If you go down to the woods today ...

Today I thought I'd introduce you to the concept of  'forest bathing'  - I say introduce as although it's a phrase used in Japan since 1982, I didn't know it was a real thing!   The walking part in the forest I knew about, how being in nature is like therapy for me I've experienced, but to know it's a cultural thing is simply quite amazing :)  

A sketch of a gate on a recent walk near my home, I was really touched by the memorial plaque; two walkers who obviously knew the benefits of a walk in the woods

I had to dig a bit more and there are loads of articles on the interwebs, and this quote from one found here, sums up succinctly the benefits of walking in the woods, and adds to the reasons I enjoy my time outside in nature:

"The Japanese practice of forest bathing is proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure, reduce stress hormone production, boost the immune system, and improve overall feelings of wellbeing."

I knew walking in the wild helped me enormously from an inspiration point of view, my walking meditation helping me feel calm and centred, but who knew it has such great physiological benefits.  Get outside!  Right now!  You'll feel great :)  

I'm thinking this will not be the last of my researching forest therapy (yes, I love that phrase too)  - it may even warrant a blog category all of its own.

Larissa x

Why Tales From Under the Oak Tree

I do love a good story, and story-telling, so here is my story of how Tales From Under the Oak came into being ...

Autumn - out with the old, making room for the new

After my dad died a couple of years ago, I fell out of blogging entirely - I just didn't have the heart to do it anymore.  He used to read my blog, comment occasionally and gauged how happy I was when writing, checking up on me when I wasn't for an extended time.  Although I had a lot of lovely people reading my words, I felt bereft when I lost my biggest fan.  So I just let it sit unattended for a long time; life happened - life changed and I began wonder if I should change my blog around to reflect this.  After much soul searching I decided to leave the blog in the same place, but change the name to 'Tales from the Forest' (which I never did in the end, it stayed as Create for Life) to reflect the environment I was working in and being inspired by ...

... but life, as I am discovering on a regular basis, changed again and suddenly I wasn't in my beloved forest home anymore ... and still didn't have the will to write my blog.  After our move back to the UK, I couldn't get the idea out of my head, as I really enjoy writing and it didn't feel right to just give up, plus I kind of wanted to honour my Dad as he was always encouraging me to keep writing and creating.

After living on the biggest Island on the planet, we decided to settle on a much smaller Island off the south coast of England and found our new home amongst the trees, which I discovered is built in the remains of an ancient woodland.  We fell in love straight away, and moved in as quickly as we could under the shelter of an enormous oak tree in our back garden - I feel protected and comfortable under the canopy of this king of trees :)   And so, as we settled and life became calmer I knew this is my new place of inspiration, and the name of my new blog home materialized in my head, as well as the know-ing I wanted to start a new blogging chapter to reflect the new chapter of my life - it just felt right.  And here I am, right at the beginning ...

One of my favourite paths

Now I can walk down the road and have a myriad of choices of footpath to take me into the rest of the ancient woodlands surrounding us, that calming world where ideas float into my mind and I can see endless possibilities for creativity ... this really is my space, where I can be me, roaming under the oak trees ... looking forward to new chapters ...

Larissa x

Setting my intention

It seems like forever since I started my first blog over at Create for Life back in 2007 - 10 years seems like a good point to stop one adventure and to step out into another, and wow, have a lot of things happened in those 10 years!  My eldest children left high school, have nearly completed uni and both moved out over the last 2 years; my dear Dad died; our life in Australia came to an end; a new life has begun in another part of the world; and my youngest has just started his time at high school in a new country. 

So it feels like the right time to start something new, to mark this new life of ours, back in our homeland.

I always like to start a new project with my intent, and here it is my hope to chronicle my creative journey, perhaps inspiring others as I go (that I would love to do) and sharing more of my art this time round.  In my previous blogging life I started out as a creative blog, and found I was journalling more about what was happening in our lives in the forest in Gooseberry Hill, Western Australia, as the blog progressed, which was a great way to stay in touch with family and friends 'on this side'.  Creatively, I really experimented with lots of artistic pursuits, and developed my confidence 'on that side' of the planet, and now my life has changed again I'm hoping to share more of what I enjoy of the creative process  and how it is important to me from a health perspective.  We will see!  More of this to come later I am sure ...

To finish, I fully intend to write my blog for 100 days starting from today just to get back into the stride of things, which should take me near to the end of the year (give or take a few days for emergencies ... life happens!)

Here's to creative pursuits!

Larissa x