Forest bathing, chiggers, and meditating with a Great Blue Heron

Plus puddle jumping baby frogs.

Last weekend, I got up before my 3-year-old… so, that’s the first piece of news. Any parent of young kids gets it. Then I tacked on outdoor clothes and closed-toed shoes; we were told to cover up and wear DEET because of mosquitos and chiggers despite the cool temps at 8:00am.

Our guide had gotten chiggers before and it was so unpleasant she didn’t want to sully the morning with talk of it. That didn’t stop me from applying lemongrass balm instead of DEET. And that didn’t stop the chiggers from doing their thing.

I actually think I might have been OK if I had washed my jacket when I got home. Instead, I wore it later over a sports bra without a shirt around the house. Whoops.

The internet says the bright-red itchy dots on my torso will go away in a couple of weeks. The rest of my forest bathing experience will be much less quick to fade.

Our guide walked us off the path close to the water and guided us through a series of sequences meant to bring our focus in, and out. In and out. Like breathing. Slowly walking, treating the forest like an art gallery, and becoming quiet.

I was quick to notice all of the loud humans around us. Kayaking on the water, talking about the cost of this and that. Walking loud dogs through the quiet woods.

During an extended journey alone, about 20 minutes, I walked out to a point at the top of the lake. Then, a little wave of something rippled by. Could that be tiny frogs? I could have sworn I saw an outstretched leg. Another wave, another leg. Yes, tiny frogs rippling into the shore.

Wow.

Backing inland a bit, I heard the Great Heron calling again. Earlier, it had flown close to shore, along the bank calling loudly. This time, it flew into a nearby tall tree at my bank.

I knew Great Blue Herons were big, of course, from my time on lakes and marshes growing up and as an adult. But being close to it and seeing its size relative to the tree was perfectly shocking.

The guide had not called us in yet, so I would of course spend the rest of my time there with the Heron.