WHAT WE DO
We're inviting you to relax, restore, and reclaim your wild soul.
The Forest Bathing Club philosophy is a combination of design, mindfulness, meditation and getting wild.
OUR VISION
We imagine a world where everyone is able to tap into nature as the greatest source of energy and inspiration. We exist to enable people to reconnect to nature as a way to heal — themselves, their communities, and the planet.
We are committed to inspiring people to heal themselves, their communities, and the planet through spending time in nature. A complete reverence for the Earth informs all that we do.
Background
The Forest Bathing Club was founded in San Francisco, California in 2015. We regularly host forest baths around the Bay Area.
Forest Bathing comes from the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, which means “luxuriating in the forest.” This practice of mindfulness in nature emerged in the 1980s and has been scientifically proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure, reduce stress hormones, boost the immune system, and improve overall feelings of wellbeing.
A Japanese study from 2011 found that leisurely forest walks, compared with urban walks, yield a 12.4 percent decrease in cortisol levels, a seven percent decrease in sympathetic nerve activity, a 1.4 percent decrease in blood pressure, and a 5.8 percent decrease in heart rate. Perhaps even more importantly, being in the forest soothes the spirit and inspires feelings of awe, both of which are linked to markers of good health and lead to more tranquility and balance — for individuals and the planet at large.
Going into nature is not just about disconnecting from all the technology and noise of modern life, but is also about reconnecting to something so much bigger than ourselves. When we get rid of all the distractions, we’re able to tune into a deeper wisdom. This deeper wisdom — our intuition, nature, the universe — always has the message each of us need to hear. As we learn to translate the messages and integrate them into our lives, we’re able to tune in to our own wild nature as well as hear what the Earth wants to share with us.
“We spend so much of our lives feeling stressed or anxious. When we are able to get out our heads and fully relax in the forest, a certain magic happens that can’t be put into words. It’s a feeling that must be experienced.”
about the team
Julia Plevin Oliansky is the founder of Forest Bathing Club
and author of The Healing Magic of Forest Bathing (Ten Speed Press, Spring 2019).
A lifelong lover of nature, she first realized the effect that nature had on her mental health and wellbeing while pursuing her MFA at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her graduate design thesis became all about the health issues caused by disconnecting to nature and the way to heal them — to reconnect back to nature.
Ever the designer, Plevin started the Forest Bathing Club on Meetup.com in 2015 as a minimum viable product — just to see if it was something people desired as much as she did — and has ever since been in awe of the journey it has taken her on and humbled by the people and resources who have been drawn to this work. She's spent time in old-growth forests around the world, trained with Mayan elders, Shugendo Buddhist Monks, and met so many inspiring people who are also working in service of the trees. As the club grows and evolves, her aspiration is to inspire people to jumpstart their personal journey of reconnection to nature. It's the way forward.
For more of Julia’s work, visit www.juliaoliansky.com