The Nurturing Power of Shinrin-Yoku - doTERRA Europe | Science Talks (Translated Subtitles)

<<7>> Hi, I am Dr Brannick Riggs,

<<8>> Vice President of Education at dōTERRA International,

<<10>> and I'm here with Dr Ruth Dempsey

<<12>> from our Scientific and Medical Education Committee,

<<15>> and we're excited to be talking

<<16>> to you today about Shinrin-Yoku,

<<19>> an exciting new blend that we have.

<<21>> Pretty excited about this.

<<22>> So tell us about the activity of shinrin-yoku

<<25>> or forest bathing, Ruth.

<<27>> Oh, yes. Well, with pleasure.

<<28>> Well, as you and I had talked about for many, many years,

<<32>> we all, I think,

<<33>> or many of us really instinctively enjoy

<<37>> being out in nature

<<38>> and being out particularly in the forest.

<<40>> I have forest around about me

<<42>> and I've always loved going out

<<43>> and walking in the forest.

<<45>> And I always felt energised by going into the forest

<<48>> and so I started to question why a forest in particular?

<<53>> And you can think about the freshness of the oxygen

<<55>> 'cause you've got all the trees and stuff around

<<58>> and that's when I really started

<<59>> first taking an interest in it

<<61>> and had heard about the idea of forest bathing,

<<66>> of actually using the forest to actually help people

<<69>> which comes from the term shinrin-yoku

<<73>> which was actually created in Japan

<<75>> not that long ago actually.

<<77>> I mean, it was 1982.

<<78>> I think it was

<<79>> the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.

<<82>> For you and I, not that long ago for sure.

<<86>> Okay, okay, I would not call it,

<<88>> let's not term it ancient art

<<92>> because I was well in my 20s by then.

<<96>> But yeah, so the Ministry of Agricultural, Fisheries,

<<99>> and Food started to propose the idea

<<102>> of countering the stressors

<<105>> and anxiety that was being caused

<<106>> by living in urban environments in Japan

<<109>> by encouraging people to go out and walk into the forests.

<<113>> And that's where the idea of forest bathing

<<116>> as an activity, as a therapy if you like,

<<120>> actually started in Japan.

<<123>> Although we've been doing it a lot longer beforehand,

<<127>> and they started to realise the benefits from it.

<<130>> In fact, they set up a research centre

<<132>> in Japan to support it

<<134>> and to look into all the things

<<135>> that going out into the forest could do,

<<139>> as I said, to counter a lot of the negative effects

<<143>> that come from living

<<144>> so constantly in an unnatural environment.

<<148>> I mean, our bodies are created to be in nature.

<<152>> Absolutely, our genes were adapted through nature

<<155>> Not through cities, yeah.

<<157>> And the explosion of cities has happened

<<159>> much quicker than our genes can adapt to.

<<161>> It takes a long time to sort of readapt to that environment

<<164>> and even if you don't live in the city,

<<166>> the stressful life that is associated

<<168>> with current living practices

<<171>> puts our bodies under an awful lot of stress.

<<175>> And I think the encouragement for people

<<178>> to go out into nature is a natural, instinctive way

<<183>> to deal with the stressors that our bodies are having.

<<186>> And when you actually look at the impact that it has,

<<190>> not just the sort of subjective impact,

<<193>> but you can actually objectively measure differences

<<196>> that are happening to the body when you go out,

<<199>> and disconnect, and go into the environment.

<<201>> Yeah, so what we instinctively feel in that environment

<<205>> is now objectively measured to say our bodies

<<209>> and our physiology do change

<<211>> and does change when we are out in that natural environment.

<<213>> Absolutely, absolutely, I always think

<<215>> it's kind of a shame

<<216>> that you need to have those measurements,

<<218>> but as human beings, that's where we are now.

<<221>> We've lost that trust in our instincts

<<223>> and it's well, why do I feel better?

<<224>> I need to know that I have a measurement

<<226>> that makes me feel better.

<<228>> You feel better, you feel better.

<<230>> What are the steps to forest bathing?

<<231>> What are the steps to do?

<<232>> Yeah, that's a very interesting thing about it.

<<234>> Forest bathing as a practice itself

<<236>> involves first of all, all five senses.

<<239>> That's an important element of it.

<<241>> But the first thing is, really,

<<243>> it isn't just go to forest, come back.

<<245>> Oh, I've got to fit my five minutes of forest bathing in.

<<247>> You really do have to disconnect.

<<249>> That's an extremely important part of it.

<<251>> You have to stop what you're doing, break your routines,

<<254>> go into nature somewhere,

<<256>> and immerse yourself in that natural environment.

<<259>> So that's the first step if you like

<<261>> is really making that break.

<<263>> Ideally you wanna spend enough time

<<266>> to completely engage within the forest,

<<269>> to touch the forest, to sense it.

