The Creative Catalyst enables me to explore the latest research and tools that can enhance and enable our creativity. I’m currently undertaking study in Sylvotherapy, more commonly associated with Forest Therapy, Forest Bathing or Shinrin Yoku. ¹

I became interested in this topic when I was undertaking wide ranging research for The Creative Advantage book series. At that time I was reviewing evidence that supported restorative activities as a means to enhance creativity. I’ve returned to the science to explore what else has been discovered since my initial toe dip into the links between nature, via forest bathing and creativity.

There’s growing scientific consensus that an effective brain- body connection is integral to our higher order cognitive function and essential to maintain our ability to problem solve, stay motivated and explore more creative ways of being.

The research points to our capacity to undertake creative work being dependent on the key sources of energy that fuel us physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually and how we manage this energy flow.

Appreciating nature and including time outdoors into our daily approaches to brain health, is associated with a restorative activity, and there’s a body of research showing that our fatigued brains feel restored and our mental performance can improve through being in nature.

Author of The Nature Fix, Florence Williams, wrote that nature works for us by lowering stress. Measurements of stress hormones, respiration, heart rate and sweating, all suggest that short doses of nature can calm people down and sharpen their performance. ²

She also notes that the relaxation and ease we feel in nature supports our parasympathetic system, the ‘rest and digest’ nervous system. Williams suggests this could even be why food tastes better in the outdoors. This is contrasted to the demands and constant stimuli of city based life that trigger the sympathetic nervous system and our ‘fight or flight’ behaviour, leading to higher cortisol levels. ³

Further research observed two mechanisms directly related to creativity, that is, attention restoration and mind wandering. One study compared attentional focus, brain network activation, cognitive effects and the progression of these processes across the stages of creativity. The researchers were interested in the ebb and flow of attention during the nature experience, and the links between attentional focus, brain network activation and creativity.⁴

They found that “gentle shifts between externally oriented soft fascination (more on this below) and internally oriented mind wandering can occur during a nature experience”. This enhances mind wandering and thus supports creativity, with its association to new and flexible ideas. ⁵

The reasons we see these improved mental and cognitive health benefits points to nature acting directly on our automatic systems to calm us. It has been further shown to lower heart rate and cortisol levels, improve mood, immune function, concentration and memory. Indirectly we may also benefit from the physical movement and in many cases the social interaction we get from being with others.⁶

In The Creative Advantage I reference the work of Professor David Strayer, a neuroscientist whose work examines human attention, limits of human multitasking ability and how attentional capacities can be restored by interacting with nature. ⁷ His hypothesis known Attention Restoration Theory (ART), suggests that exposure to nature can restore the prefrontal cortex to replenish and rest, and decrease stress and improve performance on tasks measuring attention.⁸

The ART theory suggests that environments that require less intense concentration gives our brains space to relax and recharge, so it makes sense that a forest or even a park would be less intense than a busy urban or city location.

While the link between the natural world and it’s as a restorative capabilities is not surprising, in this blog I’m interested in how forest bathing and spending more time in nature can truly help us in problem solving and enhance our creative processes.

Looking at the Science of Soft Fascination

The term called Soft fascination is a core component of ART and proposes that certain environments allow the brain to recover because they engage attention in a softer, more effortless way. Imagine clouds changing shape, trees moving in the wind, oceans waves on the sand and bees buzzing around flowers. While your mind is engaged, it’s gently holding your attention. This loose attention provides time to reset, that’s the restoration part.

Its authors Stephen and Rachel Kaplan note that it’s an ‘involuntary attention triggered by aesthetically pleasing, non-threatening stimuli—most commonly found in natural environments.’ ⁹ The resting of the prefrontal cortex has the restorative effect that in turn helps to increase creativity. ¹⁰

It’s this state of effortless that allows the mind to wander and the brain to unwind, boosting attentional capacity, problem-solving skills and divergent thinking enables the generation of multiple solutions to a problem. Natural stimuli, such as the sounds of birds, help activate the brain’s default mode network, a kind of mental relaxation conducive to innovative thought. ¹¹

Activities like forest bathing involve sensory engagement with nature and recent trials of forest exposure workshops have been seen to improve high-level cognitive functioning, increasing creative performance by over 27% in creative word association tests. ¹²

Another study found that surroundings with higher perceived ‘naturalness’ (i.e the quantity and closeness of plants, water or other natural elements) led to higher performance in creative thinking tests compared to those of low perceived naturalness. When comparing the effects of indoor and outdoor exercise on creativity, a neuroscientific study found that natural settings can lead to significantly greater increases in EEG alpha power — the type of brain waves associated with creativity and divergent thinking. ¹³

Interestingly the University of Utah and the University of Kansas found that participants showed a 50% improvement in creativity after spending four days in a natural environment, but noted they were disconnected from their digital devices to optimise the brain's ability to think of non-linear solutions. ¹⁴

Spending time outdoors in natural settings and further, participating in facilitated forest bathing, clearly has benefits to help us recharge the brain, self-reflect, stimulate the imagination and foster creative thinking.

