To take a forest bath is to stroll through the woods while paying close attention to your senses. Your goal is to slow down, quiet your mind, and take in the sights, sounds, scents, textures, (and occasionally tastes) of the forest.
In 1990, Chiba University researcher Yoshifumi Miyazaki found that forest bathing led to lower levels of stress and boosted immune function.
Here are some tips to help you try forest bathing.
1. Find A Spot You Love
Find a spot in nature that makes you feel peaceful and relaxed. While you don’t need to be in total isolation, you’ll want to avoid crowded places. If you love the sound of running water, see if you can start your forest bath near a river or stream. If the smell of damp soil makes you happy, seek out a shady grove.
2. Leave Your Cell Phone Behind
Even better, leave behind as much as you can. The fewer possessions you’re carrying, the more you’ll be able to focus on the feeling of your body moving through the landscape. Don’t worry about where you’re going; let your senses and curiosity be your guide.
3. Open Your Senses
Listen for birds and the rustling of leaves. Look at the different colors of foliage and the pattern of shadows from sunlight through the branches. Inhale to smell and taste the aroma of the soil, moss, and trees. Press your hands against tree trunks to feel the texture of the bark; sit or lie on the ground to get a fresh perspective.
4. Take Your Time
Unlike a hike or even a walk, you’re not trying to get from Point A to Point B. You might not wander more than a few dozen yards in any direction. The goal is to open yourself up to the landscape and let it work its gentle magic to relax and restore you.
We’ve been exchanging letters of appreciation for thousands of years. The ancient Chinese and Egyptians wrote each other well wishes on papyrus. Fourteenth-century Europeans delivered notes to friends and family by hand.
In the late 1880s, the card-sending tradition took off in the United States when Polish-born printer Louis Prang introduced a technique called chromolithography to reproduce colorful motifs on card stock. Today, however, it can seem like these expressions of gratitude have become a rarity.
A recent study conducted at the University of Texas, Austin, found that people often hesitate to send thank you letters because they worry their notes might come across as insincere or poorly written, and that they might make recipients feel awkward or uncomfortable.
At the same time, they doubt how much recipients will appreciate such notes. But the research team discovered that getting a thank you note — even an email that took its author less than five minutes to write — was a big deal to the people who received them. Most reported feeling “ecstatic” and perceived the letters as warmer and better written than their nervous authors had imagined.
This week, we challenge you to write a thank you note to someone who has helped you get through the last year. Let them know what their time, jokes and support have meant to you — not only will you tap into the benefits of expressing gratitude, but your thanks will likely brighten their week. Here are four tips to help you start writing.
When You Must Send a Thank You Note
While letters of appreciation are a nice gesture at any time, in certain circumstances they’re pretty much mandatory. Always send a thank you note after a job interview, after receiving a gift, after someone writes you a letter of recommendation or does you a favor, after someone hosts an event in your honor, and after someone hosts you in their home.
Personalize Your Note
If you’re expressing gratitude for a gift, let the person know how much you enjoy it or how you plan to use it. If you’re thanking someone for a letter of recommendation, you might mention how you value their opinion.
Make It a Practice
Make a practice of sending thank you notes after dinners, parties, and other social events. It’s the easiest thing to do, and it will make you feel good to sit down and say a proper thank you—you may even spot your note on your friend’s fridge the next time you visit them.
Go The Distance
Step up your thank you game by investing in blank cards, a few good pens, and a book of forever stamps. If you’re ever feeling nervous about what to write, remember that the gesture itself is what the recipient will remember.
In June, Getaway’s marketing team took some time to recharge and learn about stress and wellness in our second workshop with WYLD Leadership. WYLD crafts incredible learning and development experiences – in person or virtually – customized to a team’s needs and goals, meaning no workshop is the same. WYLD’s mission is to draw out the unique greatness in people. They pull from a palette of psychology, nature, creativity, mindfulness, neuroscience, and ancient wisdom to curate a safe and fun experiential learning environment that feels transformative and sustainable. Getaway will be partnering with WYLD for the rest of the year to bring you tips, insights, and practices to help you find your own true nature.