<<272>> I had a very good friend of mine

<<274>> who always used to say when he was feeling bad,

<<276>> he'd go into the forest, he'd lean against a tree,

<<278>> he would take his shoes off

<<279>> and put his feet into the earth,

<<281>> and there is something

<<282>> about that, really physically engaging with it

<<285>> that makes you feel sort of complete.

<<287>> So that's the sort of the touch sense.

<<290>> Obviously all the colours

<<292>> and natural colours you have from seeing it,

<<295>> you can can feel it,

<<297>> and you can hear.

<<297>> I mean, forests, is it birds?

<<299>> Is it the rustle of the trees,

<<301>> the leaves in the trees?

<<302>> Any time of the year,

<<303>> the crunch that you're walking through.

<<306>> Hearing all those senses,

<<308>> really enveloping yourself in that

<<310>> is a very important part of it

<<311>> because it triggers and stimulates

<<313>> all those parts of the body that helps then for you

<<317>> to disengage completely and to relax,

<<320>> and that takes time.

<<321>> Start thinking of different things.

<<324>> A great thing to do in the forest is to go and meditate,

<<328>> just to sit in a quiet spot in the forest and meditate.

<<332>> One of the things that I like to do in the forest

<<334>> is to choose a tree that's your tree.

<<338>> We talked about these mother trees.

<<339>> There are trees that are more important

<<341>> than other trees in the forest,

<<342>> for the forest itself.

<<343>> It actually is a community

<<344>> and it supports itself together.

<<347>> So connecting with a tree really makes a difference.

<<350>> All this is really calming down your nervous system.

<<353>> That's what we're basically doing,

<<355>> you're engaging with nature,

<<357>> calming down your nervous system,

<<359>> making yourself feel connected to nature again.

<<363>> So re-boosting the body in a way that you can.

<<367>> As long as you have the time to do that,

<<369>> then the most important thing, of course, to remember

<<371>> is to transition calmly back to life.

<<376>> Yeah, that third step.

<<377>> Yeah, yeah, because it's not just a tick box.

<<380>> I've done this and I go back.

<<381>> You need to take that experience back with you

<<383>> into your daily routines,

<<385>> into what you're doing back at home,

<<387>> so that's the benefit that you get from it.

<<389>> So it's three basically major steps to it.

<<391>> Break off, do something different,

<<393>> take as much time as you can

<<395>> to really use all of your senses in there

<<398>> and then disengage, but go back,

<<402>> transition back, taking everything with you.

<<405>> Yeah, the research tells us

<<406>> somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes

<<408>> is maybe the minimum time

<<410>> to get some effect on the human system.

<<412>> and can be up to a few hours too.

<<414>> Well, the original research that was done

<<417>> was basically taking people out for two or three days

<<420>> into a forest environment

<<421>> and then they would go out for two hours in the morning

<<423>> and two hours in the afternoon

<<424>> and come back in again.

<<426>> Most of us, I'm guessing, are not gonna be able to do that.

<<429>> So what if we can't?

<<430>> What if we can't spend two hours in the morning

<<433>> and two hours in the afternoon every day?

<<434>> Because I'll be honest, my schedule doesn't allow for that.

<<437>> Really I would love for it to,

<<439>> but it doesn't allow for that.

<<440>> So what if we can't make it to the forest every day?

<<442>> Is there something that helps?

<<443>> Well, obviously, obviously as you said,

<<444>> first of all, even a small amount helps, every part helps,

<<448>> but the other thing is that you can bring,

<<450>> all those practices that I just talked about,

<<452>> you can bring to you.

<<453>> So disengaging is an important part.

<<456>> This is all part of meditation

<<458>> and mindfulness and doing that.

<<459>> So you can always do those sort of things at home,

<<463>> and contacting nature in any way that you can

<<466>> be it going into your garden,

<<468>> having sort of plants in the home,

<<470>> or just embracing the thought of nature.

<<474>> In fact, there's even some studies that have been done

<<477>> on actually playing videos of forests, or fish tanks,

<<481>> or animals and things roundabout,

<<483>> having that connection that you can do.

<<485>> So you can recreate as many of those sensorial elements

<<489>> as you can back in the home

<<491>> and of course, one of the senses

<<493>> that I didn't mention beforehand

<<494>> is of course, a sense of smell.

<<496>> So bringing those aromas from the forest back in

<<499>> is an extremely important part of it.

<<501>> Actually I'll mention this on the side.

<<504>> There was some interesting research done

<<505>> on looking at whether it was the forest

<<508>> or whether it was just going into nature.

<<510>> And so some of these studies have looked at,

<<512>> for example, a forest compared to a field

<<516>> and you get benefits from disconnecting

<<520>> and going into a field, you clearly do.

