(1 hr) Friday 8th March 2024 - Forest bathing at Beechbrae

Today I took part in a 'taster' experience of 'Forest Bathing', part of a pilot scheme being run on behalf of Scottish Forestry. Ally led Drew and I through a series of 'invitations' to use our senses and tune in to the landscape around us as we visited various areas of Beechbrae, then served up a brew of plants foraged from the area as we shared our thoughts about the experience at the end. I enjoyed the experience, but find it hard to fully relax into it in a group, and frustrating that I can't photograph and share the experience as we go ("look, what's that? Ooh, I saw a mouse!"). Which is kind of the point, of course - properly switching off the analytical, 'busy' part of my brain to 'just be' is almost impossible for me (unless I'm on a beach on Orkney, when I can space out for hours). Turns out I've been doing something similar on walks by myself for years, which is why my walks never register as 'exercise' on my activity watch!