Essay 1 “We’ve always known that spending time in nature is good for us, but now we have real evidence that spending time in the forest, specifically, can create measurable changes in our bodies and minds that have a significant effect on out health”. As introduced by Story in the aforementioned quote, this is the subject of what will come to be known as Forest-Bathing. Colleen M. Story is a “northwest-based writer, editor, and ghostwriter… and specializes in the health and wellness field. Coleen is the founder or Writing and Wellness”. On July 2nd, 2014, and article by Colleen Story titled “Want to Prevent Cancer? Take a Walk in the Forest- Studies on ‘Forest Bathing’” was published on the Renegade Health blog. Her work is meant to provide …show more content…
Story, who has been writing for well over a decade, does very well connecting with her audience; being a very experienced writer not only in wellness, but also in general writing. She has very evidently done her research on the subject, and this article deserves to be utilized as an introductory source into the benefits of Forest Bathing. Story also keeps a clear connection with the writer by often telling them what to do in order to start Forest Bathing on their own. For instance “To try forest bathing for yourself, find the nearest natural area with trees, and follow these tips: Try to stay at least an hour in the forest surroundings… For everyday maintenance, a daily walk in a park near your home can also be helpful… etc.” …show more content…
in any field, and could possibly attribute to some misinformation about the subject and even her not knowing as much about the subject as she leads on. Also, in a critical turning point in the article, Forest Bathing, or otherwise known as “shrinrin-yoku” is misspelled as “shinrin-yoki” the only time that Story uses the term in the entire entry. This, while possibly being clerical error, gives some question to Story’s credibility and her reliability. While quite plausibly just being a simple mistake, as the “I” and the “U” are right next to each other on the keyboard, also leads to the question if Story proofread her own article. While these questions are raised, they can be easily dismissed. As Story has been writing for over seventeen years in many genre’s, it is safe to assume that she has established credibility and can be trusted. This can be exhibited through her articles and through her wellness website. As for the misspelling of “shinrin-yoku”, it seems as though it was a simple stroke of the wrong key, as the two letters that make the difference are right next to each other on the
By citing credible organizations and offering her own eco-friendly alternatives, she proves to the reader that she takes a particular interest in the environment and is educated to speak on it. Pairing powerful understatements and hyperboles to contrast with one another show the reader that the practice is both needless and selfish. These rhetorical techniques have a powerful impact on the reader, whose ignorance prior to reading the excerpt can no longer suffices to excuse the lack of action. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is a deeply persuasive book that not only advocates for an end to pesticides but also speaks to the obligation humans hold to protect their
Chris McCandless, all throughout his Alaskan adventure, showed the transcendental quality of striving to live closer to nature. One great
Once upon a time, in a thick enchanting evergreen forest, lived a young man. He was tall but scrawny and his skin was a deep chestnut from spending his life with nature. His hair was assumed brown, but it was soaked in so much filth that it could be a red or even a blonde color. It was summertime and the lad was relaxing on a hammock he built with willow tree branches.
Richard Louv, the author of, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit-disorder,” talks about nature and its benefits to a healthy development. Time Experiencing with nature allows people to have healthy development since it promotes creativity and imagination. It does not take more than a couple of steps outside to see nature. It is all around us. It can even be right outside our window. Leaving the blinds open can bring peace of mind, just by viewing it. As people experience time with nature, no matter the age, they develop greater creativity and imagination. It is like people today fear nature.
Wilson, Brenda. “Relax! Vacations are Good For Your Health.” NPR, 17 Aug. 2009. Web. 10
Stevenson, Heidi. "The Modern Environment Causes Cancer." Cancer. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Cancer Is Man-Made, Not Caused by Genes or Living a Long Life: Study Documents." Gaia Health 17 Oct. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Discus. 24 Mar. 2014.
There is a vastly ignored resource that can benefit the mental, physical, and spiritual health of children and adults. In an age where medication and mental health issues are on the rise, Nature may be the solution to improve the wellbeing of others. As a prospective educator, this book has influenced my view on what science can do for students, linked to my experiences at Nixon County Park, and showed me what nature experiences every elementary student should have.