<<522>> But particularly in the summer months,

<<524>> you get a significantly higher benefit from the forests.

<<529>> I'm talking about deciduous forests here obviously,

<<532>> and this is one of the things that led them to realise

<<536>> that actually if you actually sample the air in the forest,

<<539>> there are elements within the forest itself

<<543>> that contribute to that sense of smell

<<547>> and the wellbeing that you get,

<<549>> that feeling of wellbeing that you get out of it.

<<551>> Yeah, isn't that cool?

<<552>> It is, and you'll never guess what they are.

<<554>> Of course, they're essential oils, yeah.

<<558>> I mean, they're breathing out

<<558>> some of that chemistry, right?

<<561>> Trees are plants, trees are plants.

<<562>> Those are the alpha-pinene, beta-pinene.

<<565>> The cassette, yeah.

<<566>> Linalool, right, limonene, 1,8-cineole.

<<569>> These are things we're familiar with

<<571>> in the essential oil world

<<573>> and it's amazing to me that what the trees are breathing out

<<577>> as we breathe in,

<<580>> we settle into normalcy.

<<582>> We settle into homeostasis, right?

<<585>> It's pretty amazing.

<<587>> I think it's wonderful, yes.

<<588>> And so we have our Shinrin-Yoku blend.

<<591>> And so we have our Shinrin-Yoku blend.

<<591>> Yes, yes, I can stop fiddling around with Siberian Fir

<<594>> and Hinoki in my kitchen.

<<596>> Mixing it all.

<<597>> Yeah, I can do this.

<<599>> Tell us about the Shinrin-Yoku blend.

<<601>> Well, I mean, it's a beautiful blend

<<605>> with all those elements that we talked about

<<608>> with the phytoncides within there.

<<609>> This is what they call them,

<<611>> I don't know why they feel

<<612>> that they have to give a name to it,

<<613>> but they call them phytoncides

<<614>> because these are the ones

<<615>> that come from the plants in the forest,

<<616>> and that's what we're inhaling,

<<618>> and these are the basic elements

<<619>> that come from the essential oils.

<<621>> As you said, this is what they call

<<623>> the 1,8-cineole cassette

<<624>> which is the alphapinenes, the beta-pinenes,

<<625>> limonene, linalool, amongst other things.

<<630>> And it's a beautiful blend

<<633>> because I've always thought, I focus on the trees.

<<637>> So I've always focused on the tree oils,

<<639>> on Hinoki which I think is lovely when you can get it.

<<642>> Siberian Fir, and what this one does

<<644>> is it really combines that with some of the citrus oils

<<648>> which I thought at first was a really interesting one.

<<651>> But of course, the limonene is an extremely important part.

<<654>> Some of the elements of the essential oils

<<658>> that come from the citrus fruits are very important parts

<<661>> of the forest bathing experience as well.

<<664>> So this is just a beautifully balanced blend

<<668>> that has all these elements in there

<<670>> which brings the smells of the forest,

<<673>> the essential oils that are in the forest,

<<675>> brings them into a little tiny bottle.

<<677>> Yeah, it's interesting that we don't commonly associate,

<<681>> for instance, citrus and a forest.

<<683>> Particularly a conifer forest

<<685>> or an evergreen forest,

<<686>> we don't make that association

<<688>> because the two don't, they're not around each other.

<<690>> We go to citrus which is in warmer climates

<<694>> and then we go to the forest

<<695>> which are typically in cooler climates,

<<696>> but, those trees in those forest environments

<<700>> are bringing some of the citrus chemistry in with them.

<<705>> They have even some of the floral chemistry of linalool.

<<710>> The trees are still emitting some linalool as well

<<712>> which we typically think of floral, lavender,

<<715>> those sorts of things.

<<716>> but yet those trees have.

<<717>> I mean, forests are a very complex environment,

<<719>> so it's no surprise

<<720>> that it's not just what comes from the trees

<<721>> that contribute to the environment.

<<723>> So how do you recommend using Shinrin-Yoku?

<<726>> Well, I mean, the objective here

<<728>> is to bring the beauty of being in the forest

<<733>> into your environment in a convenient way.

<<736>> So these particular blends are,

<<738>> you obviously you can just rub it in your hands when you need to.

<<741>> Use it in a meditation.

<<743>> I think to combine it

<<745>> with the natural experience of disconnecting

<<748>> is a useful way that you could do it.

<<752>> Some of the research studies talk about

<<755>> how you can expose yourself for periods of time

<<760>> to these particular essential oil components.

<<763>> Expose yourself to it in a way that simulates

<<766>> what you would get from the office.

<<768>> From the office, from the forest.

<<770>> Not from the office

<<771>> unless you have a very forest-based office.

