Join Irene Bailey, Program Director of Temenos Rising, for a free guided 2.5-hour forest bathing walk at Columbia Children's Arboretum. This event is open to all community members, although recommended for those 16 and older. Forest bathing is a nature connection experience inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku. These immersive experiences offer the chance to break away from the stress of daily life and to find healing and nourishment through intimate engagement with the beings with whom we share this Earth home.
While offering a renewed sense of interconnection with the natural world, forest bathing also allows access to beneficial nervous system states that can support our long-term health and well-being. Research has proven that forest bathing boosts immune strength, improves cognitive functioning, and reduces stress, anger, anxiety, depression, and sleeplessness.
Offered through a series of guided invitations, the walk will help participants move beyond the chatter of the thinking mind and find a deeper sense of embodied engagement, enabling access to new ways of being while exploring relationship to self and others. This intentional practice of embodied presence cultivates access to powerful experiences of curiosity, awe, and wonder thatare essential for resilient engagement with this era of dramatic change and transformation.
Getting There: Keep an eye out for the Columbia Children's Arboretum sign, just past the school bus yard. When you arrive, walk along the path, away from NE 6th Dr, towards the round-about area to find our group. Parking is free, however limited at the Arboretum. Give yourself extra time to find parking in a nearby neighborhood if necessary. Taking public transportation? Bus #11 will drop riders off at NE Middlefield & 6th Dr, 374 ft. from the Arboretum. Bus #6 drops riders off at NE Vancouver Way & Freightliner/3rd, 0.3 miles from the Arboretum.
What to bring: Pack along water, maybe a hot beverage, a pen, and come prepared for the weather as the event will happen rain or shine.
Accessibility: A restroom is available. Our group will be walking along mostly flat paved and gravel paths.