Origins of Forest Bathing

The concept was developed in Japan in the early 1980’s when the then Director of Forestry was dismayed by the numbers of Japanese who were preferring to live in the cities and loosing contact with nature and then designed shinrin yoku to encourage the rediscovery of forests and revive disappearing traditions.

By 1982, the Forestry Agency officially launched the project and the first forest bath was held in Akasawa Natural Recreation Forest. After a timid start the popularity of this grew and hundreds of the best forests in Japan were listed for practicing shinrin yoku. By 1990, scientific studies were well underway to determine how trees and plants could improve human health and overtime, shinrin yoku was presented as a form of preventive medicine. ¹⁵

The Four States of Attention

Stephen and Rachel Kaplan (1989) proposed that there are four cognitive states, or states of attention, along the way to restoration:

1. Clearer head, or concentration- The first stage is characterised by a clearing of the mind, our thoughts, concerns, worries,  demanding our attention to pass through the mind, by simply letting them flow through and fade away.
2. Mental fatigue recovery- After a task or activity that requires focused and directed attention, it’s easy to feel depleted and drained. In the second stage, mental recovery can be restored to ‘normal’ levels.
3. Soft fascination - Next the individual can be gently distracted and engage in a low-stimulation activity, which reduces the internal noise and provides a quiet internal space to relax.
4. Reflection and restoration- Finally evoked by spending a long period of time in an environment that meets all four of the requirements of a restorative environment, the individual is able to relax, restore their attention, and reflect on their life, priorities, actions, and goals. The final stage is the deepest and most restorative stage; this is where the most impactful restoration takes place. ¹⁶

Footnotes

1 Technically speaking sylvotherapy is associated with forest therapy and is led by a trained specialist. Forest bathing is designed to be self-guided and does not need a specialist assisting. For simplicity I’ll use the more common name of forest bathing for this blog.

2 Williams, F. This is your brain on nature, National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/01/call-to-wild/

3. Williams , F (2017) The Nature Fix: Why nature makes us happier, healthier and more creative. WW Norton and Co, USA, 25.

4. Williams, K, J.H et al. Conceptualising Creative Benefits of Nature Experience: Attention restoration and mind wandering as complementary processes. Journal of Environmental Psychology 59, (2018) 36-45.

5 Williams, K, J.H et al. Conceptualising Creative Benefits of Nature Experience: Attention restoration and mind wandering as complementary processes. Journal of Environmental Psychology 59, (2018) 36-45.

6 Williams , F (2017) The Nature Fix: Why nature makes us happier, healthier and more creative. WW Norton and Co, USA, 166-167.

7 Prof Strayer runs the Applied Cognition Laboratory at the University of Utah. Retrieved from

https://brainonnature.com/people/david-strayer/

8 Atchley, R.A, Strayer, D.L, Atchley, P. Creativity in the Wild, 2012. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051474

9 Stephen and Rachel Kaplan in https://positivepsychology.com/attention-restoration-theory/

10 Kaplan, S. 1995. The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15: 169–182.

11 https://foresttherapyhub.com/natures-spark-the-effect-of-forest-therapy-on-creativity/

12 https://www.industryofus.com/blogs/into-the-woods-how-outdoors-unlocks-creativity

13 https://www.industryofus.com/blogs/into-the-woods-how-outdoors-unlocks-creativity

14 https://foresttherapyhub.com/natures-spark-the-effect-of-forest-therapy-on-creativity/

15 Sylvotherapy Practitioner Course material Module 1

16 Han, K. (2003). A reliable and valid self-rating measure of the restorative quality of natural environments. Landscape and Urban Planning, 64, 209-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-2046(02)00241-4

Further References

What is Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory (ART)?, article from Positive Psychology

https://positivepsychology.com/attention-restoration-theory/

The Creative Advantage – How the intersection of science and creativity reveals life’s ultimate advantage, Maria Simonelli 2021