Ahead of our WYLD session, our team had an intense meeting — you know the ones with the many moving parts and missing pieces that make it impossible to end on time. So the topic of stress was incredibly timely, and fortunately, we started with breathing and visualization exercises so we could try to shake off the previous call.
We all know stress, but wellbeing scientist, Dr. Alexandra Crosswell, who helped lead the session, explored the science and spirituality of stress. We looked at not only how we regulate our own stress and wellbeing as individuals, but as a team, and how to tailor messages and environments for customers for a stress-free experience. Essentially, we learned that stress isn’t something we always need to tackle solo, but it’s something we can identify and work through as a team using our strengths, which will better serve our guests.
To put it plainly: Stress happens. While we all might think the solution is to just power through the task causing our stress, it’s more realistic to acknowledge that our lives are full of stressors — big and small, especially in our always-on world. The solution? Not to eliminate stressors, but to reframe how we approach and perceive those stressors.
And not all stress is bad. Dr. Crosswell introduced us to the idea of stress being on a spectrum. For example, we’ve all worked hard on an important project and been in a creative zone where much gets accomplished. Dr. Crosswell refers to this as “above the line” where certain stressors put us in place of positive contribution and flow. On the flip side, certain stressors can take us “below the line.” This puts us in survival response mode — fight, flight, freeze — or “disassociate appease reaction,” when we recognize danger signals and stay safe by complying and minimizing confrontation.
Dr. Crosswell explained that when you’re really stressed and everything feels urgent, mindful moments can bring us back “above the line.” Part of this process involves identifying what brings you comfort, peace, and joy – these could include stepping away from the computer to chat with friends or family, sipping a cup of coffee, listening to a favorite playlist, or doing a short guided meditation. Making time for these moments, even scheduling them on your calendar throughout the day, allows you to recharge and reset between tasks or meetings.
After our second WYLD experience we felt recharged — the stress of the prior meeting had dissolved. We also brainstormed ideas to add moments of calm into our workday, including taking four deep breaths prior to starting a meeting. And our personal favorite: when a meeting ends early, instead of rushing back to work, we use that time to take a moment to enjoy a little extra free time.
As Jordan, our Email Marketing Manager said, “It was really helpful to do these workshops as a team, because learning these terms and techniques together, provided us a common language to start discussing stress and checking-in with each other during our workdays.”
Fill us in on your background—personally and in your creative practice. I grew up mainly in Toronto, Canada, spending heaps of time up in northern Ontario out in the woods. My old man works in music, so my brothers & I would spend months on the road with him. It was incredible to have so much access to the world at such a young age, but the safe haven to return to, the place we all still hold sentimentally, was always in the woods, by a lake (that’s why I was ecstatic to oblige when Getaway reached out). I have been singing, playing guitar & piano since I was probably 10, writing songs, writing poems since not long after that. It was always a safe space for me, a place to retreat to when everything else felt off. I studied poetry & Indigenous studies in college, simultaneously falling into working in fashion in my late teens/early twenties, which I still balance with other creative practices. Fashion was stable for me at times when music wasn’t, the one million times as an artist that you’re encouraged to quit, or swallowed in self-doubt & have to talk yourself away from the ledge. This year I have my first book of poems slated for release, I recently debuted a small new fashion line called Besa, as well as being in the process of releasing my second full-length album, Dear Dear: Volumes 1-3. Honestly, I don’t ever remember a time in my life when music was not at the absolute centre of it.
How does your connection to nature influence you personally, and how does it influence your art? It leaves room to breathe, to think. Living in the city, surrounded by people, it can be hard to gather thoughts—there are constantly interruptions. I find the quiet motion of nature ignites an ability to process, to humble, to clear the brain clutter. I was born eerily good at being alone & nature allows that on such an extended level. I find the city & countryside to provide the perfect balance for one another.
How was your Getaway? Did your time in your cabin influence your process or inspire any new ideas? It was wonderful, the balance of modernity with the backdrop of the California mountains. I found it to be incredibly inspiring. So often we forget how accessible nature is to us in major cities, how little effort it takes to create a massive energy shift, which is a fantastic metaphor I have been returning to often in my writing, of late.
