Breathe Deep: Connecting with Nature through Bush Breathing
Story submitted by Landcare NSW.
Landcare groups amaze with the way they engage with their communities and inspire them to enjoy and care for their environment. To attract a new audience, Hastings Landcare on the North Coast of NSW recently undertook a project focusing on bush breathing and nature journalling. These techniques are based on the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, which literally translates to “forest bathing”.
Japanese practitioners of forest bathing experience the beneficial energy of the plants and trees through the release of phytoncides. A form of meditation, participants use sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste, while slowly and silently walking through the bush. Nature journalling is a way to connect with nature and each other through art. These ‘no experience necessary’ events have participants observing nature from all sorts of artistic angles. Some prefer to draw the detail in a banksia cone, while others draw landscapes, abstracts or write poetry. Nature journalling is a great way to observe and connect with nature.
The project was so successful that they now host regular events with a similar focus, including Ngarraliyn – Deep Listening workshops run by a local Birpai guide. Attendees of these sessions have reported feeling more centred, calm, and connected. The events provide a chance to be social, to listen, connect with each other, and to observe and be part of the natural world. How fantastic is that!
This initiative is made possible by the NSW Landcare Enabling Program, a collaboration between Local Land Services NSW and Landcare NSW supported by the NSW Government.
Photo Credits: Hastings Landcare Inc
