Forest Bathing and Sketching

What does it mean to you to connect with a place? To interact with a place? How do you create memories? Does the place somehow live on through you? This dual-aspect course will teach participants the physiological ways in which forest settings influence us, and also how to use the process of sketching to deepen our memory making. 

Forest Bathing is a practice adapted from Japanese culture and beyond to develop a profound sensory awareness of the forest, and sketching is a beginner-friendly way to creatively reinforce our visual and spatial relationship. The benefits of engaging in these practices include measurable physiological benefits such as lowered stress hormones, as well as images created by hand that can serve to extend our relationship to a place even after we leave. 

This course will be located at verdant Rockport State Park at the foot of Sauk Mountain in the Skagit Valley, a preserve notable for its nearly 600 acres of lush old-growth forest. It is intended for those who want to enhance their ability to joyfully enmesh with a place. It will involve participants mindfully walking, sitting, and even lying down among the flora and fauna; seeing, listening, smelling, and feeling our way to a deep relationship. 

As for the sketching, no artistic prowess is required. In fact, the intention is less to create works of art, and more to document observations and expressively capture feelings and emotions from the forest bathing experience. The most basic of drawing supplies will suffice, and we’ll have some paper on hand.

Our two instructors for this course are April, a Bellinghamster who passionately shares the practice of Forest Bathing with many students and groups; and Beverly, an artist who specializes in watercolor and pencil sketches of all landscapes.