<<773>> Right, so you could expose yourself to the blend

<<778>> and do a meditation

<<780>> or perhaps do guided meditations.

<<783>> There's visual meditations that we've talked about before.

<<786>> Visualisation of a forest, right?

<<788>> Or even just being around your house plants, right?

<<790>> Being around their chemistry.

<<794>> Doing a bit of weeding, yeah.

<<795>> Yeah, so has there been any studies on this type of blend?

<<798>> Oh, yes, well, I mentioned there's a research institute

<<801>> that was set up in Japan that has done

<<803>> I think some really, really good studies,

<<806>> asking all these questions,

<<807>> is a field as good as a forest

<<809>> and then investigating what happens with that.

<<812>> But actually there's been

<<813>> more and more organisations worldwide,

<<817>> institutes worldwide that started looking into it

<<819>> and there has been some really interesting research

<<823>> of bringing the essential oils into the home.

<<825>> Can you get the benefits from it

<<828>> just by having it in the home environment?

<<831>> And for example, exposing yourself to

<<834>> essential oils overnight while you're sleeping

<<836>> has been found to have almost as much benefit

<<838>> has been found to have almost as much benefit

<<839>> for many of the endpoints that they're looking at

<<841>> in the forest in the home itself.

<<844>> Yeah, amazing that those biometrics change, right?

<<848>> As we do that.

<<849>> Our body tends to adapt that natural environment

<<853>> and everything kind of goes back into balance there

<<856>> as we have that chemistry exposed to our bodies.

<<860>> Yeah, it's sort of dampening of the sympathetic,

<<862>> rising of the parasympathetic,

<<864>> and sort of keeping control

<<866>> of all the homeostatic engines that we have.

<<871>> I don't think it's any surprise to our audience, right?

<<873>> That nature, we resonate with nature,

<<876>> and this is one of those blends that really speaks

<<878>> to that resonating with nature

<<880>> and feeling better when we are exposed to natural things,

<<885>> natural environments, as well as natural essential oils.

<<888>> No, absolutely, and there are measurable benefits

<<891>> that come from it.

<<892>> Yeah, I love the Shinrin-Yoku blend.

<<895>> I really think that it's a powerful, powerful blend

<<898>> that we have created.

<<899>> - I know you've been working on this for a while.

<<901>> It's been a passionate year there.

<<902>> It's been so exciting.

<<903>> I spend a lot of time in the mountains of Utah

<<906>> and the western United States,

<<908>> and I actually do spend,

<<910>> there are days in which I spend 24, 48,

<<913>> and sometimes a week long in the forest

<<916>> because I like to backpack,

<<917>> and that's really where my passion came from

<<920>> in developing the Shinrin-Yoku blend

<<923>> because I feel better when I'm out in nature,

<<926>> and there are times where I need to go

<<929>> and escape to nature to reset

<<931>> because our world is fast-paced.

<<933>> There's so many things going on, right?

<<935>> We live in urban environments more and more.

<<938>> I read a study that said 3% of the world's population

<<941>> lived in cities in the 1800s.

<<943>> It's spiked to 10, 15% now, isn't it, yeah.

<<946>> By 2050, they expect it'll be

<<948>> 60 plus percent living in cities

<<951>> and we're not made to be in that environment.

<<954>> We're at odds with those environments,

<<956>> and so finding a time where we can,

<<959>> on a consistent basis,

<<961>> go be in nature is the ideal.

<<964>> When we can't, we have the beautiful Shinrin-Yoku blend

<<968>> to help us with that.

<<969>> And I think just having that blend is also just,

<<971>> even using that blend, take the time to say,

<<975>> it's just five minutes to say we know how much meditation

<<979>> and mindfulness helps with the levels of stress

<<982>> and you can measure that within the blood

<<984>> with your cortisol levels

<<986>> and the adrenaline, your noradrenaline.

<<987>> That can really be measured within the blood

<<990>> and you can see the differences that take place there.

<<992>> So using this as a tool to support those

<<994>> I think is just yet another fantastic product.

<<999>> Well, Ruth, thank you for your time today.

<<1001>> It's been a pleasure chatting with you.

<<1002>> Thank you for developing the blend.

<<1003>> It's gonna be wonderful.

<<1004>> I'm gonna really enjoy using it.

<<1006>> Thank you.

<<1116>> And for example, exposing yourself to the aromatics

<<1142>> obviously you can just rub it in your hands and inhale when you need to.

<<1171>> to these particular essential oil components,

<<1171>> and help to breathe that in,

<<1175>> expose yourself to it in a way that simulates

<<1189>> And for example, exposing yourself to

<<2086>> obviously you can just rub it in your hands

<<2086>> and inhale it when you need to.

<<2086>> and inhale it when you need to.

<<2134>> and yeah, expose yourself to it in a way that simulates