Gary Evans

What we could see in the data was that as soon as somebody came into proximity of a tree and they were just present and mindful, paying attention and appreciating the tree, that basically their parasympathetic activity, which is the relaxation response in the body, was increased.

But there's a difference between surviving and thriving.

So we might be walking and talking with a friend, running, cycling, horse riding.

If you say, OK, I'm going to go to the park, I'm going to go to the forest, I'm going to appreciate nature.

the natural beauty.

So that's the first thing, set the intention.

So you can build up the dose.

So the next difference between normal activities and forest bathing is that we're going to move very slowly in forest bathing and we want to reduce the heart rate.

And then just be present with the environment and leave the phone alone.

Buddha had his awakening underneath a tree.

No coincidence that the trees were there right at the start of this.

So if you inhale for a count of one, two.

And then you exhale for double the length of time.

So it's one, two, three, four.

And so you keep that going, inhaling for two, exhaling for four.

When the exhale is slower than the inhale, it sends a physiological message to your body.

I'm safe.

I can relax.

It's okay.

What happens on a physiological level is when our parasympathetic fires up and we slow down, nature comes into sharper focus.