Forest bathing re-leaf with Sippican Land Trust
Diane Pienta leads the walks and therapy-like sessions on Sippican Land Trust properties. Photos by Mari Huglin
The Osprey Marsh where the January forest walk will happen.
The Osprey Marsh sign made by the Sippican Land Trust.
Moss, rocks and wooden walkways can be found in the Marsh.
Diane Pienta heads into the marsh.
Diane Pienta leads the walks and therapy-like sessions on Sippican Land Trust properties. Photos by Mari Huglin
The Osprey Marsh where the January forest walk will happen.
The Osprey Marsh sign made by the Sippican Land Trust.
Moss, rocks and wooden walkways can be found in the Marsh.
Diane Pienta heads into the marsh.
MARION — It's all about walking slow with Diane Pienta on one of her beneficial forest bathing walks.
Pienta, of Fairhaven, has been guiding forest bathing walks for over five years in partnership with the Sippican Land Trust. She leads walks across Marion inspired by forest bathing techniques popularized during the technology boom of 1980s Japan.
Pienta usually takes groups of 10 to 12 to walk in a forest for 2 hours, guiding them through a meditation-like experience.
“A big part of this is to have people fall in love with nature again,” said Pienta.
Pienta offers an invitation or a suggested prompt to focus on, which can range from focusing on colors, sounds or patterns participants see, hear or experience on the walks. Then, the group is open to share with each other.
“There's this pulse that goes back and forth where you go off and you experience your own experience, but then you come back and community and share your individual experience and so you learn from each other being in that community space,” Pienta said.
The benefits of these forest walks include lowered stress levels, lower blood pressure and increased heart rate variability which is beneficial to a healthier immune system.
“It's being more connected to our hearts because that's when we make good decisions for ourselves and when we make more decisions that are good for the people around us and for the world around us,” she said.
Pienta believes these walks help people connect with the natural world, themselves and each other leading to more peace and creativity.
“[The walks are] this process of slowing down in nature and not necessarily looking for an outcome. We're counteracting that instant gratification and really high-paced short attention span,” she said.
A cancer diagnosis in her thirties and burnout in her forties made Pienta turn to nature for relaxation and guidance. She is a writer, yoga instructor and teacher when she is not leading forest walks.
“It is like a nervous system reset. It's our natural way of being stress free and synced up with the natural world. For most people, their natural way of being now is to be stressed out.”
Her next event is Saturday, Jan. 3 in the evening with Sippican Land Trust. A specific location and time have not been set yet.
Pienta hopes more people will come out for walks and ultimately hopes people can take the time to slow down and make connections after these walks.
She said, “I hope that people just are more connected to their true nature.”
