Lisa Duncan lives at the foot of Holmbury Hill, surrounded by some of the most beautiful woodland in the Surrey Hills.
It’s also where she practises something many of us have heard of, but perhaps do not fully understand: forest bathing.
In this episode of The Surrey Hills Portrait, Lisa joins Martin in the pinetum on Holmbury Hill, surrounded by more than 30 varieties of conifer planted around the millennium.
Lisa explains that forest bathing has very little to do with covering miles or reaching a destination. Instead, it’s about slowing down, using the senses and becoming properly present in the landscape around you.
She talks about the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, the research behind spending time among trees and why an ordinary walk in the woods, especially with a dog, children or a friend, can feel very different from a guided forest bathing session.
Lisa also shares her own journey.
Born in Hawaii to a Japanese mother and American father, she grew up with both a strong connection to nature and an appreciation of Japanese culture, including its close relationship with the seasons.
Her career initially took her in a very different direction, working in strategy at Sony. Years later, as her daughters began leaving home and the Covid pandemic changed daily life, Lisa found herself returning to something that had always been there.
A former Sony colleague had gone on to become involved with forest therapy in Japan, helping introduce Lisa to the practice. She trained as a forest bathing practitioner and created HINOKI Forest Bathing here in Surrey.
Lisa explains some of the invitations she uses during a session, from searching for particular shades of green to noticing birdsong, smelling different trees and simply moving through the woodland at a much slower pace.
She also talks about why phones and cameras stay firmly out of sight.
The conversation ends with another Japanese influence: tea.
Lisa incorporates a tea ritual into the end of her forest bathing sessions, using herbs and plants chosen for the season and setting. Sitting beneath the trees, she prepares a tea of Scots pine and mugwort and explains how even drinking a cup of tea can become an exercise in slowing down and paying attention.
It is a conversation about nature, attention, Japanese culture and what we might discover when we stop trying to get somewhere and simply notice where we already are.
