Forest-bathing

Walking in the nature and connecting with what it's around us is something that I really enjoy doing. I need to live in a place surrounded by green nature and Prague is a very green city. It reminds me of home. However, it can be crowded and noisy sometimes. That's why I like to get away from the noise during the weekends and immerse myself in the nature. One of the things that I like about Prague is that there are urban forests where you can go for walk and forget about that you live in one of the most touristic cities. I'm from a small and quiet town where there are natural and biosphere reserve areas, wonderful beaches, ocean cliffs, green valleys and high mountains. It's a piece of paradise full of contrasts.

Kokorin Castle

Playa de Somorrostro (País Vasco)

The other day I discovered the Japanese word Shinrin-yoku, translated into English as forest-bathing.

Shinrin in Japanese means 'forest', and yoku means 'bath'.

It is a therapy that was developed in Japan in the 1980s to improve the health care and medicine. Apparently, there are some researches that show the health benefits of spending time amongst the trees, demonstrating that forest bathing positively creates calming neuro-psychological effects through changes in the nervous system, reducing the stress hormone cortisol and boosting the immune system.

Knowing that forest-bathing can improve your help, everybody should try it out.

Have you heard about shinrin-yoku before? Do you like forest-bathing? You can share your comments here.