Nature therapy, such as forest bathing – mindfully walking through nature – can help to reprogram our overstimulated minds and bodies

Nature therapy, such as forest bathing – mindfully walking through nature – can help to reprogram our overstimulated minds and bodies Engaging mindfully with nature can put you in touch with your ‘deep ancestral programme’, a Harvard-trained academic says At the base of the Ayus Wellness Experience forest canopy walk. Photo: Ayus Wellness We walk in silence slowly through the forest in Gunung Mulu National Park, Malaysian Borneo, and in the stillness, nature comes into sharp focus – the thick moss on tree trunks, the latticework of fine vines, a lizard that scuttles across the path. There’s the gentle gurgle of the Melinau River and the chatter of birds. Without the intrusion of conversation, the vividness of the jungle becomes surreal, dreamlike. I begin to relax, my shoulders drop. This is how our forebears walked through the forest thousands of years ago – slowly, attentively, listening for the sound of water, possible food, smelling and touching, all the senses engaged. And walking through the forest in a similar manner helps to reprogram our overstimulated minds and bodies, and bring us back to optimal health, says Professor Gerard Bodeker, chairman of the Mental Wellness Initiative for the non-profit Global Wellness Institute. “Attentiveness to the whole forest environment has been part of our evolutionary history, and coming back into nature in a way that is attentive connects us to our deep ancestral programme,” says Bodeker, who is also the director of Ayus Wellness, a wellness experience company founded in the rainforest in Mulu, Borneo. Professor Gerard Bodeker, chair the Mental Wellness Initiative for the non-profit Global Wellness Institute, and director of Ayus Wellness. Photo: Ayus Wellness The idea of nature therapy has been around a while. The American biologist Edward Wilson coined the term “biophilia” in 1984 to explain the connection […]

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