14
Kim: That that's one I I would highly recommend as well.
31:18
Kim: Um, and then and this is another another topic that we could, you know, have another podcast about, and that is the how important it is for children and young people to have more experiences outdoors.
31:32
Kim: And and the benefits of that, which is covered in the in the book that you mention, and which we have seen such a shift uh just in one generation.
31:44
Kim: Um, because and as as Richard Louvre talks about in in his book, it used to be playtime for kids to go outside, and you know, I'd go off on my berry picking or ride the bike down the road.
32:00
Kim: And you know, this was just free time, right?
32:03
Kim: And and there it was a safer time.
32:06
Kim: It was a time when children were allowed to be free and have this playtime.
32:11
Kim: Uh now it's different, and and many parents are concerned about you know the safety of their children, rightly so.
32:21
Kim: So children don't have as much of that kind of free exploration.
32:27
Kim: And there's a saying that I really like uh uh about this importance, and that is um everybody has a ditch.
32:37
Kim: So everybody has a place when they were a kid, whether it's a ditch, whether it's a tree that they climb, whether it's a a uh just a little patch of grass in their backyard, every kid has a has a place that they can remember that they spent time in.
32:58
Kim: And and that's so important for our children to have those uh outdoor experiences in a natural world as much as we can encourage that.
33:08
Kim: And I and I love seeing parents taking their kids out on, you know, on hikes and on walks and and playing in parks, and and I think that's so important.
33:19
Mary: Yeah.
33:19
Mary: And there are programs that I think people can find.
33:23
Mary: There's again at the United States, I'm not sure other countries how that might be different, but you know, there are often park programs than the Master Gardeners, there are usually Master Gardeners in the United States in many counties in most states.
33:36
Mary: Um, and they will do programs for children, uh, state parks, national parks.
33:41
Mary: There's a often, especially in the warmer months, there will be programs to reconnect kids to nature, to show them how vegetables grow and help them cultivate things and have that sense of place.
33:54
Mary: So sometimes it can take a little looking, but I think those things are out there.
33:59
Mary: And that can be one of the benefits of the internet, is that we might be able to access those things or sign up for a newsletter in your area.
34:06
Mary: So there are ways to do that.
34:09
Mary: Um so, Kim, can you talk a little about, I, you know, as we talked about before, um, before we hit record, this is an international podcast, but talk a little about what you do here in our small area and um where people can find you if they want to explore some of the things that you offer.
34:32
Mary: Or is there also a way that people can find these experiences in their own area?
34:37
Mary: I don't think there's a sort of a clearinghouse of forest bathing practitioners, but I don't know.
34:44
Kim: I I think that you know, Google is a wonderful tool for searching.
34:49
Kim: And I think you can find people that are guiding and doing forest bathing in many different communities.
34:58
Kim: I know there are a couple different schools that are that are training and teaching people, such as myself, how to be a guide.
35:06
Kim: And and so there are, you know, hundreds of us kind of scattered around the country and I'm sure around the world doing different things.
35:14
Kim: I uh had my start leading and guiding folks up at Amethyst Retreat Center, which is in Perry County in Pennsylvania.
35:23
Kim: They offer retreats.
35:25
Kim: I offer, as part of the retreat, a forest bathing experience on Saturday mornings.
35:32
Kim: So you can find me there.
35:34
Kim: You can also find me through the West Shore Recreation Commission here in Pennsylvania.
35:40
Kim: I have several classes that are offered through the West Shore Recreation Commission.
35:46
Kim: And I have a website, naturebringsbalance.com.
35:52
Kim: So all my events are posted there, and that's how you can you can find out where I am and what I'm doing.
35:59
Mary: That's awesome.
36:00
Mary: And again, I will link that in the show notes too.
36:02
Mary: So thank you, Kim, for being here.
36:05
Mary: This has been a wonderful discussion, and I'm already thinking I need to get out onto a trail.
36:10
Mary: It's been a long time since I actually did a hike with all the moving and you know all the things happening.
36:15
Mary: But we have Lancaster County Park close to us, so that's a lovely.
36:19
Mary: There's some some short trails in there, but this has just fed my spirit.
36:24
Mary: Wonderful.
36:25
Mary: And it's been an honor to be with you today and talk about this this uh subject that we both are passionate about, being out in nature.
36:35
Kim: And I'm glad you brought up local parks because they are they're there, you know.
36:40
Kim: A lot of townships will have them listed on their websites.
36:43
Kim: And you may, you know, just kind of bypass one and see the sign.
36:47
Kim: Well, just you know, like I've been doing in my new township, just on pulling over and experiencing new parks.
36:53
Kim: Yeah.
36:54
Kim: Um, we have we have a park system, not only local parks, but in Pennsylvania, award-winning state parks that are that are free of charge.
37:03
Kim: Most I'd say all the local parks are also free.
37:07
Kim: Um, and then you know, we all think of like our wonderful national parks.
37:11
Kim: And yes, there are many experiences, both in the parks and in the forests in the United States and around the world.
37:18
Kim: Yeah, there are incredible opportunities to visit nature and and find uh public lands like parks that we can explore.
37:28
Mary: Yeah, so maybe set a goal of just exploring one new area.
37:32
Mary: Even if you just park and get out of your car and take a few steps.
37:36
Mary: If you're a little nervous, it's okay.
37:38
Mary: Stop, talk to a tree, touch the tree, you get back in your car.
37:42
Mary: And the next time you take a few more steps.
37:43
Mary: So, yes, it's awareness and just pushing past that comfort zone because it is the rewards and the benefits of nature are, you know, they're just endless.
37:55
Mary: So, yes, I would encourage everybody to try to move more into that natural, that the natural area.
38:01
Mary: So thanks again, Kim.
38:03
Mary: This has been great.
38:04
Mary: And I want to thank everyone for listening.
38:06
Mary: If you would like to learn more about how nature can be an amazing guide for your own well-being and thriving, you can find my book, Grow and Thrive Through the Wisdom of Plants, on Amazon.
38:17
Mary: And I will link it in the show notes.
38:19
Mary: And until next time, go out into the world and be the amazing, resilient, vibrant violet that you are.