More or less by accident I’ve become something of an expert in various alternative therapies. I’ve been sampling them for so long for work purposes that some of them aren’t even designated as alternative any longer. When I first did yoga, for instance — and reflexology, and Alexander technique — they were considered way out there. Not any more. No doubt my latest adventure — “forest bathing” — will become mainstream in due course.
And so it should. Like most of these activities, the premise of forest bathing is perfectly sound. Originating in Japan — where it is called shinrin-yoku, or “taking in the forest atmosphere” — in the 1980s, forest bathing invites participants to employ proximity to trees to improve their mental and