This was very impactful, because multiple times that I have worked with children and youth who begin exhibiting unwanted behavior, if you take them outside or get them involved in an activity suddenly it is no longer prevalent. When they were speaking about this it made me think of the article by Windhorst and Williams where they state, “Louv argued that, among other things, rising rates of attention deficit disorders, depression, and anxiety in today’s children—and adults—may stem from Western society’s progressive detachment from the natural world (Louv, 2005, 2012).” (2015, p.115). I believe that there does need to be a focus on getting children outside more regularly specially to combat mental illness, even for myself, I know that when I have spent an extended amount of time outdoors throughout the week my own symptoms of mental illness diminish, whether you are being active or purely sitting outside, nature is therapeutic and it is a primal need to spend time outside. The primal affinity for nature is also shown in Mantler and Logan’s article where they explain how the brain lights up
Growing up in England by the Peak District my Dad would often take us on short walks through the heather to look at the rolling hills; I fondly remember falling into the heather on an autumn day or seeing mounds of snow over the embankments on the sides of the roads. My Mum lived across from a wooded area that sprawled for miles, it started as a slope leading to trees and the small stream that I would walk along in my Wellies, during the winter my brother and I would trek out there for hours of sledding and fun to return to hot chocolate made for us. Since moving to America, I have witnessed nature but never to the raw extent that I did as a child. This past summer I found myself backpacking, the type where you put a third of your body weight
Since she was trained as a biologist therefore she started to look for answers in previous scientific research. One of the obstacles that prevent us from addressing cancer’s environmental roots is the word lifestyle. Risks of lifestyle are not independent of environmental risks. Our lives are played out within the ecological world…” (pp.270) comes from her personal experience as she states that we tend to ignore the risks that ou...
Walking through the woods never fails to clear my mind. After spending all day sitting in a stale classroom, filled with stress, confusion, and overwhelming responsibilities, taking a long stroll through the familiar woods behind my grandmother’s house lifts any worries that could ever weigh me down. I never wander through aimlessly. I always follow the trail of grass that has been deliberately cut down shorter than the rest, making it easier to tread through to the small creek at the end of the trail. The entire journey through the woods behind my grandmother’s house, there and back, first took on a whole new importance in my life during my junior year of high school.
I awoke to the sun piercing through the screen of my tent while stretching my arms out wide to nudge my friend Alicia to wake up. “Finally!” I said to Alicia, the countdown is over. As I unzip the screen door and we climb out of our tent, I’m embraced with the aroma of campfire burritos that Alicia’s mom Nancy was preparing for us on her humungous skillet. While we wait for our breakfast to be finished, me and Alicia, as we do every morning, head to the front convenient store for our morning french vanilla cappuccino. On our walk back to the campsite we always take a short stroll along the lake shore to admire the incandescent sun as it shines over the gleaming dark blue water. This has become a tradition that we do every
The familiarity of the woods, the natural urges my body has to be outside and be active in the setting that most people in today’s society only truly see in movies, if that, reminds me of other ventures into the woods, the citrusy smell of pine mixed with the smells of wild grasses and various flowers create an unmatched bombardment of scents. These scents stimulate the mind in a calming way unlike any medication or music ever could. The aroma of the forest sends chills down my spine, causing you to get the urge to explore and to absorb yourself in to the natural wonders the human body
I awoke to the sun piercing through the screen of my tent while stretching my arms out wide to nudge my friend Alicia to wake up. “Finally!” I said to Alicia, the countdown is over. As I unzip the screen door and we climb out of our tent, I’m embraced with the aroma of campfire burritos that Alicia’s mom Nancy was preparing for us on her gargantuan skillet. While we wait for our breakfast to be finished, me and Alicia, as we do every morning, head to the front convenient store for our morning french vanilla cappuccino. On our walk back to the campsite we always take a short stroll along the lake shore to admire the incandescent sun as it shines over the gleaming dark blue water. This has become a tradition that we do every morning together
Outdoor recreation is something that everyone needs. Finding that place within yourself that allows you to forget about everything. Whether that be playing with your kids in the nearby park, fishing with your grandfather, hiking with someone or just by yourself you learn something new about yourself. Some people use recreation to forget about something and they use being outside as a calming effect. Williams and Stewart (1998) believe that nature, as a place, creates an emotion bond, has a complex meaning to the person, and that people have this draw back to the place. To get the same feeling that someone would get while doing an activity in nature to simulate Williams and Stewart’s (1998) belief, I recently participated in an