Your Guide to Forest Bathing

Your Guide to Forest Bathing by M Amos Clifford

Forest Therapy is a research-based framework for supporting healing and wellness through immersion in forests and other natural environments. In Japan it is called shinrin yoku, which translates to forest bathing. Studies have demonstrated a wide array of health benefits, especially in the cardiovascular and immune systems, and for stabilizing and improving mood and cognition.

Forest bathing is a gentle, meditative practice of connecting with nature. Simply being present, with all of our senses, in a forest or other wild area, can produce mental, emotional, and physical health benefits. It is a simple, accessible antidote to our nature-starved lives and can inspire us to become advocates for healing our relationships with the more-thanhuman world. This book is both an invitation to take up the practice of forest bathing and an inspiration to connect with nature as a way to help heal both the planet and humanity.

In A Little Book of Forest Bathing, Amos Clifford draws on four decades of wilderness experience to introduce readers to the medicine of being in the forest. Learn about the roots of the practice, the significance of the forest environment, how to deepen your relationship to nature, and how to begin a practice of your own. Practical matters and practicing in urban and suburban environments are also included.

M. Amos Clifford is the founder of the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, an organization leading the movement to integrate nature and forest therapies into health care, education, and land-management systems. He has been a student of Buddhist philosophy for over twenty years and is the founder of Sky Creek Dharma Center in Chico, California.