Forest Bathing is Our Most Essential Medicine

Forest bathing – which is simply taking a walk in the woods – could become one of modern humanity’s most vital methods for avoiding stress, depression, frustration, high blood pressure, and sleep problems. Contemporary research has confirmed one of shamanism’s most fundamental principles – that nature and Mother Earth are our most powerful healers.

Shamanic insight, wisdom, and practice have likely been the most significant influence in ensuring that a desperate civil engineer and entrepreneur found a meaningful and happy life after experiencing burnout and nearly losing his life in 2003. Before the burnout, I believed I had discovered the key to a happy and healthy life, but this clearly turned out to be a major misconception. Today, I am indescribably grateful for the event that would forever transform my life.

Shamanism is not a new-age invention from American counter-culture, and the shaman is much more than just a healer in ecstasy. Shamanism has been practiced across all continents for as long as humans have existed, with the oldest evidence of shamanic practice dating back 70,000 years (ref. 1)

In our culture, shamanism played a central role in pre-Christian times. For several centuries, völvas and seidr practitioners performed shamanic rituals in Norse culture.

Many Different Traditions

Since there are thousands of different shamanic traditions worldwide, there naturally isn’t a single definition of what shamanism is. The fact that one shaman might behave destructively or have their own understanding of shamanism doesn’t mean all shamans are like that.

What I share in these articles and during my seminars and educational programs in shamanism is based on extensive experience and intensive training over the past two decades in various areas including shamanism.

I am not a “super shaman” who knows everything – I am one of thousands who express my opinions, experiences, and wisdom based on having feet firmly planted in two worlds: One in the academic and modern world we live in where the civil engineer only accepts objective, measurable results, while the other foot stands in the shaman’s world that draws its insight, power, and understanding from the metaphysical realm. The combination of these often leads to exceptional and life-changing results for both my students and myself.

Facts About Shamanism

The word shaman comes from “šaman” among the Tungus people of Siberia and means “one who knows”. Since 1980, shamanism has been recognized as equal to Western medicine by the World Health Organization (WHO) when it comes to treating psychosomatic illnesses.

A shaman helps people understand and respect the nature around and within themselves, while teaching them to live according to their spiritual vision/essence. They draw their powers and insights from metaphysical realms through connection with various force fields, power animals, and other spiritual beings. In the shaman’s world, everything from stones and trees to rivers and oceans – everything created by the creative force – is alive (animism) and the creative force exists in everything (pantheism).

Shamanism is not a religion. All religions have dogmas, laws, moral belief systems and rules and commandments that must be followed, where the creative force and the divine must be accessed through a priest or similar authority. All these factors create a religion – a dogmatic belief system.

As a shaman, you experience the creative force directly and personally without having to follow dogmas, laws and moral belief systems controlled by an authoritarian elite. In shamanism, everyone can experience the divine without help from others. This is called religio.

In Yggdrasil Shamanic School, the shaman’s ethics are rooted in the path of the heart, where one practices their art based on a value system filled with respect, compassion, love, empathy, integrity, honesty, forgiveness, gratitude, and tolerance.

Based on my experience, anyone can become a shaman. Through working with more than 1,000 students, I have concrete evidence that you don’t need to be born into specific ethnic cultures or possess special innate gifts or talents to become a shaman who can help themselves and others create profound positive life changes through shamanic wisdom, insight, and power.

«According to my experience, absolutely everyone can learn shamanism»

Pål-Esben Wanvig

Nature is the Key

Nearly all shamans maintain a deep connection with nature and Mother Earth in their work. Nature is our greatest book of wisdom and healer. Mother Earth forms the foundation for all life’s existence. When shamans seek answers, insights, and solutions, they turn to nature. There, they mindfully observe nature’s interplay and meditate with questions from their heart and essence.

Additionally, nature is our greatest healer – physically, mentally, and spiritually. Without nature, life on Earth cannot exist. Modern humans have gradually turned away from nature’s wisdom. This has resulted in a world where humans destroy nature to maintain their lifestyle based on more, bigger, and faster, along with destructive treatment of themselves and others through intolerance and bullying. It’s frightening to observe this becoming increasingly accepted as “normal.”