As part of our inaugural Year of Rest, we hosted a nearly 30-minute conversation on rest and resistance between public academic, writer, and lecturer, Rachel Cargle and advocate and organizer Omisade Burney-Scott.
Burney-Scott, a Year of Rest recipient, reflected on her time in nature with her 12-year-old son, who joined her on her Getaway.
After months of remote learning and work over Zoom, “my son and I were really keen to cook together,” she says. The pair brought a Star Wars cookbook and made all their meals — breakfast, lunch and dinner — from the recipes.
“We got to eat fireside — the specific experience of sitting outside in the dark with my son” was an unexpected moment, she says. “We talked to each other about the world and [I listened] to him express how he’s experiencing the pandemic, his concerns for what’s going on in the country, with our government.”
Cargle reflected on her first Getaway and how it helped sparked Year of Rest. “While I was there just walking on the grounds, I thought, ‘More people need this. More people need this moment — to be here, to be in themselves, and to breathe,” she recalls. “And literally, the next business day after I left, I called Getaway and said we need to partner.
“I’m so grateful for how it’s developed,” she continues, adding the importance of inviting “more Black people into these spaces to feel that stillness.”
Burney-Scott spoke of reimagining her relationship with rest. “The way that I have seen rest happen in my family — I never saw my mom rest, my aunties rest, my dad or my uncles,” she says. “They were always in a perpetual flow of some work…. If you’re not working, you’re being lazy.”
To shift the cycle, Burney-Scott wants to model rest for her children. “They need to see their mama resting not because I’m sick — because they’ve seen that — but as a prophylactic, as self-loving,” she explains. “A revolutionary, liberatory act is to rest because I want to be an elder. I want to be here a long time; I want to be healthy.”
Adds Cargle, “Our self-care doesn’t need to be reactive — it can be proactive; it’s still just as potent.”
Cargle continues that she’d like to include a message in the Outposts for the next group of Year of Rest recipients. “I’ve been told, ‘Rachel you do so much work for Black women,'” she says. “For whatever reason we don’t include ourselves in whatever it is we’re fighting for. I want to have a letter [in the cabins] that says, ‘You too deserve what you’re fighting for.'”
This year, thanks to our partnership with Mail Chimp we are thrilled to recommit to the Year of Rest by again providing another 365 free Getaways to those fighting for change for the Black community.Know someone doing the hard work who could use a night of rest in nature? Nominate them now.
We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.”
Joan Didion, ”On Keeping a Notebook”
Looking back on our childhoods, many of us, at some point, received an assignment at school to write a letter to our future selves. While it may have seemed like a silly exercise at the time, writing letters to our future selves can be a worthwhile practice for keeping ourselves honest, benchmarking who we are and what matters to us now as a reminder (and data point) for our future selves.
Here are a few ways to get started on your letter to your future self.
Describe Your Current Life
How do you spend your time and who do you spend it with? List your recent accomplishments, new skills you’ve acquired, and your current interests.
Write Down Your Fears and Preoccupations
What thoughts keep you up at night? What challenges are you facing? If you struggle with self-doubt, consider when and why this feeling shows up. You may find that the things that worry you most now are no big deal to your future self, which could help your future self gain perspective on their own worries.
Identify Your Values and Lessons Learned
What matters most to you on a day-to-day basis? What are your guiding principles? What have you learned about yourself and your surroundings, and how does that knowledge impact the decisions you currently make?
Lay Out Your Goals and Dreams
What does your ideal future look like? Think about career, family, where you want to live, skills you hope to develop, and experiences you’d like to have. Then jot down some notes about what you plan to do now, and over the next few years, to begin laying the groundwork for that future.
Prep Your Letter for Future Delivery
You can always seal your letter in an envelope and leave it in a drawer for future you to find, but it might be easier to outsource: A number of online and analog services have stepped up for this very purpose like FutureMe. This is a free online service that will deliver your letter back to you via email anytime between one month to 50 years in the future.
Cheers to Summer Fridays: Discover Seasonal Cocktail Recipes from our friends at The Botanist.
