Kicking off December with Run/Walk Grateful challenge (right up my street)
The first day of the challenge took me to Oxleas Woods on this sunny, crisp, beautiful day for a bit of Forest Bathing aka Shinrin-Yuko (a big thing in Japan)
Once arriving in the woodlands, plopping myself down to the ground, I took a couple of minutes to settle in and arrive focusing on my Darth Vader breath and noticing the aliveness of the woodlands with the trees breathing, the birds chatting away to themselves. I'm feeding off this energy...
I spent about 1hrs or so just taking each step mindfully, just simply looking at the ground, the earth, soil, leaves, the trees roots, bark, bare branches all around. The blue sky, fluffy clouds above. Vibrant colours I see all around. Noticing the fresh, earthy smells. I then went on to touching the leaves, the bark, the soil, branches (which I'm taking home to start work on my macrame project ) and stinging nettles too, ouch! Found comfort in hugging a couple of trees, I must have looked dodgy as a dog walker asked if I was ok? I'm just thanking the trees for the oxygen they provide me, our connection. A tree hug is as comforting as hugging your favourite teddy bear/person I'd say!
if you fancy joining me on the challenge, go to https://www.rungrateful.com and see where this takes you. Stay open and curious.
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