MINTURN, Colo. — For most people, the trails around Minturn and Vail are great places to get outside for a long hike.
Kayla Weber looks at those trails as great places to enjoy some forest bathing.
“You are essentially bathing in the aerosols the plants and trees are giving off,” Weber said. “So you’re inhaling those things and they really work with your body chemistry to boost your immune system and mood.”
Forest bathing is a little like hiking, only the experience is more about going slow and, at times, stopping to enjoy the place you’re in and take in as much of the forest as you can. That includes smelling, seeing and touching the environment around you.
Weber said people have been forest bathing in Japan for years, and even have trails specifically designed for it so that people can go slow and escape the fast-paced lifestyles they live.
In the United States, forest bathing is starting to catch on as well, with more people trying it all over Colorado. There are about 300 trained forest therapy guides to help get people started.
“I was trained through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy,” Weber said.
Weber has also started a business with a Facebook page called Nurtured By Nature Forest Therapy. Tours focus on forest bathing and cost about $30 per person.
The tours usually last about two or three hours and people rarely hike more than a mile because the idea is to go slow.
“You would probably see me sitting, kneeling down, looking at things, looking up, smelling the flowers,” Weber said. “One of the biggest goals is to lower your blood pressure, lower your cortisol levels, you are de-stressing.”
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