Distilled from a unique combination of 22 wild, hand-foraged botanicals, The Botanist Islay Dry Gin is the perfect spirit to enjoy during a weekend escape to nature. We gathered a few of our favorite riffs on the summertime classic gin + tonic cocktail as the ideal accompaniments to your next weekend Getaway.
Pour gin into an ice-filled highball. Add premium tonic water to your taste. Garnish with local + seasonal herbs and fruit.
The Botanist Black Cherry & Tonic
Ingredients:
1.5 oz The Botanist Islay Dry Gin
0.5 oz black cherry syrup
0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
Premium tonic water, to taste
Directions:
Combine liquid into a highball over ice. Add premium tonic water to your taste and stir. Garnish with lemon peel and black cherry.
To make black cherry syrup:
Combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and 1 cup fresh black cherries (de-stemmed, pitted, and halved) in a shallow pan and place on stove top over low to medium heat. Heat and stir to dissolve sugar. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until cherries start to break down. Strain mixture through a fine mesh cone or cheesecloth. Bottle syrup and store in refrigerator for up to 10 days.
The Botanist Ginger Lemongrass & Tonic
Ingredients:
1.5 oz The Botanist Islay Dry Gin
0.75 oz ginger lemongrass syrup
0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
Premium tonic water, to taste
Directions:
Combine liquid into a highball over ice. Add premium tonic water to taste and stir. Garnish with lemongrass stalk or diced lemongrass alongside a fresh lemon wheel.
To Make Ginger Lemongrass Syrup:
Bring 6 oz of water to a boil. Add 2 oz diced lemongrass and 2 oz diced ginger for two minutes, stirring continuously. Add 4 oz of sugar and whisk to dissolve. Turn off heat and let sit for 20 minutes.
Ready for a weekend escape in nature? We’ve partnered with The Botanist to offer five lucky winners a chance to win a two-night stay at Getaway. Head to our Instagram for details.
We created our Artist Fellowship Program to help creative people find the space and inspiration they need to bring their ideas to life. At the end of last year, we hosted painter, Rachel Allen, at Getaway Piney Woods outside of Dallas. Here’s what she had to say about her creative process, her relationship to nature, and her Getaway:
Although I am a proud native Texan, my family spent three years in Kenya when I was very young, and I believe those years were extremely formative. Those were the years that I explored everything, was constantly barefoot in the red dirt, and my mom would have to convince me to come inside for lunch because otherwise I would have stayed outside until the sun went down. Spending the rest of my childhood in a smaller Texan town was not nearly as exciting, but I think it aided in my imagination and ability to see wonder in the mundane. In high school, I realized my love for art, went to school to be an art teacher, and have made my own art ever since. After college I did go back to Kenya for a couple years, and my time there continues to influence me and show up in the work that I do today.
I have always loved a grandiose view. But since views like the Grand Canyon or Yosemite Valley are not always accessible, I have also grown to love the small, intricate beauties of nature that can be found if you stop and look close enough. Whether it’s the pattern of leaf veins or colored speckles on a rock, all these little details catch my attention as I stare in awe. It’s such a great reminder of how as human beings the real gold is when we take time to see these small treasures in others and ourselves, instead of expecting a perfect and majestic presentation as a whole. This spills into my art as well as I try and guide people to the beauty found around us. Whether it is colors or shapes or even just my interpretation of a known view, my goal is to use my art to help others see and appreciate the beauty that can be found in everything.
I loved my experience at the Getaway. It was nice to take the time to focus on the beauty and details in front of me. So much of my work – especially during COVID – has been inspired by past travels, so it was nice to get to express beauty as I was experiencing it. More than anything, I had time to just have fun and step outside of my usual work. Encouraged by Christian Watson’s doodles in Wildside, a book I happened upon in the Getaway cabin, I was able to do my own little leaf doodle of my cabin view. While admiring the view from the driveway of our cabin I looked down and noticed some beautiful red dirt. I picked some up, mixed it with water, and added it to my sketches – inspiring me to seek out my own foraged pigment and paints in the future!
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