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Trees purify and oxygenate the air, prolonging life by reducing the risk of heart and lung disease. But their influence does not end there. It turns out that trees can heal anger, sadness, and generally improve the psychological state of a person.
In 2002, ash forests in the US Midwest were hit hard by the emerald sawfly, killing about 100 million trees in four years. Doctors immediately recorded a deterioration in death rates from heart and lung diseases – they increased several times*. The reason, obviously, is that due to the disappearance of forests, the air has become noticeably dirtier – trees act as natural filters, intercepting suspended particles and absorbing harmful gases through the surface of the leaves. In addition, each tree in the forest produces approximately 7 liters of oxygen per day. More than a person needs, whose daily needs are only half a liter. Wood oxygen is saturated with negative ions, which increase the elasticity of blood vessels, improve tissue oxygenation and fight stress.
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As the researchers suggest, trees can affect our well-being and psychologically. For example, in a famous 1984 experiment, people who had surgery to remove kidney stones recovered faster and with less medication if their room windows faced a tree-lined park rather than a brick wall. In another study, women diagnosed with breast cancer were found to be noticeably better at coping with stress and their psychosomatic state improved if they spent about 2 hours a day in nature. Environmental psychologists Rachel and Stephen Kaplan (Rachel, Stephen Kaplan), after analyzing numerous scientific data, hypothesized that trees have the ability to quickly and easily soothe and immerse us in a state close to hypnotic sleep, when negative thoughts and feelings, for example anger and sadness are “washed away” by a stream of positive feelings of happiness, peace, harmony.
French psychologist Patrice Bouchardon, organizer of an unusual forest therapy, offers five exercises to help relieve tension and bring mind and body into harmony.
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1. Expand your horizon
Our vision is so busy that we often look without seeing. Immerse your eyes in the foliage of the tree you like and slide your eyes over its surface for several minutes, opening the spaces between the trunk, branches and leaves. This exercise helps to learn to see through obstacles, to distinguish the perspective – as in life.
2. Explore the sense of touch
Place your hands flat on the trunk of the tree, slowly move them away and notice goosebumps, warmth in your palms: you will meet the energy zones of the tree. Our skin is fraught with 2 million sensory receptors, but we rarely “turn on” touch, since mental images, visual contact, vision dominate touch. In order for the sense of touch to take its rightful place among other senses, try clouding your eyes. Close your eyes, run your hands along the trunk … You will surely remember something good from childhood. Patrice Bouchardon recommends this exercise as a way to reconnect with childish spontaneity and to believe in your physical abilities.
3. The smell of wood
Learn to smell a tree like a flower – trunk, buds, leaves… With each breath, try to distinguish smells (sweet, bitter, woody) and determine exactly what you inhale. Behind each of the smells are images, and therefore, emotions. “The olfactory center is also part of the limbic system, where our emotions and pleasures are located,” explains Benoît Schaal, a biologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Feeling, not thinking, is the main goal of this exercise.
4. Inner ear training
Choose a tree that you like. Hug him, close your eyes and listen to the emotions that awaken in you. You will understand that you can hear not only with your ears. The cluttered and overly talkative mind is given a respite, giving way to our sensuality and receptivity. Regular performance of this exercise teaches you to listen better to yourself and others, to notice yourself in an unceasing stream of sounds.
5. Removing emotional blocks
Lean against a tree and focus on what comes to you: thoughts, images, emotions, memories. Repeat the exercise with another tree selected. “Each tree has a special property, and its mission is to awaken this property in us,” says Patrice Bouchardon. For example, birch encourages us to give up the fight in the name of tenderness and harmony. Hazel awakens independence and a sense of responsibility and helps to overcome strong, persistent grief.
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*fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2014/nrs_2014_nowak_001.pdf