Touch the forest, touched by the forest.

I have been covering Uenae hospital in Hokkaido which is located in Northern Japan since 2012. Uenae hospital is surrounded by forests and they have been practicing a therapy called “forest therapy”. During this therapy, patients are taken to the woods that is well kept by the local community. Patients are sometimes, encourage to hug a tree, or scream on top of a hill or simply walk in the woods. The idea is to receive the nature’s offerings and that often translates to healing. This therapy is made possible by collaboration between volunteers from the local community and the hospital staffs. The patient who experienced this therapy has once said “The forest winds blown the pain away.”