Eco-Spirituality Day: Forest Bathing & From Lightbulbs to Vessels, Arks and Wells Workshops
Alison Cornish and Sue MacQueen
June 9, 2024
Come enjoy a full day immersed in eco-spirituality by participating in a rejuvenating outdoor Forest Bathing workshop and an indoor action-oriented climate change workshop.
Forest Bathing:
Shinrin-yoku (Japanese: 森林浴, 森林 (shinrin, “forest”) + 浴 (yoku, “bath, bathing”), also known as forest bathing, is a practice or process of therapeutic relaxation where one spends time in a forest or natural atmosphere, focusing on sensory engagement to connect with nature.
Practicing shinrin-yoku means spending time in nature, amongst the trees and grass, and mindfully engaging within a forest atmosphere or other natural environments. It is usually done by walking through a forest at a slow and gentle pace, without carrying any electronics, and taking the time to soak up the surrounding nature.
It involves using all five senses, and letting nature enter through those senses. Some examples of exercising this can include:
- Listening to forest sounds, i.e. birds and insects.
- Touching the ground, the trees, and the leaves.
- Smelling the flowers and other essential oils of the plants and trees.
- Observing the surroundings and scenery
- Tasting the crispiness of the air while breathing
From Lightbulbs to Vessels, Arks and Wells: A Workshop for Responding to the Climate Crisis:
“If a significant breakthrough is to be achieved, if the securitization and corporatization of climate change is to be prevented, then already-existing communities and mass organizations will have to be in the forefront of the struggle. And of such organizations, those with religious affiliations possess the ability to mobilize people in far greater numbers than any others… If religious groupings around the world can join hands with popular movements, they may well be able to provide the momentum that is needed for the world to move forward … – Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Are you stuck at the “let’s change all the lightbulbs” stage of engagement? Do you have a sense there’s so much more that you can – and should! – do in service to our climate change predicament? Then this workshop – focused on the resources that are inherent in our spiritual traditions, just waiting to be tapped – is for you. We will explore what comes next after the lightbulbs are changed, reuseable coffee cups donated, and recycled copier paper purchased! We’ll spend the afternoon exploring these questions together, break bread over a shared meal with some facilitated conversation, and finish with a ritual of strengthening our commitment to this work.
All are welcome to this action-oriented workshop, particularly those who are members of a Green Team or Creation Care Committee in a faith community.
Dinner is included in this Eco-Spirituality Day!
Facilitators
The Rev. Alison Cornish serves as a Program Consultant at the BTS Center, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Maine, committed to preparing spiritual leaders for a climate-changed world. A Unitarian Universalist minister, Alison attended Andover Newton Theological Seminary in response to a felt sense of call directly from Earth to…
Learn more about Alison Cornish
Sue is the Campus Engagement Coordinator at the Scott Arboretum and is a forest bathing instructor. Prior to coming to the Arboretum, she was the Executive Director of University City Green in West Philadelphia for eight years. She also held the position of Land Manager at Awbury Arboretum in Germantown…
Learn more about Sue MacQueen