Forest Bathing!

Forest bathing, also known as ‘shinrin-yoku’, was first developed in Japan in the 1980s after scientific studies were carried out by the Japanese government. The results of the studies showed that two hours of time spent mindfully exploring in a forest could reduce blood pressure, improve concentration and memory and lower stress levels (through reducing cortisol, the stress hormone). They also discovered that trees release chemicals called phytoncides that have an anti-microbial effect on human bodies, which boost the immune system.

As a result of these findings, the Japanese government introduced ‘shinrin-yoku’ as a national health programme. Since then, forest bathing has begun to become popular elsewhere.  The National Trust in the UK, for example, recommends forest bathing as a way to unwind and feel refreshed. This has been backed this up by science, with academics from the University of Derby in 2018, discovering that when people connect to nature, this significantly improves their wellbeing. 

I was first introduced to the idea of forest bathing by Dr Diana Beresford-Kroeger who holds a bachelor of science in classical botany, a B.Sc. in medical biochemistry, a master’s degree in plant physiology, a PhD in cardiac ischemia (damage due to low levels of oxygen in the heart), and a diploma in general surgery together with a fellowship in the effects of radiation on biology systems. She has published in the top medical journals in the world, such as the American Heart Journal. 

Diana has also written a inspiring books and filmed a documentary called, Call of the Forest: The forgotten wisdom of Trees. The documentary explores the most beautiful forests in the northern hemisphere and shares the stories behind the history and legacy of these ancient forests while also explaining the science of trees, and the irreplaceable roles that they play in protecting and feeding the planet. Not only do they provide oxygen for us to breathe - forests  are known as the lungs of the world – but they also provide us with medicine to promote our wellbeing. 

You don’t need to go to Japan to enjoy the benefits of tree bathing though. You can enjoy the benefits even here in Guernsey, in one of our pine forests. As Dr Beresford-Kroeger writes, “Go outside and find yourself a pine tree…Take twenty minutes out of your life in the company of these evergreens at noontime. They produce three aerosol molecules called pinenes. Inhale deeply in the presence of one of these trees and the T-cells of your circulating blood will immediately increase, boosting your immune system for free. This effect of one visit will last for thirty days. This is true for men, women, and children. A strong immune system is always your secret weapon.”

These are wise words and timely too as we try to strengthen our immune systems with the threat of mutation of coronavirus still very real. The answer is simple, get outside and find your way to the Guet or the pine forest at Pleinmont or Jerbourg. Go at noon and sit under a tree, then wander around, enjoying the forest environment, hug a tree if you can. If you can’t get out to a pine forest then perhaps inhale pine essential oil instead. Derived from the needles of the pine tree, the scent of pine essential oil is known to have a clarifying, uplifting and invigorating effect.

Furthermore, pine essential oil has antibacterial, antiseptic, decongestant, diuretic, stimulant, antiviral, anti-rheumatic, deodorant, expectorant and antifungal properties and is useful in protecting the body against harmful germs. In the process it positively effects the mood by clearing the mind of stresses, energising the body and helping to reduce fatigue, enhancing concentration/clarity and promoting a positive outlook. You can add a few drops of the oil to a diffuser to scent a room, or add a few drops to a tissue and inhale from that. 

It’s not just the aerosols secreted by trees that make a difference to our wellbeing, but simply being in nature. Many of us live disconnected from nature suffering from stress, depression and anxiety. We underestimate the need for a solid foundation in our lives, laying roots that nourish and sustain us, connecting us to the earth and living with the awareness of the ebb and flow of the passing seasons and the moon cycle and planetary shifts. We only have to witness the mighty oak tree to understand the value of first establishing roots from which we grow, deepening our connection between earth and sky. 

Like trees, we sometimes need to shed our leaves, let go of the leaves we have grown, and create new ones that are more aligned to our life in the next cycle. The tree does not hold onto its leaves confused and indecisive, it does not grip on when it needs to let go, there is a gentle grace that comes from knowing its place in all things and the cycle of all life, birth and death, earth and sky and everything in between. The sun and the moon know this too, rising and setting, waxing and waning, not holding on when it is time to change and transform. 

Many try to force things to happen in their lives without first establish their foundation. In yoga there is no point rushing to the advanced postures until we have first practiced those that will allow us to establish a solid foundation, for example. In everything, we need to start at the beginning, we need to ensure there is solidity to that which we are creating, like a house requiring foundations, a tree requiring roots, so we too, must begin at our base and work our way up from there. 

