We used to call it a walk in the woods. Not exercising, just going out into nature. These days many refer to it as forest bathing. HUH?

The name might have changed, but the experience has not. If you attend closely to what the environment has to offer you develop a sense of connectedness to that environment.

The New York Botanical Garden, some years back, used a related approach, celebrating its 50 acre Old Growth Garden. They asked someone from the Poetry Society of America to engage those walking in the woods with real “seeing.” Poem Forest was the result.

Strategically placed lines from 2.500 years of poetry were to be read aloud, at locations that corresponded physically or conceptually to the poetry. You can find the images with the poetry lines in the article linked above. A simple way of slowing down and seeing. Maybe I should do something like this in Tryon Creek Park, the old growth paradise close to my house!

I was reminded of all this when I discovered a wooded corner of the Lewis&Clark campus yesterday, filled with little art pieces presumably left over from the students’ classes last year or during the summer. It made you stop and look, thinking about the intersection of art and nature. Gift of the day.

Here is yours: one of the best choirs in the world: