Shinrin Yoku: The Art of Forest Bathing | Short Film

Stuck swiping Insta every day? The practice of “forest bathing” can change your life. Unplug with Mike and Kati on an ancient Japanese trail, learning the creative and health benefits of Shinrin Yoku. #travel #shortfilm #outdoors #fores t

Shinrin Yoku: The Art of Forest Bathing was a 2020 Webby Honoree in Video: Travel & Adventure.

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TRAVEL | ADVENTURE | TRAVEL CULTURE | #TRAVELSTOKE

[peteroxley]

Personally, I don't think this video clip has anything to do with Shinrin Yoku, which is more about absorbing nature, finding a quiet place and space, breathing, meditation, and becoming one with nature! Beautiful though some of their photography is, their five-day adventure seemed to be more about physical exertion and completing a marathon, both of which, of course, can stimulate mental highs.

[sunglassshinpan]

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲REAL Forest Bathing doesn't begin until you get OFF the trail!
🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳

[claredonegan]

A lovely little film, well done both. However the title is misleading- this is not a film about Shinrin Yoku

[lizalane]

A shinrin-yoku experience typically involves no hiking, no exertion, no elevation. It is an entering into nature, a slowing down, a time to connect with nature using all the senses. There are prompts and invitations along the way to observe, experience, and feel. The experience ends with a tea gathering and sharings of what feels complete. It isn't a goal-oriented outing. It isn't a hike. It isn't a trek. It isn't exhausting. The story here is about a physically and mentally challenging experience. The words exhausted, difficult, tough, funk, hike, and journey are used. Those concepts are not part of shinrin-yoku. Shinrin-yoku can be done by anyone of any physical ability. It can be done simply in a park or on an easy trail. The duration of the experience can be two hours. Mike and Kati have a genuine desire to detox from urban life. I hope they will have a chance to experience a real forest bathing experience--possibly in their own back yards--very soon. xx Liza, forest therapy guide in training.

[chiaracaielli]

This is a nice short film on trekking in forests in Japan, Shinrin Yoku is something completely different. You detox from social media but you did not let go the "western mind" approach.

[onelovelivity]

Thanks for the beautiful scenes of the Japanese Forests and insights into the culture and the shrines along the trails. Made me want to go to Japan within the first 5 minutes!

As a Forest Bathing guide on the Caribbean island of Dominica the pace for my journeys are slower as we focus on details along the way and feel into how our body changes with the walk by tuning into the heart, awakening the senses, smelling the herbs, leaves and soil, tasting fresh spring water, tree hugging, exploring the magic of nature’s signs and simply soaking in all the delicious uniqueness of the present moment. I’m sure you did some of that behind the scenes on your adventure but I guess too much of it would be too slow a pace for a short film :-)

To me, Forest Bathing has a different energy to hiking although both do have their own value. The emphasis in Forest Bathing is not so much about getting to the end but savoring the small interactions along the way so that even a short walk can take hours…which even leads us to experience time as timelessness! I live in a beautiful place where ‘escaping to the forest’ is often just a short walk away but I also like to show people how they can use the techniques of Forest Bathing in daily life so that it can be applied even when not in vacation mode which is when we truly need it! A short nature meditation is something people can explore in their lunch break in a park with even one tree and Forest Bathing then can become a way of life even in the city or anywhere we choose to consciously connect with nature around and within us…

Wild Love. Keep Exploring!

.

[pbirkwood]

A beautiful film which grows more beautiful the more I watch it. I did a 1, 200 km Buddhist Pilgrimage in Shikoku in Japan in 2017 and it was all up and down like in this film and took 50 days of walking. I did think about this title of shinrin yoku and the pilgrimage and were they the same thing? I believe the pilgrimage is the state of mind you get to in shinrin yoku practice and the mindful nature of the spaces in the journey. The benefits I got from the 50 day walk were quite remarkable including crystal clear memories that wash back over time. I believe the forest bathing in the pilgrimage setting are the same thing in retrospect and in light of this film. I plan to do the Kumano Kodo but take the Iseji route from Ise which is about 170km walk in the up and down forest as a start. Then several other pathways in the Kii Peninsula. Thank you for this film!

[kingofcomments]

this isn't Shinrin Yoku - you two are just doing " a hike " that is seemingly too much for you and causing stress - you really need to do your research on a subject and what it is actually about

[dandelossantos]

😍 Thanks for the wonderful journey of healing by connecting to nature. ❤️❤️❤️

[Schattengewaechs]

This film is way too hectic for a topic that is meant to be calming and relaxing.

[dkane]

"Some people feel the rain, others just get wet." - Bob Marley

11:45 ... Perhaps you GOT to experience a beautiful Japanese forest in the rain? You got to experience it differently than the other 4 days, and could have enjoyed it for what it was? Maybe not a "bummer" not something to complain about? Perhaps drop the negativity?

[claudelucienwarner]

Really enjoyed this. The beauty, the sounds and the culture. By the end I felt quite moved. Thank you for sharing your experience at no cost to us.

[simoncassel]

I've never even watched this youtube channel before but this editing and production quality is better than anything i've ever seen before

[DavidWeiss-xy]

Thanks Mike and Kati for a great film. I'm confident I will refer to this film when I talk more and more about Shinrin Yoku on my bonsai channel. I've shied away from clinging too all of the Japanese traditional bonsai practices, but love this Japanese way of thinking, restorying the mind, body and spirit. I first learned of this through the book The Natures Fix, and love how this short film brought it all front and center for me. Great work!

[stephendulajr.]

Thank you! This was great! Inspiring to me.🙏❤️☮️

[TheNighteternity]

This is a great mini documentary that has so little views, and with a subject that is more and more important now with more technology coming. I just want to say that I will share it as much as I can, thank you for doing an amazing job of showing all the benefits that those beautiful forest brings. (Sorry for my English) Cheers from Mexico. 🇲🇽

[sarahgrow]

Thank you for making this film! I facilitate mindfulness and yoga sessions for a recovery program and I used this film as an introduction to the practice of shinrin yoku to give a cultural context to forest bathing in Japan.

[pajdajyang]

It’s a nice video - as Americans we tend to visit other countries and have this expectation while we are visiting they should speak English to us, and we are frustrated when they don’t. I noticed your comment. It made me reflect on my own travel to a different country and I was frustrated with folks when I got lost or couldn’t get them to understand my needs, and later realized that was crappy of me. I should have learned some basic language and equipped myself instead of expect people in their home countries to know how to speak English . I still think your video was nice, not too much on forest bathing itself though.

[louisesouthgate]

Thanks guys for sharing! I too have become aware of Shinrin Yoku and try to go to the forest whenever possible. Its benefits are undeniable! 😊

[Roamaroo]

Dewey, Great work! This looks like an amazing journey and it was shot so well! Amazing to think it was just the 2 of you.