WiK member Milena Guziak is a leading trainer worldwide of guides for shinrin yoku (forest bathing). To understand more about the practice, please see her ‘Mindful tourist’ website here. Below is a selection of poems, written in Japanese and translated by herself, that have been inspired by the prolonged periods of immersion in nature involved in her practice.

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折れた心
優しくなおる
森の中

oreta kokoro
yasashiku naoru
mori no naka

a broken heart
gently recovers
in the forest

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新年祝え
見る四季の変化
人生なのさ

shinnen iwae
miru shiki no henka
jinsei na no sa

i greet the new year
the changes of seasons i see
this is how it goes

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風が吹いている
花びらが落ちている
私は見ている
頰に触っている風が
私にほほ笑みかけている
心が嬉しくなっている

the wind is blowing
flower petals are falling
I’m watching
the wind that is touching my cheeks
is smiling at me

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探しの心

ある雨の日、心は心に質問した。
「探しのは何か」「静けさです」と心は答えると、
「道が分からなくなっているじゃないか」 と寂しく言われてしまった。

a searching mind

one rainy day, the mind asked itself “what are you searching for?”
“stillness” – replied the mind
“aren’t you losing your way?” – said the mind sorrowfully

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For collections of Milena’s poems, available on amazon, please click this link.
For Milena’s training programme, see here; for her Facebook page click here; and for Instagram take a look here.