But there is nothing “normal” about this. Humans lived in harmony with nature for hundreds of thousands of years until the Industrial Revolution. In just a few decades, we have managed to destroy much of the foundation for our existence through devastation, exploitation, and pollution.

I believe it’s time for a new “normal” – one that is healthier. For this transformation to occur, many more people need to rediscover and relearn what is truly normal both within and outside themselves, and this is where Mother Earth and shamanism have so much to offer!

Our Most Important Teacher and Healer

Modern humans must relearn how to use nature for healing and insight. More and more people are moving into cities, surrounded by concrete and asphalt jungles instead of healthy natural environments. Today, 80 percent of Norwegians live in small or large cities. According to the UN, 68 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050 (ref. 4).

In our busy daily lives, very few take time to seek out nature for relaxation and recreation. Never before in human history have we spent less time connecting with nature. And never before have we experienced such extensive health problems with stress, depression, anxiety, frustration, and aggression, which in turn create the foundation for many serious and chronic diseases plaguing our society today (ref. 5).

I encourage my students to begin this process by spending 30-60 minutes in nature daily for 90 days. Unfortunately, most have little experience with regular nature immersion. The key is to approach these daily forest walks without any agenda whatsoever. No phones, no music, no planning, no evaluating the day, no jogging or workout sessions. It’s about taking a leisurely 30-minute walk in nature each day, being fully present with all your senses without any agenda whatsoever. One of the main goals is to rediscover peace, tranquility, and balance through mindful walking and contemplation amidst our otherwise chaotic daily lives.

«Never before in human history have we spent less time connecting with nature, and never before have we experienced such high levels of stress, depression, and chronic illness.»

Pål-Esben Wanvig

Your Daily Forest Bath Can Work Wonders

Else Karin, one of my students, came to me several years ago seeking help to overcome burnout. She was a classic workaholic with an intense drive for perfection who could never find peace. There were always projects, tasks, and things that needed to be done. Else Karin eventually found her way out of burnout, left her job at the vehicle licensing office, and became one of the most skilled practitioners, shamans and spiritual guides I know in Norway.

Although she rediscovered meaning, happiness, and great fulfillment in her life, she still had an inner voice driving her to do more and more. Her inner peace was constantly disrupted by this voice that pushed her to overextend herself, leading to frustration and exhaustion.

A few years ago, I introduced her to the simple “forest bathing exercise” described above. We agreed that she would spend time in nature every day for 90 days without any agenda, keeping a “forest diary” to document her experiences during this period. At least once every two weeks, she would take a longer nature excursion lasting minimum 2 hours.

Initially, this wasn’t easy since she had so many projects demanding her attention, but after a few weeks, things began to change dramatically…

“As the weeks progressed, I experienced the inner peace more and more intensely. The voice that kept pushing me to do more gradually quieted down, and my life transformed in the most positive way. Without fear or guilt, I canceled planned seminars, declined new clients, and put projects on hold, including work on my house. For me, this was nothing short of miraculous – the voice that had been chasing me for so many years had finally disappeared! For the first time in my life, I felt a fundamental inner peace,” she shares.

Forest Bathing – Nature is Your Medicine

Scientists worldwide have investigated nature’s positive impact on humans. Perhaps the most well-known research comes from Japan, where they call forest bathing Shinrin-yoku. Between 2004 and 2012, Japan invested 4 million Euros studying the physical and psychological effects of spending time in forests (ref. 6). Here are some of the research findings from regular forest bathing.

Positive Research Results from Forest Bathing

• Reduced stress and depression (ref. 7)
• Lower levels of frustration and anxiety (ref. 8)
• Improved concentration in children with ADHD (ref. 9)
• Decreased blood pressure (ref. 10)
• Enhanced sleep quality (rwf. 11)
• Boosted creativity (ref. 11)
• Increased energy levels (ref. 11)
• Improved mood (ref. 11)
• Strengthened immune system through increased natural killer cells/lymphocytes (ref. 11)
• Better recovery after surgeries and illness (ref. 11)
• Relief for individuals with burnout and chronic fatigue syndrome (ref. 12)

