Zen & Forest Bathing: Meeting the Forest with a Quiet Mind

As a Forest Therapy guide, I often witness a quiet transformation happen during a walk - a softening of the shoulders, a gentler pace in the breath, a sense of returning to something deeply familiar yet often forgotten. People sometimes describe it as peace, spaciousness, clarity, or simply feeling more like themselves again.

To me, these moments echo the heart of "Zen"- a tradition that invites us into presence, simplicity, and an intimate relationship with the world as it is.

Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku) is not traditionally a Zen practice, yet when we walk slowly beneath the trees, we naturally enter a state that Zen has been exploring for centuries: the art of being fully here.

Below are a few Zen concepts that I find it naturally arise on a Forest Bathing walk and gently guide us into deeper connection.

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Shoshin (初心) : Beginner’s Mind

Zen teaches us to meet each moment as if for the first time.

In shoshin, we release our assumptions and rediscover curiosity.

During a Forest Bathing walk, this might look like noticing the texture of a leaf without needing to name it, or hearing the forest as though we are new to its language.

🍃Practice:

Walk as if you have never seen this forest before. Let yourself be surprised.

Mushin (無心) : The Mind of No-Mind

Mushin is a state where thoughts flow freely without clinging. It is not forced emptiness, but a natural settling, like a pond clearing after a breeze.

As we walk among trees, the rhythm of footsteps and the rustle of leaves gently quiet the inner noise. There is nowhere to reach, nothing to achieve. The forest allows the mind to soften on its own.

🍃Practice:

When thoughts arise, notice them lightly, then return to the sensation of your breath or feet touching the earth.

Zanshin (残心) : Sustained Awareness

Zanshin is the lingering awareness that remains even after an action is completed - a calm alertness.

In the forest, this may be the awareness that stays with you between invitations: the echo of a bird call, the pattern of shadows on the ground, or the feeling that you are part of something larger than yourself.

🍃Practice:

Pause occasionally and ask, “What remains in my awareness right now?”

Ma (間) : The Space Between

In Japanese culture and Zen, ma refers to meaningful empty space - the silence that shapes sound, the pause that gives life its rhythm.

Forest Bathing honours ma. We allow pauses without filling them. We trust silence as an essential part of the experience.

These quiet spaces often become the moments where people feel most connected.

The essense of ma also reflects some Japanese traditional art/paintings/Ikebana.

🍃Practice:

Welcome the pauses during your walk. Let stillness be part of the conversation between you and the forest and appreciate the "space" just as it is.

Kanso (簡素) : The Beauty of Simplicity

Kanso is the appreciation of what is simple, unadorned, and true. A Forest Bathing walk reflects this naturally: we slow down, observe, and allow the forest to guide us without complication.

In simplicity, we return to ourselves.

🍃Practice:

Notice the simple details that bring you joy ... the curve of a branch, a shape of leaves, stones/rocks

Wabi Sabi (侘寂) — Impermanence and Natural Beauty

Some of you who have joined my walks may remember the quiet beauty of Wabi Sabi - the Japanese way of appreciating things as they are, especially in their natural, imperfect, and changing form.

At its heart, wabi sabi reminds us that everything is changing and that there is profound beauty in that truth.

On every Forest Bathing walk, the forest shows us impermanence: a fallen leaf, a new shoot pushing through the soil, the shifting season. These observations are gentle teachers.

🍃Practice:

Find something in the forest that expresses change. Sit with it and notice how it speaks to you.

A Living Zen Practice in the Forest

Over the years of guiding Forest Bathing walks, I’ve learned that the forest does not ask us to understand Zen intellectually. It simply invites us to experience it.

Zen lives in the moment you slow your pace.

In the soft exhale when you feel safe enough to relax.

In the quiet space where the forest meets your awareness.

When we walk with presence, the forest becomes a teacher. And when we listen deeply, even for a moment, we touch a kind of clarity that feels like coming home.

Forest Bathing, in many ways, is a doorway- a way of remembering the simple, spacious, and deeply human wisdom that Zen has always pointed toward.

I hope this reflection inspires you to explore the depth and importance of Forest Bathing, and to meet the forest with a quiet, open heart.