Think the Earth

The moon looks quite different from the forest.

I heard about the "Night*Forest*Hiking" event that is organized in a small forest near Lake Yamanaka, one of the Fuji Five Lakes, and this reminded me of "Vision Quest." "Vision Quest" is a Native American ceremony. Teenagers would hike through nature by himself/herself, feel its energy, have a quiet dialogue with nature, and discover the direction they should head in life or see a vision. It is a rite of passage for some Native American cultures, and these youths would take a sleeping back into the woods and spend a night out there all alone.

At the end of March, my family and I took part in a simplified version of this ceremony, so to speak, the "Night*Forest*Hiking." It was held near Lake Yamanaka, which is located about 2 hours away from Tokyo. Anyone can take part and experience the forest as long as you have climate appropriate clothing and shoes that are easy to walk.

Participants met up at 15:00 and took a walk through the forest while it was still bright outside accompanied by a guide. When we took a closer look at the pond, we saw montane brown frog eggs. And when we walked through the trees, we saw some fresh growth whose buds had been eaten by deer and antlers that the deer had shed. The temperatures at Lake Yamanaka located approximately 1,000m above sea level is roughly the same as Hakodate in Hokkaido, but we found a lot of yellow-green butterbur sprouts that announce the arrival of spring. When we walked through the forest during the day, we experienced the forest mainly through sight.

But when we went to the forest at night, it was very different. Once again the participants entered the forest with the guide. After a while the guide fell quiet, and we began to walk alone in silence. At first it felt like we were in pitch darkness, probably because we were desperately trying to see. As though we had become a toddler again, we unsteadily and with great care put one foot in front of the other.

After some time our other senses started to kick in. We felt the moist forest air stick to our cheeks, and the soil felt soft and wet beneath our feet. We also heard the water murmuring somewhere far away, the leaves and branches rustle against one another, and noticed the earthy scent of the forest. These senses we hardly use in the city gradually awakened, one by one, in nature.

This is not to say that our senses became over sensitive. Rather, we felt freed of all tension and step-by-step we began to feel at peace. My 5-year old daughter fell fast asleep in my arms.

We then reached our destination, an open field within the thick forest. Here, participants were free to spend our time as we wished. We laid down on our backs, took deep breaths, counted the stars above, experienced nature with all 5 senses, gave it our full attention, and then finally we turn our eyes within, something we may have refrained from doing for a long time.

Our stay in the nighttime forest only lasted 2 hours, but we felt extremely relaxed and our senses became pleasantly heightened that we discovered many things we wouldn't have, had we stuck to our normal routine. This sensation lingered for a while afterwards. The next morning, when we entered the forest again, it felt completely different. We heard birds chirping, that we hadn't noticed the previous day.

At the debriefing, some participants said:
"I have never laid down in the pitch dark forest and stared up at the sky before. It was like I become one with the forest, and I felt very relaxed."
"I discovered a new me. Someone who was in a completely different environment, trying to feel something."
"I wondered if wild deer and birds also spend nights like these out here in the forest."

The "Night*Forest*Hiking" felt like a "ceremony" that let us get back in touch with nature, and with ourselves, transforming us in some way.