Too often in life we’re rushing though, always rushing from one thing to the next. We don’t always allow the grounding, the opportunity to be quiet, silent and establish our base. We are focused on outcome alone, and forget that there are steps which must be followed to allow the outcome to manifest. People flit from one healer to another, when the results don’t come quick enough, desperate to improve and get better, and understandably so, but forgetting that it’s takes time to heal.

 It's the same with dreams, they take time to come to fruition. Some set up their own businesses and hope for results over night, undertaking copious manifestation exercises, willing and wishing and chopping and changing their offering, one re-brand after another, as they try to make a name for themselves, yet forget that they need a grounding and a foundation, that we cannot rush these things, not if we expect them to have any longevity, it takes time for seeds to grow. 

As we spend time in nature and create a deeper connection to it, so we begin to notice more of our own nature, that we are the micro of the macro – more often than not, the way we treat ourselves is a reflection of the way we treat our planet. The more we can cultivate greater respect and love for self, the more we respect and love our planet too. We start to appreciate nature and the need to protect it, trees especially for providing us with oxygen to breathe and an ecosystem and home for many species. 

My friend, Jo de Diepold Braham, who used to live on Guernsey, has recently established The Children’s Forest, a project to help encourage more children back to nature, sitting together around a central fire and envisioning a forest, before turning their vision into a reality. Here’s the link to lovely little video about this project, about planting their vision, which will undoubtably inspire you to get grow trees and get into a forest, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5g6jrbb5GA.

It inspired our ‘Plant A Tree Project’ which we are hoping to launch in Autumn, offering free seedlings and baby trees for children to plant and tend to in their gardens, more information here, https://www.beinspiredby.co.uk/plant-a-tree. I have also recorded a Children’s Yoga: Journey into the Children’s Forest video, which you are view here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8CsjwiFVoY. The key though, is to get outside, into nature and allow nature to work her magic on you. 

Cleaning the planet!

There’s a lot of media coverage of beach cleaning at the moment, which is a positive thing, because it raises awareness of the need to keep our beaches clean. But as with all these things, i do wonder if we get start to get lost in the glory of it, so it’s not so much about cleaning the beach, but about being seen cleaning the beaches.

We clean the beach daily, I enjoy it, it’s something I’ve popped on my CV because I find it like a meditation, and I’m always fascinated to see what i might find. I’m telling you now, not for the glory, but because it’s a simple pastime that can easily be incorporated into any trip to the beach, just take a plastic bag along with you and some rubber gloves and go have a rummage in the shore line and see what you may find!

I don’t know what it is these days, that we need to make such a big deal about these things, is it our inherent insecurity and our need to be recognised for our goodness? Or is it simply the effect of social media where everyone is trying to be recognised for something? Well whatever it is, if it gets people cleaning the beaches, that has to be a good thing, but let’s do it for the rights reasons.

What you’ll find is the beach gives back to you enough and more, beautiful moments of being at one with nature, the sea, the sand, the skies, all creating a positive impact on the soul. There might be little gifts too, we found a heart shaped sponge awaiting us yesterday, for example, and there are sometimes marbles, or sea glass.

I can’t help thinking that as with any litter picking, the more we collect litter, cleaning up our beautiful planet, the more we’ll find ourselves collecting the litter from our own lives, cleaning ourselves up in the process, appreciating more of the simplicity of life and the inter-connected nature of all life too. It becomes not just about beach cleaning then, but about cleaning the planet generally.

So the message is clear, collect litter, from the side of the road, from the beach, from wherever you happen to find any, and then go about your life.

Happy collecting!

Love Emma x

The rest of the plants!

The rest of the plants are now in the ground at home and it feels good to have them all close, like their energy has lifted the property!

Here’s the wood betony, above, only a few of them, but they’re interesting nonetheless, curious to see what happens to them as they grow.

Here’s my one and only culver’s root. I’m grateful for this little being, it took its time, teaching me patience!

Here's all the elecampane now in place.

And here is the abundant St John’s wort, which is now in what was the veggie patch (with a courgette plant and corn hanging in there, the rest was finished).

These are red oak, grown from seed, we’re excited about those. Got a whole heap of acorns potted up on the waxing moon and with some Reiki…hoping they’ll be OK!

I’m busy drying herbs and various flowers…so far my lavender oil is my favourite, mixed with dead sea salts from Israel, just the most perfect bath companion; my skin loves it too, and the boys are keen as well!

Love Emma x

More plants!

I managed to move more plants to our home yesterday, get them in the ground as they requested! They really do talk, its amazing. E thinks I’m crazy, says they are just responding to the gases in my breath when I talk to them, but I believe they have a consciousness and we can tap into that, same with trees.

