The Outdoor Adventurer's Guide to Forest Bathing: Using Shinrin-Yoku to Hike, Bike, Paddle, and Climb Your Way to Health and Happiness

by Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller

The first and only guide to shinrin-yoku for the outdoor adventurer! With techniques tailored for hiking, mountain biking, paddling, climbing, trail-running, and cross-country skiing, this is the definitive guide to applying the healthy and rejuvenating practice of forest bathing to your favorite activities.

Forest bathing techniques have been largely limited to use while walking and hiking, but now The Outdoor Adventurer’s Guide to Forest Bathing will guide mountain bikers, paddlers, trail-runners, cross-country skiers, and climbers as they reap the benefits of forest bathing while enjoying their favorite activities. With invitations tailored for each specific sport and stunning color photography throughout, this book will enhance the outdoor enthusiast’s love of the outdoors while improving their overall wellbeing. Inside you'll









The Outdoor Adventurer's Guide to Forest Bathing is the only book you'll need to get up, get out, and feel better!

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2019

Reviews

[kathy]

I was very excited to read this book as I follow the author, Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller on Instagram. My pets’ veterinarian also follows her and has been doing the daily challenge of getting outdoors for at least 15 minutes a day. I became very interested in what forest bathing is.

Since I was a child I loved to play outside, take walks outside and I enjoyed being around trees and plants. I loved collecting rocks! I don’t feel right unless I get outside a little bit every day to take a walk. I always felt more centered and grounded and less stressed if I got outside daily.

I think we as humans have lived in conjunction with the outdoors. It’s only recently since we’ve built houses and businesses that isolate us from the outdoors that we have become disconnected. This is my personal thought.

I am not an athlete but there are many interviews with athletes throughout the book that are very interesting. Each chapter presents a different way of enjoying and engaging with the outdoors. For example: hiking, biking, paddling a canoe, rock climbing & cross country skiing.

Each chapter has beautiful photos of whatever type of activity is being discussed which I enjoyed looking at. I felt the photos augmented my experience with the written material.

Each chapter provides different ways of being present using all your senses to enjoy whatever activity it is. For instance if you are rock climbing, how does the rock feel when you touch it? Does it have a smell? What do you hear when you’re standing in front of the rock you’re going to climb?

Each chapter also presents a plant you might find during your outdoor activities. I love reading about plants! I am not an expert on plants but the information is very informative. The author also goes into doing a tea ceremony and steeping a non-toxic plant as one way of communing with nature. At the end of the book there is some information on guidelines on how to do a tea ceremony outside.

Each chapter presents interviews with people including athletes. There’s also websites to look up and other resources that I found very promising! I was stunned that there are so many organizations that support outdoor activities that are concerned about preserving our environment!! That made me very happy.

All in all I think this is an excellent book!! I think everyone should read it! I’m just a walker when I’m outdoors but I have always loved to look at nature enjoying it’s sights, sounds, smells and even the feel of the bark on a tree. I personally feel this book will help people to appreciate nature more, and also improve health and emotional/mental well-being.

Thank you to the author for all the time spent in researching this book and writing about a topic that I feel is very much needed in our society today.

[Jason Muckley]

"The Outdoor Adventurer's Guide to Forest Bathing" by Dr. Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller M.D. is an extensive guide to the Japanese Shinrin-Yoku, or the practice of "forest bathing." The guide covers five basic outdoor activities that one can practice forest bathing: hiking, paddling, mountain biking, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, and trail running.

Each section has an introduction and different societies associated with that sport that support the practice in the given activity. There are "invitations" which are practices for that activity to engage your senses with the nature surrounding you. each invitation focuses on one or all of your senses to help you connect with nature.

As a medical doctor, Hackenmiller also has best practices for health as well as herbal/medicinal applications of various plants that you might encounter during your adventures. Each activity also has a tea ceremony that can be done using a plant in the wild that can be made into an herbal tea with health benefits. This is typically done to cap off an adventure and outing.

Not only does Dr. Hackenmiller explain her experiences, but she also include athlete interviews in each section that highlights how they have used the concepts in their own training and the benefits that they've received from the practice.

Despite the many, sometimes strenuous activity experienced in forest bathing, Hackenmiller insists that the main focus is not the physical exertion, rather it is the healing power of being outdoors and recognizing the amazing beauty surrounding you. That focus is what brings the most benefit. I loved this book and believe it will be an important guide for future outdoor outings.

I received this as an eBook from Rowman & Littlefield Falcon Guides via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of the title. I did not receive any compensation from either company. The opinions expressed herein are completely my own.

[Kenneth]

This was well written, and researched. I spend a lot of time outdoors and this shows you a great way to connect on a deeper level with nature and all that it has to offer with many different styles of recreating in nature. I loved all the great and well researched medicinal and herbal plant references used to make teas from and use in other medicinal ways as well as their history. The process of connection became a bit repetitive at times, but the author did say you can skip sections you were not interested in. It makes it a fast read. The insert details of many pages were not congruent to the flow of the book. It could have been organized better just from the insert perspective. Great photos that draw you in and make you feel and understand the outdoors much better and the process of Shinrin-Yoku.

[Rhonda]

You don't have to be an elite athlete to understand that the outdoors has a healing quality. This book explains, very simply, the steps to forest bathing to use in several outdoor activities. It also incorporates appropriate herbal teas for each activity. I found the "Athlete Testimonies " inspiring. Beautiful pictures throughout the book are a bonus!

[Jill Bowman]

Definitely a how-to guide. Not necessarily a book just to read - more one to have on your shelf to refer to for lessons and for all of the many good websites for different activities.
Kayaking, fly fishing for breast cancer patients, rock climbing, etc. Great for these and so many others.
I listened to the audiobook but I think a paper copy would be very handy.

[Donna Huber]

It is good info for a variety of outdoor activities. I didn't really like the layout. I hated that a paragraph would be split up by a page or 2 of other info (medicinal plant highlight or athlete interview). Some of the sections spent too much time detailing organizations.

[Rachel Croce]

I found this book easy to follow with lots of different interventions for connecting to nature mindfully.

[Hugh Asher]

This is one of my favourite books on Forest Bathing because it links lots of different outdoor activities with nature-connection.

[Evan]

Book 30 of 2022.