Walking in the Woods: Go back to nature with the Japanese way of shinrin-yoku

The basic concept6, 7 behind nature therapy is to increase physiological relaxation and act as a preventative medicine by improving the body’s natural resistance to disease, which is suppressed under conditions of stress.

Our bodies have become adapted to nature over millions of years of evolution. Even though we may struggle to realize it, living in our modern society puts us in a permanent condition of stress.

It is around seven million years since our ancestors started evolving into the modern humans we are today.5 During this process of evolution we have spent more than 99.99 per cent of our time living in a natural environment. Our bodies are adapted to nature.6

The findings have been extremely encouraging; it is clear that our bodies still recognize nature as our home, which is important to consider as increasing numbers of people are living in cities and urban environments each year.