Here’s the Echinacea, in our front garden, by some lavender that a kind neighbour gave to us. This is good for supporting our immune system and preventing colds and such like.

Here’s the Valerian, good for sleep and relaxing, looking forward to trying that!

Here’s some of my elecampane, got to figure out whether I can fit the rest of it into that space…

I’ve got about 70 pots of St John’s Wort that still need a home. E’s beginning to grow weary of me taking over ‘his’ garden that he’s cultivated from a wild mess of stone and brambles when he bought the property 15 years ago now. It’s incredible the transformation, and what he has found as he has turned the land, it was very much a rubbish dump out the back overlooking the quarry.

My veggie patch has been abundant too this year and we are going to extend this, if we can make the room, we’ve got almost 200 saplings we are nurturing for our Plant A Tree Project, and intend to extend on this the next six months or so. It’s so exciting, I just love the process of growing, my grandparents were tomato growers, my uncle was a rose grower, both my cousins have grown their own produce for many years, more recently my parents too, you can’t escape your nature can you.

Trying not to get too attached…that’s the tricky bit! That’s when the suffering comes, as I am continuously learning; the more attached we come to outcome or expectation, the more our mind craves it and is disappointed if it doesn’t materialise. So let’s just go with it, see what happens, ‘let it be’, that’s my mantra for now.

Love

Some of my medicinal plants!

I am so delighted to finally have the plants in my moon garden, ahead of then next moon cycle next week. We’ve been in Sark and it has been hot and I could almost hear them asking me to get them in the ground as soon as possible…the marshmallow had already started rooting through the pots!

So here they are, the plants en masse…

And here they are individually:

Gypsywort

Woad and wormwood

Mullem and motherwort

Hyssop

Marshmallow

And this is the pot marigold soaking in sweet almond oil awaiting me finding time to make calendula salve infused with moonlight, sunlight and Reiki, oh and some love…

There’s still a significant number of plants in my parents’s greenhouse needing to be planted out, this is next on the list. The airing cupboard is now full of flowers and leaves drying so I can make teas and oils. Here’s some marshmallow and calendula flowers about to go to be dried.

The beams in the kitchen are being used to dry lavender, sage and rosemary to make beautiful oils. Here’s the sage oil on its way:

I love my plants, they actually communicate. I’m so grateful for their abundance and all they give. It’s a learning curve trying to work out what to do and its costing a small fortune in bits and bobs, but I am enjoying making my own potions and feeling the benefit. The bath scrubs I am enjoying the most, especially with the homemade lavender oil, although the sage oil is definitely potent and great for clearing the energy - very calming when applied to the head.

I made some cough medicine for the boys recently using thyme from the garden. It actually worked! I was really excited about this, despite the amount of honey required by the recipe, made me realise how much we can do to help ourselves, it’s just about finding the time!

I’ve got to learn what to do with the St John’s wort as these are flowering…I shall share photos once those are in the ground too!

Happy Friday!

x

Happy Lammas!

Today is Lammas, the celebration of the first grain harvest, a time for gathering in and giving thanks for abundance. This cycle continues to Mabon or the Autumnal Equinox bringing the second harvest of fruit and then Samhain and the third and final harvest of nuts and berries.

The word lammas is derived from ‘loaf mass’ and is indicative of how much the first grain and the first loaf of the harvesting cycle was honoured. I thought I would honour this today by making bread for the first time, at least on my own.

In theory the fullness of the present harvest already holds at its very heart the seed of all future harvest. I have had a sense of this recently with my medicinal plants and I’m pretty sure they have been telling me to get them out of their pots and get them into the earth so that they can self seed. I spent today preparing. We had to move a whole heap of granite from out of the pigsty, to make space for about 150 saplings that we are nurturing as part of our Plant A Tree Project (more on this in the spring). It was hard work!

However in many respects this was the easy bit. Once we had shifted as much stone as we could for now, and moved all the saplings, we then had to prepare the earth in a spot in the garden which has not been dug over before. I was up for the challenge though and possibly the mood I was in, what with the full moon approaching and here in my dark days of releasing, I set to task with the spade and turned it all over while the family watched a film!

This morning I had it in mind that I wanted to establish a moon garden, a part of the earth dedicated to the moon in celebration of Lammas, but I hadn’t figured out how that might work. However as I dug the earth I suddenly realised that this patch of land faced the rising full moon. Perfect! I had prepared my moon garden without even realising it; I’m pretty sure my medicinal plants will like the space and we’ve let it settle with the waxing moon energising it. With any luck the plants will settle into the ground on the waning moon and rest easily into it.

