For over 20 years the Curonian Spit has been named as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its outstanding cultural landscape. Neringa is firstly unique due to its ‘young’ geological age of around 5,000 years. It was once a densely forested land, formed by wind, sand and the sea. Until the beginning of the 19th century, when the peninsula became a hostile strip of raging sand, which regularly buried village after village - the so called Northern Sahara. The humongous effort to curb the sand and reforest Neringa was started shortly.
Today, due to this insurmountable human effort, most of Neringa, around 70 per cent, is covered in pristine pine, mountain pine and juniper forest. It is framed by sand dunes, the lagoon, the Baltic Sea and palvė, the diverse yet scarce meadows of fragrant wild thyme, rosehip and dainty gypsophila. Even the nostalgic Neringa’s settlements are full of greenery of mature trees, and the real patches of pride lie near Nida and Juodkrantė - the preserved ancient Curonian forest fragments still remain there. You can immerse yourself in the ancient forest by exploring the 1.6 km educational dendrological path near Juodkrantė for the truly authentic sights, scents and sounds of this cherished piece of local nature.
Japanese tradition
Forest bathing (shinrin-yoku in Japanese) initiator was Tomohide Akiyama, the director general of Japan’s agricultural, forestry and fisheries agency. His main concept was the idea that a quality time spent in Japan’s scenic forests should be of benefit to its chronic stress suffering city dwellers, who are prone to a hectic lifestyle and poor health. His forest bathing scheme was introduced almost 40 years ago, and today boasts significant evidence of how time in the forest can enhance people’s physical health and psychological wellbeing.
In 2018 Japan had 62 certified forest bathing locations, which are used by around 5 million people a year. The same year saw the first edition of the book “Forest Bathing” by the most prominent forest medicine expert and advocate Dr Qing Li, translated into 20 languages around the world - the forest medicine has since been a popular health promotion concept around the world ever since.
A healing weekend in the forest
Liudmila Monkevičienė, a certified forest bathing guide, commented: “Forest bathing is a healing practice consisting of guided or self-led walking in a forest. One follows a sequence of various exercises that aim to silence the busy mind, focus on the body and reconnect to nature through one’s senses. In other words - forest bathing is a mindful experience of a forest.”
“For people who are living a fast-paced stressful life that so many of us are used to, forest bathing is known to lower blood pressure, cortisol and adrenaline levels and regulate the parasymphatic nervous system. The mood and immunity are also improved - as our natural defence, the blood killer cells become more active due to the air that is rich in phytoncides that derrive from forest plants and trees. Conifers have a particularly high amounts of them.”
According to Japanese experts, the highest concentration of phytoncides is observed during hot days of over 30 degrees Celsius. Also, the more mature, denser and older the forest is, the higher the concentration of the healthy particles. Moreover, the forest air is very high in negative oxygen ion, which further increase the health benefits.
How to forest bathe
The main principles are to go in silence and go slow. The practice can be as simple as walking and consciously absorbing your surroundings. Guide Liudmila notes that it is best to dedicate two hours - the benefits to your mind and body will last for at least a week. If you can forge two hours twice a day for at least two days - the impact will last for a whole month!
Liudmila adds: “One should aim to be present in the moment while forest bathing. It is important to silence your gadgets, and make sure to not cover more than two kilometres, which ensures you go slow: any rushing or setting a particular goal will make your cortisol rise and can make you stressed, which is the opposite effect of forest bathing.”
Engage your senses one at a time for an easier experience: try to focus on the forest sounds, from the most distant to the nearest; and activate touch through exploring different textures of bark, needles, leaves or moss. The vision indulges in the patterns, colours and shapes of the abundance of the forest, as well as the playfulness of light and shadows. Lastly, the sense of smell explores the various fragrances of the trees and plants - ensure you take slow, deep belly breaths.
Liudmila notes: “I invite forest bathers to cup their hands and open their mouths while breathing - that way you get to “taste” the scents too. Your sense of smell is closely related to memory function: scents can connect you to your deepest, forgotten memories. This type of breathing also helps you to inhale Mycobacterium vaccae, a type of bacteria that is proven to enhance mood.”
It is somewhat impossible to get lost in the forests of the Curonian Spit: they are lined with excellent paths and signage. Visitors are kindly asked to preserve the fragility and the beauty of Neringa by placing their litter in the binds provided, carefully avoiding breaking the plants or trees, and not approaching and keeping silent in front of wild animals. Lighting fire is also strictly prohibited.