Nature Therapy

v. Nature Therapy

Forest bathing with a baby

Nathalie Moriarty

In Forest Bathing, we slow down and use all our senses to engage with the forest environment. To me, what makes Forest Bathing special is that we can re-engage with a lost part of ourselves: our sense of child-like curiosity. As we progress through our busy lives, we forget to slow down and notice the small things. We take our senses for granted, heavily using the ones we need for modern life, and neglecting those we don’t. For example, many of us wear shoes as soon as we leave our homes; as children, we took our shoes off at the first chance we got, playing on fresh grass or running around water features in the park. I found as an adult that I had spent many years neglecting my feet and denying them the different sensations that can be found outdoors. Similarly, we increasingly use our eyes for close up work on a computer screen for many hours at a time, relying heavily on our near vision at the expense of our long-distance vision. Studies have found a dramatic increase in near-sightedness (myopia) in primary and secondary school-age children in Japanese and Chinese cities; while the exact reasons are debated, it has been noted that children are under pressure to perform well in school exams and are spending more time on small screens and less time outdoors. Eye specialists warn that the eyeball is not able to develop correctly when under constant unusual strain (Gardner, 2017); if we keep our focus up close, we limit our eyes’ capabilities. Getting outside gives us space to see further.

We may think that it would be impossible to do something as slow and meditative as Forest Bathing with a baby. However, babies’ openness to the world make them excellent participants. Babies are primed to use all their senses for learning, and do not give preference to one sense over the next. It also takes time for all their senses to develop, and not all mature at the same rate— a baby’s hearing, for example, is one of the first senses to develop, and we know they can hear the voice of their mothers while in the womb. I suggest that the key difference between taking adults and babies on a Forest Bathing walk is that the adults have to ‘un-learn’ the habit of only relying on one sense, or on duller versions of their senses. A baby, on the other hand, is open to using all their senses indiscriminately.

Before the last lockdown, I spent some time on an immersive winter walk in the woods with my sister, her partner and their one-year-old. We entered the space with purpose and calm, looking for opportunities to help a nonroaming baby engage her senses in the different elements of the woodland. To experience a rich sensory Forest Bathing walk, seek a woodland with a variety of elements. Ideally it should contain some type of water feature, particularly running water, which introduces a new element and allows for different sensations. The walk itself should not be very long: a mile or so should suffice. The aim is to find different places along the walk which invite us to engage our senses in the woodland. The purpose of the walk is not to get to a location, but to be consciously experiencing a journey of the senses.

With a young baby who is not yet able to explore on their own, it is up to the adults to guide their engagement with the different elements of the woodland. We want to help the baby explore sights, colours, textures and sounds, using their eyes, ears, nose and sense of touch. On the walk with my niece, we found these ways to help her discover the woodland:

1. Leaning against a moss covered tree and touching the moss ourselves to encourage her to also touch it.

2. Stopping to listen whenever we heard birds, and either pointing at the birds if we could see them or signalling that we were listening.

3. Holding her close to the running water, allowing her to hear it.

4. Jumping into puddles and streams so she could recognise it as being a different texture to the forest ground. 5. Passing her leaves to touch. 6. Bringing her inside a hollow tree trunk to experience the change in light and temperature.

7. Walking through rustling autumn leaves on the ground, and showing her that we were listening. Also, sitting her down in the leaves and showing her how to bury her hands and crunch them up.

8. Taking a path where there is a change in the composition of species, to give her the experience of changes in light, temperature and ambience within the woods.

9. Listening to the wind.

Different seasons offer different opportunities for sensory exploration. Each woodland walk you go on will have different features of interest. As adults, our role is to slow right down and look at everything anew, finding those sensory opportunities to present to a young baby.

When going on your forest walk, remember to be prepared. You might want to consider using a baby carrier if the ground is not suitable for buggies; however, many wooded areas also have paved paths, particularly in parks. Do your research in advance and think about where you want to go and what route you want to take. Bear in mind that babies are more vulnerable to temperature changes in both summer and winter, so make sure you have seasonally appropriate clothing and protection against the sun. Remember also that a hot summer’s day can be a lot cooler in shaded woodland.

As an advocate of nature connection, I would always recommend starting Forest Bathing as early as possible with a young child. Indeed, new parents often find that they are outside a lot more than they were pre-baby. My sister found that only the soothing white noise of the wind rushing through the trees, or the pitter patter of rain on the cover of the pram, could lull her newborn to sleep. A simple next step is helping the baby to develop a connection with nature through her senses— something that many miss out on. For more on this, I particularly recommend Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods. Providing positive nature experiences to young children can have a lifelong impact— creating space for mindful connection with themselves and with the natural environment.

Images: Nathalie and Yvonne Moriarty. All permissions secured. References and recommended reading Gardner, W. (2017). ‘Nearsightedness a cost of academic excellence.’ Commentary in The Japan Times, 10 January 2017. www.japantimes.co.jp Louv, R. (2006). Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.