We visited La Gran’mère du Chimquière this afternoon. I left some bread and a bouquet of herbs gathered from the garden, I left them perched on her right shoulder as E said they’d attract rats if I left them on the ground; he’s forever the health and safety one! I love this goddess, she’s so calm and so centred and so peaceful. There’s no drama with her. I know that sounds ridiculous but when you see her, and especially when you touch her you’ll know what I mean.

I went out to La Varde this evening too, with my friend Chris to have a look at the goddess who resides within this beautifully calm and peaceful space. It really is a wonderful place and we felt welcomed and awed by it. The guardians were there as usual, keeping a watchful eye, and there was a quiet opportunity to say thanks. The skies were magical when we left too, as if the earth was kissing us with her beauty - or perhaps we were kissing her too.

I don’t have expectation about the harvest, I think that’s what has made the growing of the plants so enjoyable. There has been no expectation, and no attachment to the fruits of my labour. That is except for one little fella, the liquorice! I had been told that liquorice is challenging to grow from seed but I was confident, because I had no reason not to be, perhaps a little arrogant when I reflect on it, after all, the rest of the seeds had been so abundant for me (apart from Culver’s root, that was tricky too!).

My competitiveness came out with the liquorice and I did my best to nurture the seeds, but to no avail, or so it seemed. And then finally a shoot appeared and I was excited, it looked like I might get my liquorice plant after all - non-attachment out the window with this one! I watched it grow and tended to it with lots of love and Reiki and was curious because the leaves didn’t look like what I imagined liquorice would look like.

And alas there was a reason for this, because last week a daisy blossomed from what I thought was my liquorice plant and I laughed out loud at the cosmos joke, reminding me to let go of expectation and attachment to the fruits of our labour, and to grow for the love of it, not to feed my ego. It was a fabulous lesson and never more so because daisies represent joy and happiness; grow for the joy of it! Lesson learned! I’ll try a liquorice next year instead!

I am grateful, from the bottom of my heart and from all of my being because those little seeds that Fi offered out to her friends on Facebook just before I deleted my account has been life changing. A whole new world has opened up to me and I have discovered or perhaps rediscovered a love of growing and of tending to the earth and I can’t get enough of it. I am thoroughly enjoying drying the flowers and leaves in preparation for more potions and teas.

Recently I’ve using dried lavender, rosemary and sage to make bath oils, which just smell divine and are healing in their own ways, I have made bath salts with them, and this just makes for such a beautiful bath experience. The sage is very cleansing after energy work and the lavender definitely prepares you for a good night’s sleep. Nature knows best and I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn more and be guided by her. I’ve got calendula flowers soaking in almond oil out in the moonlight, I’m excited about making that into salve in a few week’s time. This all infused with Reiki from seed to salve, I’m grateful for that too.

I’m also grateful for my family for all their love and support, for the challenges and the joys, the sleep deprivation and the minecraft and the guns! There is never a dull moment and I love that they entertain all this, the witchery stuff, the hanging herbs drying in our kitchen, the time spent in the garden, the help with the potion making and the fact Elijah loves nothing more than that “yellow bath stuff”! They indulge me with my Reiki requests, they are both attuned now and will slowly learn what this means, for now it is magic hands and that’s good enough for me.

It’s a marvellous beginning harvest and I hope for you too. I can see the results of the seeds planted, and yet i in ways I could never have imagined, a bit like the daisy. Sometimes things just happen. In the last few years I have really steered away from vision boards and forcing an outcome, because I noticed that in my life the most life changing things have just entered from nowhere without any effort on my part. So I celebrate that too, the great mystery and being OK with that, with the not knowing and just seeing where it all goes as you try to keep in alignment; that’s all you need to do. Plant the seeds, tend to them and keep open to all possibility.

Sending love on Lammas.

Abundance!

I met some friends on the beach with our children today and two of us were talking about the seeds that we had been given to plant, by our mutual friend, Fi. It seems that mine have been rather more abundant than my friend’s seeds, and she quite rightly pointed out that abundance comes in many forms, and this did make me think, because life can be abundant in so many different ways.

I have been lucky or perhaps it’s the result of my being a touch over-enthusiastic, because I have been blessed with about 500 pots of medicinal plants (sorry Tara, not to rub it in!!) (There are lots still to re-pot!). Typically the ones I am most excited about, the pot marigolds (so I can make calendula cream) have not been as abundant as say hyssop, or mother’s wort, or even gypsy wort now I come to think about it. Goodness knows what I’ll do with them.

