A Naif in the Forest by Darrell Berger

Wing Tips to Hiking Boots: Musings of a New, Full-Time Poconos Resident

I recently discovered a German word that describes what I experience during walks in the forest. It is waldeinsamkeit. Wald means forest. Einsamkeit means primarily loneliness, but also solitude, depending on one’s state of mind. 

Waldeinsamkeit is intended to mean solitude in the forest, a feeling of oneness, of being part of nature. It is the experience that brought most of us here, and motivates local folks to stay. We need not spend a lot of time describing this experience to each other, as it is so fundamental to forest living. The person experiencing waldeninsamkeit as loneliness will soon be heading for a suburb or a city. 

This German concept has been expressed by romantic poets for centuries. It is especially used by those who walk in the Black Forest, the setting of many fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. There is a suggestion of enchantment as the cares of the world outside the forest fade away. 

A modern Japanese discipline is similar, if adorned with New Age connotations. Shinrin-yoku is a form of ecotherapy, or healing through contact and communion with the natural world. It was conceived in the 1980s and is one of many disciplines that seek to recover health and vitality from the earth itself. 

It means “forest bathing,” walking through the forest and intentionally doing exercises to enhance one’s state of mind and body. It may seem strange that one would need a therapy or exercises to be invigorated by a walk in the forest, but when one considers how estranged many humans have become from the natural world, intentionality and discipline might be needed to recover. 

If, however, one finds oneself in the forest without the benefits of a shinrin-yoku practitioner, I suggest you take a dog. A dog will enhance your nature bathing like a loofah enhances a Jacuzzi.  A dog will reconnect you to the natural world and open you to its healing power. A dog has the power to banish loneliness while enhancing solitude. This is a special form of the German concept that I just invented, waldeinsamkeit mit hund.