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How The Forest Heals Us

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 19:52:09 GMT

Last winter, I worked in an infant school that was situated near a woodland.

As soon as lunchtime came, I’d take my coat and bag, and venture into the woods to sit beneath the trees to eat lunch. Being a creature of habit, I chose the same tree each time, an oak with gigantic roots that I sat on like a chair. Some days I closed my eyes and took in the sounds and smells around me, other days I walked. Always, upon returning to the classroom, there was a feeling of being deeply revitalised and refreshed. Why does no one else do this I often thought, as I walked past the staff room where the other teachers conjugated? In time, the woods became a necessity for me. If I didn’t get the opportunity to walk amongst the squirrels and birds, I felt noticeably agitated.

I didn’t realise it, but during those months at the school, I took up the Japanese art of forest bathing, known as Shinrinyokua. Rooted in ancient Shinto and Buddhist ideals of harmonic balance with nature, spending time to take mindful, multi-sensory walks in the woods is practiced all over Japan. In fact, Japanese healthcare professionals prescribe it to their patients and for good reason to.

Studies have shown that the key ingredient as to why forest bathing is so good for you is the essential oils that are given off by trees and plants in the forest, also known as volatile organic compounds (VOC) or Phytoncides. Trees, such as oak, beech, birch and hazel, as well as green plants, emit these phytoncides to create a field of protection around themselves against harmful disease, bacteria and bugs. But these active substances don’t only protect the trees. They benefit forest visitors too.

Qing Li, from Nippon Medical School, the leading scientist in the area, found that the forest boosted the human immune system by increasing the number of natural killer (NK) cells and intercellular levels of anti-cancer proteins, through the phytoncides.

NK Cells are white blood cells that can attack and destroy cells that might cause damage. A two hour walk in the forest notably increases NK cell activity, lasting for days, but there are a myriad of other benefits to forest bathing too:

• Anti-inflammatory: common forest terpenes temper inflammation and reduce oxidative stress
• Nervous system: forest air creates a relaxation response and lowers nervous system activity
• Mood enhancing: exposure to forest air reduces cortisol levels and β-pinene has anti-depressive properties
• Sleep: phytoncides like α-pinene enhance sleep
• Blood glucose: exposure to VOCs can reduce blood glucose levels
• Reduction in stress levels

So there you have it.

Finally evidence is revealing what our intuition has always told us; that walks in the forest support our physical and psychological wellbeing. The trees are our medicine, and with an abundance of oak, birch, hazel and beech in the Wild Blossom ancient woodland, why not prescribe yourself and your little ones a visit, and come spend the day with us, being healed beneath the canopies?

See you there!

Why getting dirty is good for us and our children

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 12:38:56 GMT

There are many reasons why people wouldn’t want to get dirty and muddy.

Endless loads of washing is one. The social pressure of always looking nice and presentable, and the negative associations for those who don’t. Having to spend what precious free time there is cleaning the house because of trails of mud being brought through the back door. Many have even got rid of their garden grass all together, to make their lives easier, because in our modern, busy and ‘civilised’ world, soil and mud can be a nuisance. But what if we told you that research is beginning to show that it’s essential for our wellbeing to play in the mud?

Soil is wriggling with life; from centipedes and fungi, earthworms and earwigs, to countless bacterias, including a particularly fascinating bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae (M.vaccae). It's abundant in soils rich in organic, moist matter. When we work in the soil, play in the soil, or simply breathe soil in, M.vaccae works its magic inside of us. Triggering the release of serotonin in our brains, this incredible bacteria strengthens and boosts our immune system, improves our mood, and therefore has a positive effect on our mental and physical wellbeing.

And that’s not the only good thing in soil.

You’ll notice that most small children have a natural urge to put soil to their faces and even into their mouths. Research is showing us that this could be because of an an organic compound inside of it, called geosmin, the metallic smell of which is more pronounced after it rains.

A paper by a team at the School of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in South Korea looked at the effect of smelling geosmin on the brain activity of men and women. The team concluded that the brainwave activity was linked with calmness and relaxation states in the brain, particularly in women, meaning that there is a real benefit to getting up close and personal with soil, something that children want to do naturally but that we as adults have been trained to unlearn.

So don’t just take our word for it. Go outside. Take a walk in a beautiful wild place or what's more, come to one of Wild Blossom's groups or workshops. Allow your children to get dirty and become aware of the way that it nurtures them, and all of us, from the inside out.

Why gather wild food?

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 12:19:10 GMT

My personal journey with Wild Food

Gathering wild food is wonderful on so many levels. It's not just about food for free. The process of re-learning and re-connecting with all the native species that can feed us can be transformational. It connects us with our landscape and increases our sense of unity with nature. It feels especially important knowledge to relearn, share and preserve in the face of the climate change crisis we are facing. Not to mention the myriad benefits that quality time in nature has been shown to have on our mental and physical health and wellbeing (plenty of posts to come on this)

I (Tom) have been learning about and exploring wild food for over 15 years now. Like most people I didn’t grow up with this knowledge, it wasn’t passed down by my parents or grandparents.

I spent some time in Canada as a teenager. Out there I met so many people who seemed to have this amazing knowledge and confidence to go out and harvest berries, mushrooms and plants. It seemed so normal and natural to them. I was inspired!

When I got home I was walking through my local woods and it dawned on me that I had no idea what species of trees were around, not to mention the plants and fungi. I decided to teach myself. I started taking ID books with me everywhere, keeping a nature journal, reading books, taking courses and generally becoming very curious about everything I was seeing out on my walks ( it was impossible to walk anywhere with me!).

Tree by tree, plant by plant I started to become more familiar with my surroundings and how everything is connected.

The great thing is that Nature is so abundant and so intricately interwoven there will never be an end to this learning, always something new to learn, endless natural mysteries to discover.

After a few years I noticed there was a growing sense of familiarity, something I hadn’t felt before. I felt much more at home in my surroundings, so many trees, plants and fungi had become like friends I could recognise at a distance. By Foraging I also began to see and learn the ways in which I could protect and preserve these species by foraging ethically, always only taking what I needed and making sure to harvest in a sensitive way. Promoting regrowth and renewal.

Just as we are more likely to put ourselves out on the line and make sacrifices for those we know and love I began to make quite significant changes in my life in order to live by a new found set of values. Environmental stewardship and responsibility has become a real consideration in the day to day choices I make.

It has been said that climate change is, at least in part, a crisis of education. Reflecting on my own journey I can see this to be true. Imagine a world where children grow up with a deep knowledge of their landscape, an understanding of their interdependence and the complex interconnected relationships at play. Would they grow up with a different set of values? Would they effortlessly and naturally make the important and radical changes that are currently needed to preserve life on earth? Would they be happier and healthier? These are interesting questions to explore.

I would love to share some of what I have learnt with you so if you're interested in learning more about wild food check to see what events are coming up in the calendar.