 Friends President Will Vuyk led a group of 12 students and adults on a "Poetry in the Preserve" walk October 23 for the 4th Sunday Bird and Nature Adventure at Picnic Point. The sun-warmed fall day, wind-cleared blue skies, pulsing waves on the lake and spectacular fall colors provided a beautiful and inspirational backdrop as participants took turns along the trail reading favorite nature poems from Friends Poetry Nights and composed several new haikus.  Afterward Will and others shared thoughts around a campfire circle about how poetry encourages us to look at nature in new and interesting ways and triggers empathy and curiosity that inspire us to look deeper which interestingly puts poetry hand in hand with doing good emperical science. Like falling leaves we each fluttered away leaving behind fresh new buds of ideas ready to bloom. Report and photos by Paul Noeldner. Haikus from our insightful attendees!
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 Seth McGee introduces the group to the concept of "forest bathing" or shinrin yoku Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, is the practice of being mindfully immersed in a forest space. On October 9th, our forest of choice was the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. Led by Seth McGee, lab manager at the Biocore Program, and Dr. Paul Williams, professor emeritus, over 43 participants explored the concept of Forest Bathing and its health and wellbeing benefits. The large group began beside the Frautschi Point parking lot as Seth asked us what we already knew about Forest Bathing. A few of the responses included that it was a form of meditation on our natural surroundings, and that it involved the use of all of our senses.  Paul Williams explains how forest bathing is less about knowing facts about the natural world around you, but feeling it with various senses Immersing ourselves with nature we used our senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste). Our journey began walking into the forest and using our first sense, touch. Seth and Paul encouraged participants to feel the soil. Paul handed out portable microscopes for participants to observe the detailed work of nature, allowing us to use our sight to engage in a more powerful way. These were originally based on plastic film containers (anyone remember those?) and are designed so that a bit of moss, twig, or insect can be kept at exactly the right distance from the lens for examination.  Paul Williams demonstrates how to use one of his viewing lenses We moved further into the forest and took a few moments of silence to listen to the birds, the rustling of leaves, and ever so faintly Lake Mendota. Paul also encouraged us to smell the soil, leaves, and a few remaining flowers. Seth had brought several plants along so that we could smell their scent, including the minty, “Earl Grey Tea-like” scent of the native prairie plant Monarda fistulosa, also known as bee balm or wild bergamot. He introduced fragrant samples from extracts that Biocore students provided. Using our sense of smell, we smelled Balsam fir, Abies balsamea, which provided a rich and fruity scent, as well as other evergreens. Later on, Paul encouraged a student participant to taste some fruits of a small tree alongside the path, afterwards revealing that it was a crabapple.  Seth McGee recommends a few of his favorite forest bathing books At the conclusion of our journey, Seth showed the group several books written on Forest
Bathing, and then led us through a guided meditation. Almost magically, a light rain fell for a few minutes near the end of the walk, giving us yet another sensory experience as we were silent to hear and feel the raindrops; a fitting conclusion to the experience. Report and photos by Diana Tapia Ramon and Eve Emshwiller. |
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Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve
P.O. Box 5534 Madison, WI 53705 UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve website Documents |
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