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breathe in a forest/
/ a forest breathes you
Forest Bathing / Golden Gate Park / March 3rd, 2022
Photo by Alondra Citlaly Salgado
Blissful moments spent in relationship with trees
🌲 Get lost in tree time 🌲
Trees are often called the living “lungs” of the earth. In one year, one tree can remove 48 pounds of CO2, storing our societal waste products deep in their tree trunks.
As non-photo-synthetic beings, we are dependent on a tree’s conversion process of sun and water into sugar and moisture-rich oxygen that we breathe in through our lungs and carry through blood to all of our vital organs.
In this experience, we dissolved the boundaries between self and trees, drawing upon the Japanese practice of forest bathing, shin-rin yoku (しんりんよく) — breathing in the citrusy smell of pines, feeling the scaly bark, or the rustling of the morning wind.
Through journaling, hiking, and multisensory meditation, we pondered:
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our relationship, kinship and reciprocity with trees through breath
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“tree time,” or the elongated, longer time scales of tree existence
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the sentience, intelligence, and aliveness of trees
Participants left this experience with a renewed appreciation and connection to trees in their local backyards and neighborhoods, with the meditative and journaling practices to stay attuned to the ecosystems around them.
"Now everytime I'm out hiking, which is every weekend, I engage with the trees so much more. I take the time to touch, smell, & breathe. Thank you."
Nicole R.
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About our Guide
Sophie Haruna Klimcak (she/her) is a learning experience designer, community-builder, and Bay Area naturalist. As Co-founder and Program Director at Wild Awake, Sophie draws upon her ecstatic wonder for the outdoors and her Japanese & Eastern European roots to design experiences that nurture a deep care for people and the planet. She holds a M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. Sophie is an avid stargazer and backpacker with 300+ miles of trails logged, with a newly emerging passion for birding, poetry, and taiko drumming.