Mind you, Fi did say to me that it’s not so much what you do with them that will bring the joy, but the process of actually growing them. This is so true and one of the fundamental teachings from the Bhagavad Gita, about not being attached to the fruits of our labours. There is a verse that can be translated as follows: “You have the right to work, but for work’s sake only. You have no rights to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your notice in working. Never give way to laziness either”.

If ever there was an opportunity to put this into practice then it has been growing the medicinal plants! I had no expectation or attachment to outcome, I was growing them simply because Fi had given me the idea and something in me said, “yes, 'let’s do this”. In fact it was Ewan who planted some of the seeds, I just gave them Reiki and have tended to them ever since. I’ve planted more along the way, although I wonder now the reason I did this, because I already had so many, and I am considering that in the context of my wider pondering on greed, which has come up in recent weeks as I witness the effect of greed playing out in the wider world and I have been considering it in my world too.

The thing is with the plants, I have just grown them for the sake of growing them and because it felt like my heart wanted me to do it and it has been hugely enjoyable. I have no plans of what to do with them, beyond the pot marigolds. This too has been wonderful, to not have placed pressure on myself to do anything with them really, albeit I have bought a couple more books on herbal remedies and what I might make, if I have the time and inclination, let alone the financial resource to buy all the bits and bobs that are often required in this whole ‘making things’ process!

The message from the Bhagavad Gita, is to renounce attachment to the fruits so that you can remain even tempered in success and failure, and that it is this evenness of temper, which is yoga. It is said that work done with anxiety about the results of the work, is far inferior to work done without anxiety, because this brings with it self-surrender. We surrender all attachment to outcome and just do it for the love of it and because - on the whole - it is our dharma, our reason to be in this world. There is an understanding that those who work selfishly, for the fruits alone, for the results of their actions, will end up miserable!

It is difficult though, because of course generally, we do need to earn money to live. This pandemic has certainly challenged so many of us with this. I heard myself saying today, “double the amount of work, for half the amount of income”, because this is what the pandemic has brought with it, and I know I am not alone, because others are saying it too. The additional administration these last few months to adapt to the changing circumstances has been huge and the income has been much less than it would be ordinarily because of restrictions caused by social distancing.

Yet I know that for me work is not just about income. I teach yoga and share Reiki because I love it. It makes me feel alive. I was positively depressed during lockdown when I wasn’t able to touch people and share it face to face, E was finding life with my dull mood hard work! So I am just so happy to be able to teach again, regardless of the fact that it helps me earn money. And while I know not to be attached to the fruits of the labour, I am grateful for all the abundance that fills my life, the plants, the vegetable patch, the friends, the bird that visit each days, the time with my children, the peacefulness of dusk, and the abundant sleep now my younger son doesn’t wake us as much.

Life is full of abundance. I suppose we just have to notice it, and step out of the conditioning, which always sees abundance in terms of monetary gain. We have to remember to enjoy the process, to do the work for the sake of the work that needs to be done, not because of an outcome. It’s much easier said than done. Even in yoga there is the grasping for an outcome. I noticed it tonight for the first time, when I asked students to establish an intention, something they might like to receive from the practice and I realised that this was setting them up to expect an outcome, to see their practice as something leading them somewhere, rather than just practising for the love of practising.

I notice it playing out during the practice too, this attachment to a pose needing to look a certain way, so that there might be pushing and pulling and a loss of the magic that might arise if only we could just be OK by allowing the body to unravel when it is ready, not because we are forcing it in some way. As if we might achieve more, whatever that might be, peace and harmony perhaps, a better body. I don’t know, we all have our different reasons for practice, our different attachments, our different ideas of how it might be.

But really, it is my experience, that just turning up on our mat is enough. Just being there with our body and with our breath and honouring both and surrendering to the process and to the practice. There will be greater abundance, simply because there will be a change, that will help you - if nothing else - to recognise it, because perhaps it’s always been there but you have just never recognised it, because so often we focus on what we don’t have, and miss all that is already filling our lives, the love, the silence, the noise, the craziness, the solitude. It is all abundant, it’s just our perspective that sometimes needs shifting.

We begin to notice more of the joy that comes with the work. In letting go to the fruits, we begin to see all that we had previously dismissed and overlooked in our quest to always be somewhere other than where we are. It’s actually liberating to live like this, albeit it demands another step outside the box, living in a society that is generally focused on outcome, always working towards a future date to improve from a past date already taken place. Life is so abundant, let’s give thanks for that!