If you’ve ever sat on the front porch to watch a sunset, enjoyed a cup of tea in the backyard or walked through a park to look at the trees, you’ve done forest bathing. 

Ian Napper is a mindful outdoor guide who leads forest bathing sessions, also known as shinrin-yoku. He said communion with nature comes easily to most people and the mental health benefits are off the chart.

“It literally means to bathe in the nature of the forest,” he said. “It invites you to slow down, like really deeply slow down. The more you slow down, the more you notice and the more you notice, then the more you slow down. It helps us return to a more natural pace, which is one of the many things we need in this hyper, fast-paced world.”

The Japanese practice was created in the 1980s by doctors who noticed their patients were experiencing burnout. They developed a prescription involving nature connection that research has shown to offer mental and physical benefits. 

Napper, a Farmington resident, invites people to attend a forest bathing experience, which he holds at places along the Wasatch Range, including canyons, parks and Tracy Aviary. Each event is around 90 minutes and Napper encourages participants to restore their sense of wonder, awe and community.

“I’m trying to help people reconnect to nature in a personal way,” he said. “As humans, we’ve become very isolated, partly because of technology, but we experience this and there’s a connection that happens and it reduces this loneliness.”

As an Army veteran and yoga instructor, Napper understands the grounding benefits of engaging with the natural world. He said some of those benefits include reduced stress, lower blood pressure, better sleep, reduced fatigue, a sense of peace and a settled nervous system. 

He holds his forest bathing sessions in places with lots of big trees, preferably near running water and away from man-made noise, which can be jarring to the mind. He said listening to birds or the wind in the trees, allows the body to relax in a way we don’t usually experience. 

People will ask him, “Why should I pay you when I can walk in the mountains for free?” He explains it’s the difference between taking a yoga class online and immersing yourself in a live class led by a trained guide.

“You get instruction. You learn things that you wouldn’t have known before, because you get guidance,” Napper said. “I have a master’s in education with a focus on trauma, and so I bring a lot of that understanding into this. It’s one thing to talk about things that I notice; it’s another thing to guide you into a different way of being.”

Napper said learning to calm the mind and pay attention in nature takes practice; it can also bring up anxiety or judgment around being still. But as the practice continues, participants find it easier to attain a level of calm, and they want to bring friends and family into the experience.

Some people think having idle time to walk around in a forest is a frivolous luxury, but Napper said that’s not true; in fact, it’s just the opposite. 

“It might feel luxurious to schedule some time to do nothing but you’re giving yourself permission to go out in nature and do nothing for a while. It’s not a luxury; it’s kind of a necessity.”

For more information, visit sacredlistening.earth.