Mother Nature's healing touch

TOKYO — Have you ever heard of forest therapy? You may recall feeling refreshed or relaxed after walking through a forest — that is the effect of so-called forest bathing. Forest therapy involves using the revitalizing effects of time spent in nature to treat physical and psychological ailments.

Professor Iwao Uehara, 45, of Tokyo University of Agriculture, in April established the Society of Forest Amenity and Human Health Promotion in Japan to promote the idea of forest therapy.

"OK. Shall we cut down this hinoki cypress tree?" Uehara's voice echoed through a hinoki forest in Kosugemura, Yamanashi Prefecture. The man-made forest had grown overly dense — it had not been thinned since the trees were planted more than 30 years ago. The trees were very thin and looked weak.

The occasion was a "Minna no Mori" (Everybody's forest) activity held on July 31. Uehara organizes the activities to give people struggling with physical and psychological ailments a chance to improve their health by caring for uncontrolled forests like this one or by simply strolling through forests.

In addition to this writer and Uehara, six other people took part in the event, among them a company employee and a university student from the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Uehara drew the blade of a saw across the tree he had pointed out, making a cut across its narrow trunk. With two members of the group lending a hand, the tree was soon enough cut down.

A small window of sunlight opened in the green canopy above us, bringing smiles to visitors' faces.

"The more we take care of the forest, the more changes we can see in it. I feel good when I see the clear transformation," said Chutoku Narushima, 66, from Tokyo.

The group moved to a different area, with broad-leaved trees like Japanese oaks, for a session of "in-forest self-counseling."

Each person found a tree they liked, and sat at the root for about 30 minutes to quietly reflect.

Last year, Uehara asked 15 people who had taken part in Minna no Mori events in the hinoki forest to fill out a questionnaire about the emotional changes they had noticed.

Participants reported feeling a greater sense of exhilaration, and an overall reduction in feelings of tension, fatigue and depression.