Today I am practicing Shinrin-Yoku before making any pictures. I am currently taking a photography course taught by Douglass Beasley, and practicing Shinrin-Yoku is this week's assignment. Before making today's image, after getting centered and present in my swing, I was instructed to practice Shinrin-Yoku without my camera BEFORE I made any pictures; it was a completely different experience. By being unable to make a picture, I discovered that previously with my camera, as I attempted to experience The Now, I was still carrying the plan of finding/taking "good" pictures.
Shinrin-Yoku, translated into English as 'forest bathing,' means taking in the forest atmosphere during a leisurely walk. It is a therapy that was developed in Japan during the 1980s, becoming a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine.
FROM PROJECT: GPS: 34°56'6.546″ n 83°50'23.958″ w + 300 Feet
PROJECT: GPS: 34°56'6.546″ n 83°50'23.958″ w + 300 Feet
This ongoing project is about the experience of time in The Now. Six days a week, I begin each session sitting in the swing located at 34°56'6.546″ n 83°50'23.958″ w. I discard as best I can all the thoughts and feelings I have brought with me to the swing; let them all go. After doing the best I can with that process that day, I wander off with my camera to connect with the present as I find it.
The only rule I follow on this quest is that I must remain within 300 feet of my swing. Hence the project's title, GPS: 34°56'6.546″ n 83°50'23.958″ w + 300 Feet.
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