Muro A. and Mateo C. Forest bathing and hiking benefits for mental health during the pandemic in Mediterranean regions

Researchers Muro and Mateo conducted a study on forest bathing and hiking in their relation to mental health after the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the study, forest bathing had evidenced positive effects on individuals’ mental health and well-being, but its benefits have mainly been studied in Asian biomes. This study aimed to evaluate whether its benefits are also generalizable to other forests and biomes of the world, such as the Mediterranean. the study used eighty-six healthy adults of the general population, assessed before and after a forest bath near Barcelona (Spain) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A control-hiking group of participants was also analyzed to contrast the forest bathing effects on anxiety, affect, mood states and mindfulness. The results of the study showed that the guided practice of forest bathing in Mediterranean-Catalan forests increases mindfulness states and positive affect and reduces anxiety and negative affects, with effect sizes ranging from large to very large. Hiking also seemed to induce significant changes in all variables tested, but forest bathing showed higher effect sizes still. 

Why would taking a bath out in the forest be so beneficial? Why might this be encouraged to the population? Why does this matter to pilgrimage?

The point of a journey or a pilgrimage is to relieve the weight of sin upon the spirit of the pilgrim. But that weight clings to the pilgrim, sin does not drop off, in many cases it must be cleansed, cleaned, washed away. Pilgrimage is a ritual, it may even be said to be a ritual of cleansing, and in many rituals of cleansing, like baptisms, water is used to wash away the sins of the one the ritual is being conducted upon. In undertaking a journey, as shown by the research, one may feel the weight of sin relieved, but to further benefit, they may take a cleanse by bathing on the trail, ritualistically washing their alienation away, taking the painful or discordant feelings with it. 

One of the conclusions derived from the research was "Mediterranean FB (forest bathing) and hiking (to a lesser degree) might be cost-effective strategies to promote and restore psychological well-being after the COVID-19 pandemic and to promote sustainable tourism in Mediterranean biomes of the European forested and protected areas.". This is an interesting conclusion to take, as it is very rooted in the idea of the marketplace. The study here is calling for the improvement of the lives of the people through the advocation of their mental health through forest bathing and hiking. But in reality, it cares about the cost of the improvement of the people's mental health and the economic wellbeing of the region more importantly. This idea is an invitation for more to engage in the visitation of such regions, but also reduction of the non-economic importance of such efforts. Pilgrimage is not meant for economic gain of the self or for those who are along the trail, nor is it for some transaction, but rather it is for the spiritual gain of those along and within the path. In a society such as ours, even research conducted on pilgrimage and the improvement of mental health comes in the form of a discussion of the benefits of transaction, but even without the pure benevolence of the true absence of transactionality the discussion still holds merit.

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