MARK EDWARD HARRIS: The Beauty of SHINRIN-YOKU

The pandemic has forced all of us to look within our own borders for both photo opportunities and mental health breaks.

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My first much-needed outing beyond the Los Angeles city limits was Joshua Tree for a night under the stars. There are few better medicines than a good dose of nature, and the National Park Service is perhaps the best pharmacy for this natural, life-enhancing, awe-inspiring drug.

The Japanese have a label for this magic potion that reduces stress and promotes a sense of well-being, “Shinrin-Yoku,” which translates as “forest bathing.” Japanese-American landscape painter Chiura Obata described his experience in the High Sierra:

“In the evening, it gets very cold; the coyotes howl in the distance; in the mid sky, the moon is arching; all the trees are standing here and there, and it is very quiet. You can learn from the teachings within this quietness.”

I experienced this magnificent quietude in the Sierras exploring Mammoth Lakes and doing long night exposures of the tufa (porous rocks composed of calcium carbonate deposits) outcroppings of Mono Lake.