hinoki forest. Yes, please!
I creaked up from the table and wobbled into the physiology
room. Like all the participants, I would capture a snapshot of my
stress levels before and after the program, although for me, the
agenda would just be a walk, a quick squirt of cypress mist and a few
moments of deep breathing. That is because, as usual, I was too busy
for full-on relaxation. I had a full schedule of forests and scientists to
see on my week around South Korea. Today could be called the mini-
jet-lag-and-tofu-recovery program. My translator, Sepial, was even
more harried than I as she had to keep track of every exchange while
still responding to emails and setting up visits for me later in the
week. She’s forty-four, with a teenaged son. She needed a little walk
in the woods herself. “I don’t usually exercise, Florence,” she said,
looking apprehensive.
We took our blood pressure and then inserted a finger for several
minutes into a plastic clamp sensor that is supposed to measure our
heart-rate variability. The idea was that the Korean Forest Agency
will keep all these records and use them to assemble a large database
for research. Individuals will be able to track their own data over time
and across different forests and facilities. They should be able to tell
if one walk in the woods per week is enough for them to maintain
lower blood pressure, or if they better try adding more leaf-and-acorn
collages to their regimen. The scope of all this was, true to Korean
form, ambitious. In the same way Samsung outmaneuvered Apple and
K-Pop intends to dominate Asia with American- derived pop music
models, Korea is on a path to out-Japanese the Japanese in forest
therapy trails and science. Here, forest bathing is called salim yok.
Although Jangseong is currently one of only three official healing
forests in South Korea, thirty-four more are slated to appear in the
next two years, meaning most major towns will have access to one.
This forest, with its dominant cypress trees, is considered a jewel in
the system. Finally, I was able to see it. We headed out to walk, first