We take the tunnelbana (metro) from central Stockholm to the Åkeshovs station (it takes 20 minutes).

It’s 07:30 in the morning when we arrive.

This is the view when heading out from the train station.

Add sound to the experience. If you have decent speakers on your computer/pad or headphones, you can turn on the sounds of nature. Click below, to hear the sounds from this walk. But don’t forget to turn up the volume, the sounds of nature are subtle.

Now, take a deep breath and let’s go on our slow walk.

We soon leave the Åkeshovs castle ground and reach the nature reserve.

We also leave all information and knowledge about the name of the trees, flowers and the history of the area.

This is a walk focused on being in nature.

When leaving the city behind and taking the first step into nature our mind is often spinning (things that happened and things we should do.....)

It takes a while to lower the volume of your mind chatter.

The sounds of the city fade away as we get deeper into the forest.

But we can still hear the traffic, like the sound of a small mountain stream in the background.

Stop and look up, find a new perspective.

Can you hear the sound of the wind in the trees?

We reach a magical part of the trail; we are surrounded by the pine forest and get a glimpse of the lake.

But don’t rush to get to the lake, keep your pace slow and enjoy every step on the way.

From pine trees to green leaves by the water, the sounds of nature changes.

Listen. Can you hear the sounds of your own breathing?

Time to stop and sit down by the water. We are surrounded by nature, no city in sight.

Listen. Can you hear the sounds of the water?

We sit for a moment, look and listen, without trying to analyze, without trying to remember the name of that bird or that tree.

We all need moments of just being in nature.

After our stop we continue along the lake and keep the slow pace.

Can you hear the sound of your steps on this part of the trail?

The bridge marks a change of direction, we leave the trail along the lake and head up in the pine forest.

Touch the bark of the trees on your way up. Different trees have such a different feel.

To touch nature can make us more focused and present, at least for a moment.

The second stop. Surrounded by trees and green moss. The forest embraces and protects, we can still hear some distant traffic noise, but even lower now.

Smell. Close to the ground the smells of the forest are really vibrant.

The light and the shadows in the forest changes all the time.

Suddenly we are out in the bright sun and cross a small open field.

But its not only brighter it sounds different too.

Back again into the pine forest, up higher.

Sometimes the extra effort needed to go uphill makes us more alert and present.

Up a bit more and the forest gets less dense. There's noise from a plane in the distance, but we don’t dwell on it.

The third stop. An opening in the forest with a glimpse of the lake down below and gnarly old trees. We sit on solid rock.

We have been out for a while, slowed down and a nice calm feeling dominates. Can this be called inner stillness?

Onwards, it feels like we slowed down even more, not because we are tired, but because we are present and calm.

The trail soon becomes steep and rocky. Going downhill on this path demands attention.

Sometimes tough/rough trails (situations) force us into presence.

Nature changes again, we leave the pine forest and the rough trails. We are closing in on the end of our walk.

Now your mind might start rushing ahead towards the rest of your day. But wait, let the mind chatter go, leave it, keep to the slow pace and listen to the sounds of the present moment.

Can you hear the sound of your steps?

Change again, from the wild pine forest to the leafy tree cover to the open space in this park.

Is your mind a bit more open after this walk?

The last stretch through the parkway….

…and we are back at the castle. It’s 09.00 in the morning, our 1,5 hour forest bath/walk is over. A walk that fed our senses, gave many moments of awe, filled us with energy and cleaned/cleared our mind - or?

Maybe a walk like this can provide us with resources and resiliance to better handle our day. Maybe this close encounter with nature can help us see the wonder and magic of the so called normal everyday life?

I hope you have enjoyed this low-tech virtual forest bath and if you happen to be in Stockholm contact me and I will give you a guided tour in the real fantastic nature of Stockholm (but remember it’s going to be a guided tour in silence and you will not learn anything about trees, geology and history, but maybe something about silence, stillness and....).

Sound facts: On this day in June we had background sound levels from 35-45 dBA. The traffic was like a small mountain stream in the distant. But the traffic noise was not louder than we could hear all the local sounds of nature.

Site content: Startpage - Projects - Story - Experiments - Blog - Next

På svenska/in Swedish