“Shin to bul ee” – Body and soil are one.
Korean proverb
Research shows that when we look at natural elements like sunsets, streams, trees, or flowers, we have a gentle and soft focus which allows for a more reflective state; it is in this state that we can rest and recover. In Korea, firemen with post traumatic stress spend time in the Saneum Healing Forest, a healing forest, sitting on platforms in trees with a partner. They practice yoga, rub lavender massage oil on each others forearms and make dried flower collages. In Sweden, Physician Matilda van den Bosch found that after stressful math tests, subjects’ heart rates returned to normal quicker when they watched 15 minutes of nature scenes and birdsongs, than when they sat in a plain room. Research also tells us that when we look at nature scenes, the areas of the brain associated with empathy and altruism light up. Nature makes us nicer, as well calmer.
In making WabiMoss paintings, I am healing myself – walking in nature to collect driftwood, sticks, moss, lichen. I am enjoying the beauty that is around me. The trees and the birdsong, the streams and the sky.
It is our deepest wish that in making these that you will enjoy the rest and restoration they embue, that the green will refresh you, the scenes will allow your eyes to soften, that you will use them as reminders of the beauty in our natural world. Use them to meditate with and they will bring you great peace and joy.
