[One Day 10,000 Steps One Day 1,000 Characters] Healing While Walking... How About Healing by Watching Garden Plants?

Programs that help relieve stress accumulated in daily life and heal the mind through 'walking' are gaining attention.

The Nakdong River Management Headquarters of Busan City will operate the 'Healing Garden Walking' experience program at the Busan Nakdong River Garden from the 31st of this month to October 31st. This program will be held on the first and third Fridays of every month, totaling 10 sessions. Participants will have the opportunity to explore garden plants and engage in various experiences guided by a garden interpreter. The program involves walking approximately 2.4 km within the Busan Nakdong River Garden over 2 hours, including warm-up exercises, viewing lotus and water lilies, learning about reeds and Miscanthus sacchariflorus, walking on a health exercise path, and walking on a reflexology path following the person ahead. It is expected to promote physical and mental health by utilizing the garden’s diverse resources.

Jinju City in Gyeongnam Province will operate the 'Visiting Forest Healing' program every weekend until the 9th of next month at four urban forest sites within the city. The Visiting Forest Healing program is a forest welfare program where participants directly visit Jinju’s walkable forests with a forest healing instructor. It consists of forest activities tailored to the terrain and characteristics of the sites, such as walking, meditation, breathing techniques, natural object activities, and therapy using forest healing factors. On the first weekend of June, participants will slowly walk along the Seonhaksan forest trail, observing and touching nature and smelling the forest’s scent, stimulating and developing the five senses in nature. On the second weekend of June, participants will experience the healing effects of the forest by walking barefoot on the soft red clay path newly created on the earthing trail in the forest of Wolsan Mountain in Jinju, and learning the 'Geobyeongyeonsu 6-character breathing method' together to help physical and mental health and balance. A city official said, "We hope that citizens visiting urban forests can enjoy a free and comfortable time in the forest, even if only briefly escaping from stress."

Photo by Jinju-si