By Sara Norris
There is a tongue-in-cheek version of the Hopi’s Emergence story that says what moved the First People through the cavernous darkness of First World were the women complaining to the men about cramped conditions- too many people and not enough space! Every day the women would say, ‘why aren’t you doing something about this, why are we living this way?!’. When the men grew impatient with the questions and complaining, they would dig a path to the next cavern. This time, they would be a little higher up and have a little more space than before (until they didn’t, and then it all began again). This story illustrates a common human dynamic of the balance between comfort and discomfort.
Modern living is increasingly sheltered from any form of discomfort. Our lives have become sterile, climate-controlled, underchallenged, overfed, and undernourished. There is a growing body of evidence across many scientific fields that becoming too comfortable is more harmful than we previously thought. Studies are increasingly showing that through adding specific hormetic stressors (like those experienced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors) to our lives, people are able to prime their body’s mechanisms for thriving, not just surviving. It was this realization that led me to practice, and eventually become certified to lead others, in both the practice of Forest Bathing and the Wim Hof Method.
Forest Bathing is a health practice developed in Japan as a direct result of the increase in stress related diseases during the Tech Boom of the 70’s and 80’s. A guided forest bathing walk, as opposed to a hike or guided nature walk, invites participants to slow down and engage the forest through their senses. It encourages people to pay closer attention to their bodies and step outside of the strictures of time to be fully present to the natural community around them. This practice gets us close to what our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have experienced in their day-to-day lives. Through a series of invitations, a forest therapy guide may invite participants to explore textures, smells, spend time with a sentient being near the path or move like the shadow of a tree. Participants often report an increased sense of well-being and interconnectedness, and a deeper sense of rest and gratitude at the end of guided walks. When we connect with our natural community in this way, we tap into our ancestral roots and form a deeper connection to ourselves.
The Wim Hof Method was developed by a Dutchman named Wim Hof. It is a 3-fold practice of Breathwork, Deliberate Cold Exposure and Mindset to promote health and well-being. The Wim Hof Method works by acting as a Hormetic Stressor, or deliberate, short-term and acute stressor that has the outcome of reducing perceived stress and increasing psychological resilience. Wim Hof Method breathwork is a 3-step protocol of 30-40 deep inhales followed by a period of hypoventilation, lasting as long as is comfortable to the practitioner and a third step of hypoxic recovery which is a deep breath held for 10-15 seconds. This is repeated over 3 or more rounds of breathwork. Deliberate cold exposure can be a cold shower lasting 15 seconds up to 5 minutes, an ice bath or a brief swim in live water during the winter months. Participants often report increased vitality, focus and bodily awareness at the end of guided breathwork and cold exposure sessions. They form deeper interoceptive connections to their bodies and foster connection to other participants through the experience of overcoming a deliberate stressor together.
Both practices put us back in touch with the natural world (our foundational community) in a revitalizing way; it’s “part rewilding and part rewiring” as Michael Easter writes in The Comfort Crisis. Their positive impacts on stress reduction and improved immune response show that we, as a species, were not meant to live separate from our natural community. By having deeper and broader experiences in nature, and by incorporating practices that connect us in ways that walk the line of comfort and discomfort, we remember what it is to, as Mary Oliver put it, experience “our one wild and precious life”.
*Sara Norris is a Certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide through ANFT and a Certified Level One Wim Hof Method Instructor through Inner Fire. Both therapies offer similar benefits; boosting the immune system, decreasing stress, supporting the healing of anxiety and depression and bringing us back in touch with our evolutionary roots.
Sara enjoys combining these two methods in her work with clients and participants and loves to share just how connected we were meant to be.
For more information, visit: www.batheandbreathe.com