These remarkable benefits stem from multiple factors, with negative stress reduction being a key component. When we walk mindfully and contemplatively in nature without an agenda, our brain waves shift to the alpha state – similar to what occurs during meditation or yin yoga. This calms down the brain regions responsible for triggering stress, rumination, and fear (ref. 13), which in turn leads to reduced stress hormone levels (ref. 14)

From a shaman’s perspective, there are many more reasons behind the profound effects people experience through regular forest bathing. These include the energetic influence of trees, the sky’s presence, natural beauty, birdsong, insect humming, plant fragrances, Earth’s magnetic field, the forest’s mycelial communication network, the air itself, tree spirits, and other beings that dwell in nature. Stay tuned for future articles exploring these fascinating topics in detail.

The Doctor and Shaman’s Recommendation: Take a Walk in the Forest!

According to WHO, depression is projected to become the leading cause of work disability by 2030 (ref. 15). In the past year alone, nearly 30 percent of Norwegian adults have experienced mental health challenges like anxiety and depression (ref. 16). Perhaps in the future, forest bathing will become one of the standard prescriptions from doctors for treating depression, anxiety, stress, and high blood pressure?

This wisdom has been shared by shamans long before modern medicine existed. Consider letting shamanic wisdom guide you to incorporate daily or weekly forest bathing as part of your toolkit for maintaining and improving your health.

Both shamanic experience and modern research support this as time and energy well invested! I recommend trying forest bathing daily for 90 days to discover how it impacts your physical and mental wellbeing. You have everything to gain!

Want to Learn More?

I wish you all the best on your journey. Life can be wonderful when we choose to make it so!

Almost every challenge has a solution – and often it’s right in front of us! I wish you the very best on your path toward vibrant health, joy, happiness, and an enchanting life!

I hope this article has provided you with inspiration and motivation!

References

Ref. 1: World’s oldest ritual discovered. Worshipped the python 70,000 years ago. Apollon, Universitetet i Oslo  https://www.apollon.uio.no/english/articles/2006/python-english.html

Ref. 2: Noen tilbakemeldinger fra studenter

Ref. 3: «Beyond Positive Psychology, A Journey from Burnout to Enlightenment», P.E. Wanvig, Amazon.co.uk

Ref. 4: 68% of the world population projected to live in urban areas by 2050. FN, https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html

Ref. 5:«Europas mest suksessfulle klinikk innen biologisk medisin: Hjertets klang – din sjels musikk Få balanse i livet gjennom kunsten å regulere deg selv» Medium nr. 4-2018

Ref. 6: Take Two Hours of Pine Forest and Call Me in the Morning, Outside – https://www.outsideonline.com/1870381/take-two-hours-pine-forest-and-call-me-morning

Ref. 7: The influence of urban green environments on stress relief, Journal of Environmental Psychology, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494413000959Og (PDF) http://www.tlu.ee/~arro/Happy%20Space%20EKA%202014/urban%20green_stress%20Ojala%20jt.pdf

Ref. 8: AGGRESSION AND VIOLENCE IN THE INNER CITY Effects of Environment via Mental Fatigue, Kuo, F. E., & Sullivan, W. C. (2001) https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2011/HEN597/um/Readings_Env_Psy/Kuo__F.E.__Sullivan__W.C.__2001_.pdf

Ref. 9: Children With Attention Deficits Concentrate Better After Walk in the Park, Journal of Attention Disorders, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23192434_Children_With_Attention_Deficits_Concentrate_Better_After_Walk_in_the_Park

Ref. 10: Blood pressure-lowering effect of Shinrin-yoku (Forest bathing): a systematic review and meta-analysis, NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28814305

Ref. 11: The Science of Nature & Forest Therapy,https://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/about/science

Ref. 12: Personer med utmattningssyndrom mår bättre av skogsbad, SVT,https://www.svt.se/nyheter/vetenskap/personer-med-utmattningssyndrom-mar-battre-av-skogsbad-1

Ref. 13: Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation, PNAS,https://www.pnas.org/content/112/28/8567

Ref. 14: City living and urban upbringing affect neural social stress processing in humans, NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21697947

Ref. 15: Depression looms as global crisis, BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8230549.stm

Ref. 16: Fakta Helsenett, https://www.helsenett.no/142-fakta/fakta.html