September in the Sun

I met up with Nicky from Sound and Ground at the Orchard Car Park. I had volunteered to assist with register signing, photography and writing this blog. As I am lucky enough to live near Brandon Country Park, it made sense for me make my way to the car park on foot. Some of the participants were already there but seemed to be struggling with the parking machine. Fortunately, one of the park rangers came to the rescue and we were soon all signed up and ready to venture under the forest canopy. (Silly me; when Nicky said we were going to be under the shade of a canopy I thought to myself, “Ooh, she’s clever to put a tent up that quickly!”).

We arranged our things on the ground. Of course, I had omitted to bring a mat to sit on but, fortunately it was a hot day, and I was able to use my jumper as a head rest. Everyone else HAD read their joining instructions and had come suitably prepared.

Nicky invited us to choose a tree to focus our attention on, and imagine a creature making its way slowly up it. I picked out an interestingly twisted tree and imagined I was a small mouse scaling the bark before settling serenely on a swaying branch. Birds were gently chirping all around, the weather was perfect, and I found myself in a completely new world of peaceful stillness. Nicky then invited us to either sit or lie down.

At this point I was unable to take a photograph of us reclining on the forest floor, gazing up at the sky peeping between the trees, since I was also lying down and couldn’t reach for my phone. I looked up at the dense canopy and moved my attention from one patch of blue sky to another. Yellow sunlight shimmered through the leaves every so often. My breathing slowed and time itself seemed to have no meaning.

At the beginning of the session, Nicky had told us we would be there for around 90 minutes. I wondered how I would be able to resist fidgeting for that length of time but in fact, time literally flew by. Afterwards, the group shared experiences on how it had felt and we were given hot cups of pine needle tea. I had already tried some on a recent foraging walk, so knew it was going to taste of lemon rather than pine scented toilet cleaner.

And I learned some new terminology too.

There’s the Wood Wide Web which is the vast underground network beneath trees that allows them to connect, communicate and even trade. This term was first used to describe the research of Suzanne Simard and you can read more about this here: https://suzannesimard.com/research/

And there are phytoncides – a volatile compound emitted by trees with many health benefits for humans: antibacterial, immune response enhancing and stress reducing to name a few.

Nicky invited us to sit in quiet reflection and to offer our thanks to the forest by sharing some of our pine tea with it. I poured some of mine onto the ground, listening to the sound of hot trickling tea disappearing beneath the soil and sycamore seedlings, and it made for the perfect ending.

This was my first experience of forest bathing and it was everything I had hoped it would be. The weather was perfect, Nicky and the group members were lovely, and I came home feeling “bathed”. If you are interested in trying out forest bathing for yourself, you can find out more here: Sound and Ground

This event was delivered as part of the Brecks Outdoor Festival 2024 made possible by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.